NIEHS Kids' Pages
American Indians have traditionally stressed the close relationship between man and nature and the need to protect the Earth and the Earth's environment. Here are some quotations on that subject. | |
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Fools Crow, Ceremonial Chief of the Teton Sioux The survival of the world depends upon our sharing what we have and working together. if we don't, the whole world will die. First the planet, and next the people. Qwatsinas [Hereditary Chief Edward Moody], Nuxalk Nation "We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can't speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees." Chief Luther Standing Bear - Lakota Sioux: "I am going to venture that the man who sat on the ground in his tipi meditating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all creatures, and acknowledging unity with the universe of things, was infusing into his being the true essence of civilization." "The elders were wise. They knew that man's heart, away from nature, becomes hard; they knew that lack of respect for growing, living things, soon led to lack of respect for humans, too." Ancient Indian Proverb "Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children." Sioux Indian Even sticks and stones have a spiritual essence, a manifestation of the mysterious power that fills the Universe. Crazy Horse "One does not sell the land people walk on." Luther Standing Bear Oglala Sioux, 1868-1937 "The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas. He fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers, he belongs just as the buffalo belonged...." Chief Joseph, Nez Perce "All men were made brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born free should be content when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases." Black Elk Oglala Sioux Holy Man, 1863-1950 "You have noticed that everything as Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round..... The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.... Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves." Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator "What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset." Mourning Dove Salish, 1888-1936 "...... everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence." Lone Man (Isna-la-wica) Teton Sioux "... I have seen that in any great undertaking it is not enough for a man to depend simply upon himself." Resolution of the Fifth Annual Meetings of the Traditional Elders Circle, 1980 "There are many things to be shared with the Four Colors of humanity in our common destiny as one with our Mother the Earth. It is this sharing that must be considered with great care by the Elders and the medicine people who carry the Sacred Trusts, so that no harm may come to people through ignorance and misuse of these powerful forces." Tom Brown, Jr., The Tracker "We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the crow, and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off its territory. But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable energy for life." Wintu Woman, 19th Century "When we Indians kill meat, we eat it all up. When we dig roots, we make little holes. When we build houses, we make little holes. When we burn grass for grasshoppers, we don't ruin things. We shake down acorns and pine nuts. We don't chop down the trees. We only use dead wood." Unknown Speaker addressing the National Congress of American Indians in the mid 1960's "In early days we were close to nature. We judged time, weather conditions, and many things by the elements--the good earth, the blue sky, the flying of geese, and the changing winds. We looked to these for guidance and answers. Our prayers and thanksgiving were said to the four winds--to the East, from whence the new day was born; to the South, which sent the warm breeze which gave a feeling of comfort; to the West, which ended the day and brought rest; and to the North, the Mother of winter whose sharp air awakened a time of preparation for the long days ahead. We lived by God's hand through nature and evaluated the changing winds to tell us or warn us of what was ahead. Today we are again evaluating the changing winds. May we be strong in spirit and equal to our Fathers of another day in reading the signs accurately and interpreting them wisely." Stephen McCluskey 1982 The Hopi have no real professional astronomers, instead they have elders, widely educated in the ritually transmitted wisdom of clan and tribe. Other Information of Interest Iroquois Model for the Constitution: In the Iroquois Nations, political power flowed upward from the people. Although positions of political power were typically held by men, the women held the deciding vote in the selection of the group's representatives. Their whole civil policy was averse to the concentration of power in the hands of any single individual. The Iroquois maximized individual freedom and independence, while seeking to minimize excess governmental interference in people's lives. The details of their democratic system were so impressive that in the 1700's, Benjamin Franklin invited the Iroquois to Albany, New York, to explain their system to a delegation who then developed the "Albany Plan of Union." This document later served as a model for the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States. "American Indian" or "Native American": There has been considerable discussion about whether to use the term "American Indian" versus "Native American". Currently, many people prefer the former (American Indian) because they feel it is a more precise term for their population in North America. According to Russell Means, an American Indian activist and authority on the subject, the term "American Indian" is preferred for two reasons: 1) it is the only ethnic term with "American" appearing first and 2) it distinguishes the American Indian from others who are born in America and are, therefore, "native Americans" simply by place of birth. Rule of Thumb: Ask people you are working with how they prefer to be described and use the terms they give you. If people within a group do not agree on a preference, try to use the one most often used within the group. top |
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