Thacker Pass is a project to mine Lithium on sacred lands of the Shoshone & Paiute in Nevada — and it is a serious threat to the native people's health, culture, and environment. The Bureau of Land Management should never have approved it, but the administration pushed hard for its approval and is defending it in court. The Thacker Pass project not only fails the basic … [Read more...] about Thacker Pass project — another travesty
Indigenous culture
A Rejection of the Rights of Nature
Nathaniel Stratton When discussing the latest controversies regarding climate change, you have to talk about Line 3. Line 3 was a pipeline built in the early 1960s from the oil fields in southern Canada down through Minnesota, transporting hundreds of millions of barrels of crude oil to the states each year. Over the years, the pipeline corroded significantly, cutting its … [Read more...] about A Rejection of the Rights of Nature
A few good reads for the week
Here are several articles that look at food, the pandemic, and other topics from a more holistic point of view than we usually see, showing the need for re-thinking in these areas. From the current issue of Yes! Magazine — the 'Community Power issue'. What’s in a Social Justice Diet?The Light at the EndWhat Indian Country Remembers About SurvivalWe Had … [Read more...] about A few good reads for the week
Thanksgiving Prayer
As many celebrate Thanksgiving Day, remember Thanks Giving is daily. The People of the Longhouse, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) People, have for centuries all times of the year for many occasions given thanks to all life.… Give thanks in your own way and enjoy and share this version of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address.—American Indian Institute Greetings to the … [Read more...] about Thanksgiving Prayer
Sharing My Grandfather’s Tale
If we want to know how it was, before change and the possible future, we can turn to the “Old Ones”. They will tell us the stories; if we only but listen. In one of the many recesses of his rolltop desk, my grandfather kept a small tobacco tin. If I asked, he would open it so I could spread the contents out on the table. There would be the sound then of old coin … [Read more...] about Sharing My Grandfather’s Tale
Decolonizing America for a Sustainable Future
by Maison Allen What if Europeans never settled in North America? Would the land in this country have remained unharmed? Would the environment be in better condition than it is today? Unlike colonists, the Native people did not treat the Earth as a consumable good. While there is no way to answer these questions, taking a look at the way Indigenous people lived … [Read more...] about Decolonizing America for a Sustainable Future
Colonialism
The U.S. was built through settler colonialism, which involves taking over lands already in use by other people, displacing the people and often destroying their cultures. (Sometimes the goal was simply to use the land for their own settlements; in other cases the goal was to extract minerals & other resources. In the U.S. & Canada, settlers not only made war on the … [Read more...] about Colonialism
Sustainability and the Rights of Future Generations
by Leah Boecker “Unsustainable actions have affected the ecological processes and functions that keep our planet stable… violating the human rights of younger and future generations by taking away their opportunity to live in a healthy, stable living environment.” Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms to which all individuals are entitled, often held to include … [Read more...] about Sustainability and the Rights of Future Generations
Planning for the Seventh Generation
The principle of planning for the next seven generations has its origins in the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy, founded in the tenth century, by the Oneida, Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora nations. Oren Lyons, Chief of the Onondaga Nation, writes: ‘We are looking ahead, as one of the first mandates given us as chiefs is to make sure and to make every … [Read more...] about Planning for the Seventh Generation