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Hundreds of Indians from Mexico, the United States and Canada gathered to ask forgiveness from what they call "our Mother Earth" and explore traditional solutions to environmental pollution in what they call a critical moment for the planet.
North American Indians assembled in the shadow of ancient Mayan pyramids Monday discussed how their tradition wisdom could help save the planet, and were told that even indigenous cultures have struggled with environmental abuse.
More than 200 leaders from 71 American Indian nations in Mexico, the United States and Canada came together in this Mexican jungle to find indigenous solutions to pollution and ecological problems threatening the planet.
"Our Mother Earth is being polluted at an alarming rate, and our elders say that she is dying," said Raymond Sensmeier, a Tlingit leader from Yakutat, Alaska. "The way the weather is around the world ... a cleansing is needed."
The conference began with a pre-dawn ceremony that included fire, copal incense, chants in Lacandon Maya and blasts from a conch shell.
Speakers reminded attendees that even Indian cultures have battled with environmental abuse and pointed to theories that deforestation contributed to the collapse of the Maya who built the temples at Palenque.
"As we stand here, very near Palenque, I am mindful that some scholars have suggested that environmental stressors contributed to the decline of the Mayan civilization," said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator Elin Miller. "The planet-wide stress on the environment today means that collaborative efforts ... are not just good things. They may well be essential for our survival."
But, as Bill Erasmus, a representative of the indigenous people of Canada's Northwest Territories noted, "part of our role is to wake up the world. It is very obvious to us all that the climate is changing."
Mexico's environment secretary, Juan Elvira Quesada, said the gathering is meant "to present the teachings of the original peoples of North America."
"In this way, the indigenous communities can become the natural guides to restoring balance and harmony in the world," he said.
The lessons they have to teach are simple — based on reviving Indian notions about ownership, use, compensation and respect.
"I sometimes talk to scientists," said Sensmeier, "and they compartmentalize things, put things in boxes and disconnect them, and doing so promotes disharmony and imbalance."
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Kuetlachtli Texotik, a Nahuatl healer from Mexico whose name means "Blue Wolf," agreed.
"Our grandfathers taught us to have an integrated vision," he said. "The important thing is to look for balance. We should take care of what does not belong to us, for the future, because it is only ours temporarily."
Indian cultures also have concrete examples to share.
Kayum Garcia's Lacandon people plant small dense, rotating fields of jungle-friendly crops in southern Mexico and avoid pasture-hungry cattle, helping preserve the jungle without cutting it down.
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Mark Stevenson
Associated Press
10 March 2008
Source: Native Times [print edition]
Not surprisingly, the online edition of this article omitted the last four paragraphs reproduced here.
Posted by: ce399 | 18 September 2008 at 21:34
Elin Miller's comments brought to you by Rupert Murdock and Mel Gibson.
Posted by: ce399 | 18 September 2008 at 22:10