Volume 20 Winter 2008 Issue No. 2
In This Issue:
Native Green
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EDITOR'S ESSAY
We All Must Learn to Live Respectfully
By Tina Deschenie
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When I sat down to write this essay on sustainability, I didn’t know where to start. This month’s theme has opened my eyes and ears to so much information. Everything is connected to the environment – how we live, what we eat, what we wear, what we drive, and how we build. It all matters.
During a panel presentation at the UNITY Conference, sponsored by journalists of color in Chicago this August, I was riveted by the comments of environmental activist Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe). She discussed globalization, economies, and the role of the media. LaDuke has twice been the Green Party vice-presidential candidate with Ralph Nader.
LaDuke asked us to recall who opposed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people when the United Nations General Assembly voted to accept it last year. Those “no” votes were cast by the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. She called globalization an extension of colonialism – a means of taking others’ resources in uranium, coal, and water. She said these issues are marginalized, even in the media.
The United States has the world’s largest energy economy, she says. “We’re junkies when it comes to oil and climate change. We hang out with dealers of bad stuff.” She asked us in the Native media how we’re preparing communities to be “at the table and not on the menu.”
When James Makawa, her African-American co-panelist, talked about needing to get “a piece of the pie,” LaDuke responded, “We’re not fighting for a piece of the pie -- we want a whole other pie.” She also talked about re-localizing the economy by supporting communities’ efforts to grow food for their own use, as opposed to “exporting locally grown food to a gourmet economy.”
She questioned the effect of the media on our consumer lifestyle. As she put it, “We’re into really stupid stuff… We need to figure out how to live in dignity.” I could quote her entire speech, but instead I suggest that you read her in “Voices” this issue.
One of my doctoral classes this fall involves reading essays written by Dr. Daniel Wildcat (Euchee) from Power and Place: Indian Education in America, which he co-wrote with Vine Deloria, Jr. (Lakota). A diagram in one of the essays is particularly powerful so I’m presenting it here:
Wildcat points out that we Native people have clans and relationships that include animals, plants, and features of the landscape. As a Diné and Hopi woman, I am Ta’neeszahnii (Tangle), born for Tó’aheedlíinii (Water flows together), and of the Hopi Tewa Corn clan. My clans are plants and water so that I talk about myself as being of those elements, of those beings. Among Native people, our clan systems foster respect for all living beings around us.
In our Diné Creation stories, we talk about certain animals or mountains that speak and hold certain truths. As a Diné person who believes in this way, it is difficult to watch our environment scarred by coal extraction to feed an ever-growing demand for electricity or to observe expanded oil drilling to feed our increasing demand for cheaper gas.
As we know, oil is also used to make the plastic for bottled water, which we buy by the case and often neglect to properly recycle. After the recent spike in gas prices, many auto dealerships greatly expanded financing opportunities so that people could continue to buy gas-guzzling trucks and cars. The local “big box” stores and city malls continue to feed the need to shop, the need to keep up with ever-changing trends. We pay little attention to the non-renewable energy and natural resources we must expend in order to keep up this mindless consumerism.
We Native people must recall our original family; we must remember that our environment is not just about us humans. In this issue, read how Wildcat is helping to address these issues in major initiatives.
Dr. Larry Emerson (Diné), as a community member, has helped to shape policy to make public education more responsive to Native community needs in New Mexico. Recently, I attended a chapter house session he facilitated on historic trauma and heard some inspiring responses. One man said, “We have learned how to copy others really well. But we need our own teachings and our self-identity as Diné people. We are Diné people. We do not have white skin.”
The man emphasized that communication using traditional stories is essential. In his article, Emerson suggests that we can learn to use Indigenous knowledge to analyze anything. His critique of plastic water bottles inspired a lot of discussion among us staffers at Tribal College Journal.
It is always educational to share the efforts of the tribal colleges and universities (TCUs). Mary Annette Pember (Red Cliff Tribe of Wisconsin Ojibwe) brings us up to date on the various campus initiatives in “green” building and operations. Barbara Smith reports on the use of case studies in college classrooms (based on actual scenarios in Native communities). We profile Leroy Silva (Laguna Pueblo), a Haskell graduate and a wellness teacher, who is helping his adolescent students to understand good nutrition and personal wellness.
Closer to home, we are now printing TCJ on recycled paper. In our offices, we recycle all our paper, and we use reusable containers. No plastic bottles of water here. Among many other startling facts, we learned that it takes 700 years before a plastic bottle begins to decompose in a landfill! We also learned that bottled water costs between $1 and $4 per gallon, and that 90% of the cost is in the lid, bottle, and label. But the most troubling to me is the idea of bottled water as both a “colonizing force” and a “colonized force.”
I’ve heard a great deal lately from a local tribal college student about her environmental science class, and I envy all the TCU students who have access to instructors who can meld current information with Native perspectives and teachings. I admire NASA and the Climate Institute and scientists who are collaborating with Native people like Dr. Wildcat, James Rattling Leaf, Albert White Hat, and many others. Their work will surely impact how the rest of the world treats our Mother Earth.
In the long run, this work is all about sustainability – ensuring others can live into future generations. It’s also about accepting responsibility for change, for we all surely can educate ourselves on how to live more respectfully.
Tina Deschenie (Diné/Hopi) worked in Indian education prior to joining the Tribal College Journal as editor in 2006.