Native Americans and Climategreenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread |
http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu/fall99/fall99johnson.htmlThis may be a little long, although no longer than a magazine article. But, if you're interested in Native culture and/or climate, it's a worthwhile read. (Perhaps, especially, if you're not.)
[clip]"If we are truly looking at the impact of climate change on the United States we absolutely must include Indians," Maynard said. "You can't just pretend it [Indian Country] doesn't exist, because the issues are the same, but there are other issues as well. And we should bloody well pay attention to. them."
Maynard has found that Native peoples prove valuable in sorting out the complexities of climate change.
"The Native American philosophy is to live in harmony with the environment, as part of it," Maynard said. "The philosophy, the culture, the whole way Native Americans approach being part of the environment as opposed to [simply] using it."
Lyons cited a section of the Handsome Lake Code first delivered 200 years ago:
"There will come a time when the Earth will be covered with smoke, and it will take the young and the elderly first."
Said NASA scientist Maynard, "Given the incredible amount of impact humans are having on this planet, if we don't begin, as an entire race or culture, to adopt the kind of philosophy that the Native Americans articulate so well-about how you interact with your environment-we aren't going to have one."
-- (Last=First@First.=Last), January 19, 2000
Are these the same at one with the environment people who stampeded buffalo over cliffs for an easy kill, letting the excess rot? Who started grass fires to herd game, thus allowing water erosion on the resulting barren plains? Who wiped out the large mammal population of North AMerica (cave bear, mastodon, mammoth, irish elk, great camels, giant sloths, etc etc) through over-hunting, causing mass extinction? Whose racial wars wiped out entire peoples (anyone see an Erie recently, a tribe decimated even before the eponymous Lake was first seen by whites)?I like and respect the Indians, but come on, to say they are more noble than the rest of humanity is a little bit revisionist.
-- Sampson (Sampson@Ready.net), January 19, 2000.
Wow what a read."""Native communities half a world away. If it affects the ice and alters animal behavior, then it is certainly going to affect the Inuit, the Yupik, the Cree, the Dogrib and all the other peoples that have established a close cultural connection to the ice."""
Well this is interesting, Dogrib tribe getting some notice. Suprising as they only have a few thousand members or so. I used to live in their land by the Great Slave Lake. As a group the northern natives are called the Dene Nation. Real nice laid back folk. Of course there are effects from the society to the south, not the least is the effects of the church led schools up there in the past.
"""Native communities half a world away""" What a pile of CRAP, where do these folk think Canada is? The distance to the Dene is shorter than from L.A. to New York. The real distance is from reality.
The Great Slave Lake is one of the largest lakes in the world draining into the Mackenzie River to its end, the Arctic Ocean. The Mackenzie River Basin is also one of the largest watersheds in the world. A vast quantity of the worlds fresh water soaks into the muskeg that covers thousands of square miles. Every year this drains and is evaporated so the water level drops by 4 to 5 feet by the end of the summer to be replenished with the snow melt in the spring.
It is an incredible and fragile ecosystem yet practically unknown. In all of the NWT Canada there are only 50,000 people. Trust me you couldn't imagine the lack of civilization up there. And hardly no one goes to the Barrens as it is only accessible by boat or float plane during the summer, although there are winter roads that can take trucks in for supplies.
The ignorance is profound. The arctic is changing and it doesn't have the ability to adapt to changes. The environment is ageless, dwarf trees, muskeg, shrubs, herbs and wildlife that has only known the cold. But it is not the effect of the heat that will kill them it is the lack of water.
The area is a desert, with 10 or less inches of water a year, that means if the summer is longer and more water flows or is evaporated then the environment will change dramatically. They recieve virutally no rain during the summer so you only have the snow and springwater to supply the land.
This is a huge risk that no one seems to be aware of. And you might ask why I do? It is because of living and working on the Great Slave Lake with the Dogribs and the Chip people for 5 yrs. And since then this little pocket of information has always been on my mind.
I believe that the scope of the problem could never be discribed to people that have never lived on the big lake or the land around it. The vastness and the beauty of the land is awe inspiring at times. And it is in serious risk. It doesn't take rocket science to imagine the impact to the north and most likely the south if the evironment screws up. IMHO there is going to be little change in the Status Quo of Western Civilization, the path is set.
So I am wondering how the Easterners are enjoying the Cold.
Weather shifts are likely to be getting worse as time goes on.
We can learn the hard way or learn the easy way.
You choose.
Keep your liners dry