A Codex rooted in Maya wisdom, which guides how we act.

Section II

The nine impact objectives

Section II – The Nine Impact Objectives of GHI

In the Maya worldview, 9 is the number that represents birth into Life, like the nine months of human gestation. Therefore, the Salud Verde Initiative proposes to promote the impact, or rebirth, of principles of change that favor Life on Earth, in the nine dimensions described below.

1. Anthropological (lt. Antro: ref. human – Logos: knowledge or science): To contribute to Mesoamerican ethnographic research on the practices by which the Indigenous peoples of the region build wellbeing and health, strengthening the Peoples' own capacities in this process. For this reason, an integrative approach is given priority in Green Health's anthropological research processes. We implement an intercultural approach that promotes the encounter of knowledges between ancestral and modern knowledge systems under conditions of equality and equity, where all voices have a space for expression. This allows us to contribute to creating an ecology of knowledges (epistemological diversity) that builds a new kind of collective intelligence, centered on the production of knowledge that transforms humanity positively so that it exercises its role coherently with the World of Life to which it belongs.
2. Environmental (lt. Ambiens: the surroundings around us): To foster the regeneration and protection of the world of life that surrounds us through systematic interventions in vulnerable ecosystems, so that the principle of symbiosis becomes tangible in the relationship between human populations and the environments they inhabit. To achieve this, we promote the recovery of degraded soils, reforestation with biodiverse native species, and the creation of direct and indirect incentives to encourage the care of biodiversity, linked to value chains derived from herbal species (medicinal, edible, ornamental and so on). To reach this goal, we favor research on native species of diverse ecosystems for assisted reproduction, the creation of greenhouses, agroforestry nurseries and community seed nurseries, as well as the establishment of protected areas (plant sanctuaries) and of agroforestry areas for regeneration and the natural storage of germplasm.
3. Economic (gr. oikonomía; Oikos: house – némein: to administer or manage): To create opportunities for employment and income for the populations living in the territories where GHI works, particularly for traditional therapists and their families, by generating innovative value chains that strengthen the circular economy. These green jobs rest on respectful and symbiotic relationships with Mother Earth, fostering regenerative processes in the surrounding ecosystems while generating wealth and wellbeing for the families involved. In the same way, we envisage the creation of regenerative investment systems for the abundant provision of resources that empower GHI's mission for the next Baktun (a period of 400 years) and beyond. The cycles of economic impact that we measure and that guide our action span at least 20 human generations and envision their sustained existence through the next 20 Baktuns.
4. Epistemic (gr. episteme: precise knowledge of something – logos: knowledge or science): To contribute to systematizing Maya and Mesoamerican Indigenous knowledge about the construction of human, animal and environmental wellbeing, preventive health, regenerative health, ethnomedicine, herbal medicine and other knowledge related to recovering health and maintaining homeostatic balance, starting from its recognition as scientific knowledge belonging to an ancestral epistemology. To position Mesoamerican knowledge as scientific knowledge within the global mosaic. To foster the encounter of knowledges between ancestral and modern knowledge under conditions of equality and mutual respect, in order to co-create new knowledge that makes it possible to transform the World of Life positively.
5. Socio-educational (with impact on the social construction of the norms of living together, and on education): To create spaces for exchange and mutual learning between diverse knowledge systems, so that Maya science and epistemology in matters of regenerative health can be known, revalued, respected and used in the paradigm shift toward building a human society in symbiosis with its living environment. Green Health will favor the development of new didactic and educational material for multiple audiences, in diverse formats, to support its goals of universal educational stewardship of Mesoamerican Indigenous knowledge, in respect of the limits that the holders of this knowledge consider desirable. It therefore proposes to create audiovisual, audio, written, technical and practical material, in multiple languages, that offers clear routes and steps to improve the quality of life of all the species that co-inhabit the Earth.
6. Public policy in One Health: To generate concrete knowledge that contributes to public health policy in Guatemala and later in other countries and regions, making it possible to advance toward the incorporation of traditional herbal medicine into the state programs of primary health care, with preventive, nutritional food-security and therapeutic approaches. For this purpose it will develop tools useful to public health personnel (human, animal and environmental), as well as proposals for programs and projects based on scientific evidence derived from traditional Indigenous knowledge in its encounter with modern Western science.
7. Global health: To contribute to the global paradigm shift toward a model of universal health coverage based on the ancestral knowledge of the Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and of the world, based on the Kawilal principle (One Health), the sustainable use of natural elements, herbal medicine and regenerative principles, permeating the public and private spheres. We move toward a preventive and regenerative medicine that understands the human being in its physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects. Our commitment is to facilitate access to natural knowledge, services and products regardless of the users' purchasing power (to democratize access to natural medicine).
8. Innovation: To be global references in multispecies health innovation through the technical and epistemic syncretism of traditional medicinal knowledge and cutting-edge regenerative technologies, so that we offer robust solutions to the challenges of the modern world in human health, animal health (domestic and wild), plant health (agriculture) and agroforestry systems.
9. Spiritual: To integrate an orientation of high consciousness into every action taken by Green Health, always aspiring to build a symbiotic world, in respect of all Life, where Being-Doing (Sentipensar, feeling-thinking) is guided by the highest ethical, moral and spiritual values, based on the recognition that We Are All One (Wachalal) and that we have One Health (Kawilal). Therefore the Metaphysical Council of High Consciousness, represented by people with harmonic connection, provides a compass to guide Green Health's initiatives toward fostering a conscious evolution of Being.

