Lost Connection to the Environment
By: Tonya Foust Mead
According to the Sierra Club, "switching from driving an average car to a 13mpg SUV for one year would waste more energy than if you...
* Left your refrigerator door open for 6 years
* Left your bathroom light burning for 30 years or
* Left your color television turned on for 28 years."
The SUV has served as vehicle for status and a symbol of aggrandizement. Likewise, to those worried about the environment, the SUV and its users symbolize an attitude of gluttony that one can ill afford. Unfortunately, as the world demonizes the SUV and its owners, other activities nonconducive to the promotion of a vibrant environment escapes inspection.
We have received virtually no direction from our leaders. Should we conserve energy, switch to fuel efficient cars, replace plastic bags with paper bags at the grocery store, re-cycle our older model refrigerators and other appliances and purchase energy efficient models? Should we return to the days in which solar panels were touted? Should we invest in ethanol? The list of questions goes on.
Then I am reminded of something that I came across while reading about spirituality. In 1854, a piece of wisdom on the environment came from an unexpected source, Chief Seattle.
Read below.
Letter of Chief Seathl (Seattle) of the Suwamish Tribe to the President of the United States of America,
Franklin Pierce, 1854
The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. The Great Chief also sends us words of friendship and good will. This is kind of him, since we know he has little need of our friendship in return. But we will consider your offer. For we know that if we do not sell, the white man may come with guns and take our land.
How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every midst in the dark woods, every clearing, and every humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the tree carries the memories of the red man. So, when the Great Chief in Washington seeds word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us…
Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. What ever he does to the web, he does to himself. But we will consider your offer to go to the reservation you have for my people. We will live apart, and in peace.
It matters little where we spend the rest of our days. Our children have seen their fathers humbled in defeat. Our warriors have felt shame, and after defeat they turn their days in idleness and contaminate their bodies with sweet foods and strong drinks. It matters little where we spend the rest of our days. They are not many. A few more hours, a few more winters, and none of the great tribes that once lived on this earth or that roan now in small bands in the woods will be left to mourn the graves of a people once as powerful and hopeful as yours. But why should I mourn the passing of my people? Tribes are made of men, nothing more. Men come and go, like the waves of the sea. Even the white man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend cannot be exempt from the common destiny.
One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover—our God is the same God. You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land; but you cannot. He is the God of man; and his compassion is equal for the red man and the white. This earth is precious to Him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. The whites too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.
But in your perishing you will shine brightly, fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man. That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires. Where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival. So we will consider your offer to buy the land.
If we agree, it will be to secure the reservation you have promised. There, perhaps, we may live out our brief days as we wish. When the last red man has vanished from this earth, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, these shores and forests will still hold the spirits of my people. For they love this earth as a newborn loves his mother’s heartbeat. So, if we sell our land, love it as we’ve loved it. Care for it as we’ve cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you take it. And with all your strength, with all your mind, with all your heart, preserve it for your children, and love it… as God loves us all. One thing we know. Our God is the same God. This earth is precious to Him. Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see…
*Emphasis added.
Reference
Ed McGaa (Eagle Man), Mother Earth Spirituality, (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1989) page xi-xii.
According to the Sierra Club, "switching from driving an average car to a 13mpg SUV for one year would waste more energy than if you...
* Left your refrigerator door open for 6 years
* Left your bathroom light burning for 30 years or
* Left your color television turned on for 28 years."
The SUV has served as vehicle for status and a symbol of aggrandizement. Likewise, to those worried about the environment, the SUV and its users symbolize an attitude of gluttony that one can ill afford. Unfortunately, as the world demonizes the SUV and its owners, other activities nonconducive to the promotion of a vibrant environment escapes inspection.
We have received virtually no direction from our leaders. Should we conserve energy, switch to fuel efficient cars, replace plastic bags with paper bags at the grocery store, re-cycle our older model refrigerators and other appliances and purchase energy efficient models? Should we return to the days in which solar panels were touted? Should we invest in ethanol? The list of questions goes on.
Then I am reminded of something that I came across while reading about spirituality. In 1854, a piece of wisdom on the environment came from an unexpected source, Chief Seattle.
Read below.
Letter of Chief Seathl (Seattle) of the Suwamish Tribe to the President of the United States of America,
Franklin Pierce, 1854
The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. The Great Chief also sends us words of friendship and good will. This is kind of him, since we know he has little need of our friendship in return. But we will consider your offer. For we know that if we do not sell, the white man may come with guns and take our land.
How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every midst in the dark woods, every clearing, and every humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the tree carries the memories of the red man. So, when the Great Chief in Washington seeds word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us…
Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. What ever he does to the web, he does to himself. But we will consider your offer to go to the reservation you have for my people. We will live apart, and in peace.
It matters little where we spend the rest of our days. Our children have seen their fathers humbled in defeat. Our warriors have felt shame, and after defeat they turn their days in idleness and contaminate their bodies with sweet foods and strong drinks. It matters little where we spend the rest of our days. They are not many. A few more hours, a few more winters, and none of the great tribes that once lived on this earth or that roan now in small bands in the woods will be left to mourn the graves of a people once as powerful and hopeful as yours. But why should I mourn the passing of my people? Tribes are made of men, nothing more. Men come and go, like the waves of the sea. Even the white man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend cannot be exempt from the common destiny.
One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover—our God is the same God. You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land; but you cannot. He is the God of man; and his compassion is equal for the red man and the white. This earth is precious to Him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. The whites too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.
But in your perishing you will shine brightly, fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man. That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires. Where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival. So we will consider your offer to buy the land.
If we agree, it will be to secure the reservation you have promised. There, perhaps, we may live out our brief days as we wish. When the last red man has vanished from this earth, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, these shores and forests will still hold the spirits of my people. For they love this earth as a newborn loves his mother’s heartbeat. So, if we sell our land, love it as we’ve loved it. Care for it as we’ve cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you take it. And with all your strength, with all your mind, with all your heart, preserve it for your children, and love it… as God loves us all. One thing we know. Our God is the same God. This earth is precious to Him. Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see…
*Emphasis added.
Reference
Ed McGaa (Eagle Man), Mother Earth Spirituality, (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1989) page xi-xii.
Dr. Mead, PhD,
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