Earth Stewardship Program

The Earth Stewardship Program is the broad community participation pathway of the Office of the 3 Sisters for people who feel aligned with the Office's vision and want to support the work in a concrete, relational, and ongoing way. It is the answer to a single question: What are some meaningful ways to contribute to the collective responsibility of stewarding the future of the Earth?

Grounding: becoming a good ancestor

The program opens with a Kichwa-language invitation: Alli Yaya Tukuyta Rurashun — Let's become good ancestors through what we do.

Its animating questions are not reserved for elders:

Under what conditions are we going to leave the Earth when we pass on?
How can we foster and cultivate the next seven generations of life?
How will we honor sacred reciprocity?
What if the afterlife is what takes place on Earth after we pass on?

The earlier these questions are held, the more time a person has to shape the conditions of life that will continue beyond them. Earth Stewardship is the practice of beginning now — listening, learning, and acting with care for the lives that will follow.

Who is invited

Anyone is welcome to participate. The invitation is especially for people who want to:

support Earth- and community-serving work;
receive and help circulate the Office's research and updates;
participate in a living community of practice rather than only follow from the outside;
contribute according to their capacity, relationships, and circles of influence.

No background in research or higher education is required. What matters most is care, openness, and willingness to be part of a community that helps good work take root and grow.

Entry pathway

When someone says yes to the Earth Stewardship Program, they move through a simple welcome and orientation flow:

Name and email are collected.
The reciprocity contribution path and receipt process are confirmed.
An acceptance letter is sent, welcoming them into the program and their specific circle (e.g., the Circle of Community Research Keepers).
The orientation packet and introductory video are sent. See Earth Stewardship Orientation — Community Research Keepers v0.2 for the current orientation document.
They are asked which Alli Kawsay area(s) of community need they feel most drawn toward.
A first orientation or check-in is offered or scheduled.
Participation is recorded in the sign-up and orientation capture system.

For the operational intake steps and acceptance letter template, see Community Research Keepers Intake / Payment / Receipt Flow v0.1.

Seven Alli Kawsay pathways

Earth Stewards may choose to follow or support one or more of these seven areas of community need, drawn from Alli Kawsay:

Celestial rhythms and timekeeping support
Rimanakuy — community gatherings and events
Coworking / third spaces, mentorship, personalized learning, and creative exploration
Higher education alternative opportunities — Hampina Path (see CoALA and the Hampina Path)
Sacred intimacy, relational support, and repair
Indigenous sovereignty and community resilience
Habitat and ecological stewardship

No Steward is expected to follow every area equally. People naturally gravitate toward the areas where their care and capacity are strongest.

Circles nested within the program

The Earth Stewardship Program contains multiple circles and roles. Two are currently active or in development:

Circle Keepers

Circle Keepers is the broader role family within the Earth Stewardship Program, encompassing 100+ people who tend circles within the wider community — sub-cycle integration, language-carrier-adjacent circles, and Earth-stewardship circles.

Community Research Keepers

The Community Research Keepers circle is one collective expression of the Circle Keepers role. Community Research Keepers help keep the Office's research alive in community by receiving research and update materials, processing and integrating what they receive, sharing appropriate insights into their own networks, and helping knowledge stay living, relational, and transmittable. Their core commitments are: a reciprocity contribution of $25/month for one year; attention to Office updates; integration and further circulation of the work; and acknowledgment so the Office knows what is landing.

Community Research Stewards

Community Research Stewards are distinct from Community Research Keepers. They are mentors, guides, and advisors to direct researchers — typically with Indigenous research background or related experience. Completion of the Earth Stewardship Program is a prerequisite for this path. This circle is open to be filled; Jeremy Kirshbaum is the first case study.

Relationship to the Office

The Earth Stewardship Program is how the Office maintains living community relationships around its research work. It enacts the principle that knowledge is not something one person holds alone — it is developed and cultivated through relationship with a wider community. Knowledge sovereignty, a foundational commitment of the Office, depends on keeping research connected to the communities it serves rather than ceding it to institutions. The financial structure of the program — many people contributing a small amount — is itself part of this practice.

Participation in all programs of the Office of the 3 Sisters is always mutually consensual and non-binding. Any Steward may pause or exit with a short note naming that they are completing, any final reflection, any commitments to close, and an updated communication preference. No one should remain out of pressure or guilt.