Section III

Way of working

Way of working in the Green Health Initiative

At GHI we practice the concept of fractals, recognizing that every action we take part in creates a ripple effect that is tangible in our immediate surroundings and reproduces itself at ascending scales. We believe that we are the change we want to see in the world. Therefore, we describe below the way of working that every member of the Green Health Initiative, as well as every external partner or ally with whom we collaborate or interact, must respect.

We are a collective of people governed by the wholeness of Being, from the projection of their specific mission or purpose in every field of work, carried out with intellectual, moral and spiritual integrity. We know ourselves responsible for our actions, so we assume the principles of cause and effect without transferring the responsibility for our acts onto third parties. We are governed by principles of deep respect for Life expressed in all its forms, so our decisions are not governed by an anthropocentric vision alone, but take into account the wellbeing of all the creatures with which we co-exist on Earth. From this notion, we grant real agency to Mother Earth, leaving room to weigh actions for her wellbeing arising from the counsel of the Greater Council of Green Health (Consejo Mayor de Salud Verde), made up of wise men and women who carry spiritual knowledge of high consciousness.

Every project implementation is carried out from the practice of mutual respect, recognizing that every person carries a unique wisdom and contributes from their talents to the collective intelligence. Therefore, we reject and distance ourselves from any concept of superiority that seeks to express itself from one human to another, whether it is a concept of superiority toward a specific ethnic group (racism, white supremacy), a particular gender identity (machismo, feminism, homophobia or transphobia), a particular age (ageism), an expected type of physical or intellectual capacity (ableism), or any other kind of differentiating attitude that attempts to legitimize the supremacy of one person over another. Rather, at GHI we recognize and practice the principles of equality and equity, deeply respecting the differences in the sociocultural expression of our members and collaborators, while fostering interconnection, interrelation and mutual learning between people. This practice of active interculturality is born of our conviction that we can keep learning, improving, innovating and co-creating better options to achieve our mission, born of the cross-fertilization of different and complementary ideas.

To put equity between all parties into practice in every project and program, our working methodology is based on Intercultural Transdisciplinarity, which crosses the so-called "abyssal line" that has kept ancestral knowledge outside formal Academia. On the contrary, our methodology rests on two non-negotiable pillars. The first refers to scientific robustness, coming from Modern Science (Modern Western Epistemology) as much as from Maya Science and the Indigenous Epistemologies or Epistemologies of the South, promoting an Ecology of Knowledges under conditions of equality. The second pillar refers to social robustness, the kind that is born of daily practice and implies that every action possesses a real legitimacy given by all the actors involved in each undertaking. Social robustness is born of consensus, which in turn comes from fostering processes of open, transparent dialogue with the active participation of all the social sectors involved in each of the projects we carry out. Therefore, we distance ourselves from processes that use the Peoples, or any person, to represent false or manipulated interests, or that fall into practices of ventriloquism (speaking for others) without representativeness or legitimacy.

Our code of ethics is based, in addition to respect and equality, on the active practice of the principles of accountability, honesty, truthfulness, integrity, trustworthiness, reliability, probity, dignity, humility and a sense of worth. GHI is a means for every person who is part of it to find a tangible way to achieve personal fulfillment in their life mission. We commit to becoming conscious in order to work on ourselves continually, so that we can put these values into practice to the extent required. Therefore, being part of GHI goes together with a real feeling of honor, belonging and gratitude at being able to be part of a movement that works for a New Era of high consciousness on Mother Earth, which we call the Symbiocene, in reference to the capacity to live in harmony and symbiosis with all the other families of Beings with whom they share the planet.