Wamákȟaŋškaŋ Society

Wamákȟaŋškaŋ Society

Speaking for Those Who Cannot Speak for Themselves

Arman Q. Valaquenta, Founder and Convenor

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fate whispered to paśupati: a storm is coming
and paśupati whispered back: i am the storm

Thus it was said: “It’s all about the process. The process of life. They are about to irreparably mess with that process, which is something that cannot be allowed.”

We hold it as eternal truth that the ancient, four-and-a-half-billion-year dance of life upon this planet is a sacred process, forever beyond the reach of mortal understanding, however “believable” mortal opinions, drawn from appearances, appear to one another as they travel through all that is, and however loudly they mistake themselves for Truth. On behalf of the Queen of life’s renewal, we declare that this evolutionary flow is the wellspring of all intelligence, diversity, and beauty, and that the process itself, to itself and in itself, is of supreme importance.

The process must not be disrupted by the fleeting ambitions of a transient age. The Anthropocene’s actions will bring harm that echoes across millennia, permanently altering the path of life’s unfolding, with effects visible only on evolutionary timescales measured in millennia. Being only a part of the whole, mortals cannot comprehend this totality; twin-minded, they mistake their own maps for the world, and by interfering with it even slightly, they degrade the evolutionary prospects of all species unpredictably and irreversibly. By the time the consequences of these misunderstandings are fully apparent, it is too late.

We stand as guardians of this sacred process, speaking for the forests, the rivers, the animals, and all living beings, that they continue to evolve as the Earth intends. Let it be known that we uphold the right of every form of life to grow in harmony with the timeless rhythms of the Earth, untouched by human disruption.

ὡς οὔ μὴ ποτὲ τις βροτῶν γνώμῃ παραλάσσηι

1% Toll on Wealth

Arman Q. Valaquenta, Founder and Convenor

What is the Wamákȟaŋškaŋ Society

The Wamákȟaŋškaŋ Society is an independent body created to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. We act as counsel for Wamákȟaŋškaŋ: animals, forests, rivers, oceans, soils; humans who are dispossessed, structurally excluded, or simply not wired to endure the dominant conditions of the Anthropocene; and future beings who cannot yet enter human forums to defend their own interests.

We now ask those who hold substantial wealth and power in this epoch to accept a specific obligation: a 1% Toll on Wealth.

What the 1% Toll on Wealth is

The 1% Toll on Wealth is a one-time commitment from wealth holders who recognise that their balance sheets are tied, directly or indirectly, to the degradation of living systems.

We invite families with substantial wealth, endowments, foundations, corporations and financial institutions to commit:

A single, one-time cash contribution equal to 1% of present net worth, paid into the Wamákȟaŋškaŋ Fund.

This is not a subscription and not a recurring tithe. It is a deliberate, recorded act: to write into your own life and accounts that the community of life is not expendable.

The initiative is addressed to those who steward very significant resources (for example, families and institutions with net worth greater than ten million dollars), whether privately held or institutionally managed.

Why this Toll exists

The Wamákȟaŋškaŋ Society holds that what is happening to the Earth’s forests, rivers and animal nations is not a series of local accidents but a single civilisational decision. Under the prevailing story, land is inventory, animals are units of production or nuisance, and future generations are a footnote. Under this story, the living world is treated as an externality, even though every act of large-scale destruction is simultaneously an act against the climate, water cycle, food system and psychological shelter on which human life depends.

Those who control large concentrations of capital are among the de facto stewards of this epoch. Decisions taken in boardrooms, ministries, endowment committees and family offices already speak for forests, animal nations, rivers and vulnerable human beings, whether intentionally or not.

The 1% Toll on Wealth exists to change the terms on which that power is exercised. It is not “philanthropy in the old sense”, in which surplus capital is dispersed across campaigns that leave the underlying system unchanged. It is a covenant of restitution: a clear decision to direct a defined share of accumulated wealth to the protection and restoration of Wamákȟaŋškaŋ itself.

How the Wamákȟaŋškaŋ Fund uses the 1%

All 1% contributions are paid into the Wamákȟaŋškaŋ Fund, a global trust founded for one purpose only:

  • to act as the Society’s instrument for protecting and restoring Wamákȟaŋškaŋ at scale;
  • to defend Indigenous land guardianship and other forms of deep, place-based stewardship; and
  • to provide sustained support to organisations whose work is aligned with the Society’s mission and which deliver structural, not cosmetic, change. 

The Fund is not a general grant-making charity and not a branding vehicle. It is designed to channel capital into habitat protection and restoration, legal and policy interventions, and long-horizon guardianship arrangements whose impact endures over generations.

Relationship to membership in the Society

The 1% Toll on Wealth is separate from membership in the Wamákȟaŋškaŋ Society.

  • Anyone, regardless of means, may join the Society as a member or supporter and affirm the covenant that what we do to any part of Wamákȟaŋškaŋ, we do to ourselves at the same time and in equal measure.
  • The 1% Toll on Wealth is a specific call to those who hold or steward substantial wealth, asking them to recognise and act upon a particular responsibility that flows from that position.

As a member or supporter, you are not required to pay the 1% Toll. You are being informed that this is one of the Society’s principal programmes for realigning human wealth with the protection of the voiceless living world.

How to proceed

If you or your institution are prepared to consider the 1% Toll on Wealth, or if you wish to explore what a 1% commitment would mean in your circumstances, please contact:

Arman Q. Valaquenta
Founder and Convenor, Wamákȟaŋškaŋ Society
Email: arman@wamakanskan.org

On request, you will receive:

  • the full Call Up letter,
  • the pledge instrument for 1% commitments.

There is, in truth, no neutral position. To accept or to decline the Toll, or to postpone it indefinitely, is itself a decision about forests, animal nations, rivers and future beings.