I read a lot of stuff online. In the boonies it's pretty much where you are going to get all of your news. Sometimes in the morning I will turn on the news on the TV and listen to them in the background as I do my morning abulations. One thing I noticed when it comes to the world of 'Native' News is that most...if not all...of media will automatically lump Native people in the 'Environmentalist' category. This always makes me frown because it is so wrong on so many levels.
I know part of the reason for it is it's so easy to do. You see people in parkas carrying signs at D.C. saying 'NO DRILLING!' and 'SAVE OUR OCEAN!' you will automatically say to yourself....they must be hippies and tree-huggers. Environmentalists.
But we are not Enviromentalists.
We are more selfish than that. More alien than that.
This blog entry sat as a draft for a very long time, because I was trying to think of a word that better captures what we are about. Culturalists. Survivalist. Subsistencists. Simbioticists. Community-ists. A hundred words I could use to describe our relationship with the environment but none seem to fit just right. But we are not environmentalists.
Environmentalists want to save the environment from humans, and we on the other hand want to save the environment to save ourselves. A clean environment for us means a clean body and mind. Environmentalists want to separate man and place, we on the other hand want to tie ourselves closer and make our destinies the same. If you think about it then our way will actually lead to a cleaner and forever world. Because who wants to contaminate and sell the food on your own table? It's like having only one grocery store. Forever. And you knew this store was the only store you would ever be able to use, and the only store future generations would know. Wouldn't you take care of it? Paint it once a year. Fill the potholes in the parking lot. Keep the aisles clean and uncontaminated?
Well that is how we see the natural world. Our one and only forever grocery store. Our only garden.
And that does not make us environmentalists. Instead we become one of the beings that live in that area, not just a visitor taking photos to post on facebook. We make deep trails across the tundra as we travel, exactly like the caribou do. Exactly like the sheep do from mountain to mountain. We drink from the streams and glaciers. Exactly like the wolverines do. We break willow branches to use, exactly like the moose does. We follow the game and wish for them, exactly like the wolves do. We hide from the storms and build appropriate shelters, exactly like the rabbits do. We are part of this world. Not better than this world. Not above this world. Not separate from this world. And this is the message we hope everyone understands.
We are not environmentalists. We are Inclusionists. We are Old-schoolists. Bind-ists. Forever-ists. We see the natural world as a family member, a respected elder, a favorite uncle. Our connection to this world is a relationship that must be tended to and defended and upheld. It is not a dead or temporary thing. And in any after-life, we all believe we will be held accountable for our actions, or our inaction.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful words. Your description of your relationship with your land and environment just took my understanding of Native relationships with the land to a new level.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteVery well said Cousin, we continue the ways of our ancestors so that the future generations of the Inuit Cultures may experience what we did and not just read about it in the books, I was just at Sheldon Jackson Museum and studied 129 masks from Tikigaq, most of them were collected in 1891 by Sheldon Jackson... Incredible, I will be giving a presentation to the community in the fall... Just to let you know...
ReplyDeleteAlways good to hear from you Art!
DeleteI will have to go and see those masks one of these days. For sure.
in the fall at Point Hope?
Thanks for this. Actually for everything on your blog. I've had the pleasure of visiting many native communities in Alaska, but can only get brief glimpses of the culture by doing so. I appreciate your effort and eloquent words to bring your voice out to the rest of us - a perspective people don't often get to hear.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteI will say also, that many of us who could be considered "Environmentalists" also do not fit into the caricature you describe. We are capable of developing a connection to our own places, even without the benefit of thousands of years of history, and we don't all desire to separate humans from the environment. Many of the big fights in the environmental movement (like the fight against climate change) really are fights to preserve a world that works for people to live in, and to move global society to something sustainable - even in the cultures that have gotten so far away from it.
ReplyDeleteI think the problem with the term and they way it is used in this day and age is that it can mean any type of person who has an affinity for nature. Nothing more specific than that. It is also used to describe anyone who opposes development. We do not oppose development, in fact we as a people profit from development and happen to own the richest company in the state of Alaska. We do not believe nature should not be affected and used by humans, we do however believe that if done with any type of percentage of risk to our future stores that it should be opposed. I think this type of thinking is different than most that people would consider 'envirolmentalist'
DeleteI believe you both understand how so many of us want to relate to our world and hopefully the world we will pass onto the next generations.
DeleteThanks for voicing your thoughts. It is a conversation I wish was more global and that we worked to truly understand each other's focus.
VB
I think you're doing environmentalists a disservice. I would consider myself one and I view nature more as you seem to. The Earth is not dead, it simply moves at a different pace from humans. We need to respect that and align ourselves more with the way the Earth works, not just for ourselves but for all creatures and those yet to come because it is anyone's and everyone's home. The Earth is not simply "a resource". And anyone who tries to divorce themselves from nature is stupid. Nature is unavoidable, and it is more powerful, more intricate, and more perfect than we can imagine. I know that even with my environmental focus, I'm still a blight on the land. But at least I'm trying. When we hunt, when we fish, when my garden produces food, I'm thankful every time. These are not things I could do or have without nature.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post!
DeleteWe once had a professional 'green' environmentalist tour specialist try and explain to us why we had to place rocks back if we used them, while we were camping. And this is a person from a very rich and well respected ...and hug...company. We did not get along that well and my husband eventually left the board.
Our views are also different in that we do see this world as resources. Our tribe profits from the oil drilling done on the slope. It supports our systems. It sends our children to college. It pays for research of a greener and more efficient way of dealing with trash, and for research for better communication systems. We do not automatically abhor development. What we do believe is that there are some. Consequences of development that will affect wether or not we will be able to eat in the future. We also believe that we are not working to save or be well to nature. Nature can get rid of us in a heartbeat. We are working to save ourselves.
Arigaa, Nasugruq, quyagikpin una. Uqallautaqtutin.
ReplyDelete-Aqukkasuk
I think part of the reason is because it is easier to tell people to "stay out!" of natural environments than it is to encourage a mutual relationship with nature. I don't think all environmentalists think this way, but it's an effective approach with lawmakers and others who decide the fate of ecosystems. It can't be the only approach though.
ReplyDelete