“our use of the land relates to our need for food, for shelter, for clothing, and beyond… There are things we need to live and breathe everyday. But beside that we need pleasure. We need to be loved and we need to have the support of our community and the love that people surrounding us can give us…if those two ideas and ideals can work together, then we can see how we can either impact the land in a negative way or in a positive way.”(OI, Armstrong, 68) Ideally, “human beings can actually play a richly positive role in the web of life as a keystone species that creates conditions conducive to life for all beings.” (OI, Nelson, xxii)
A story from the Hopi elders, told by Thomas Banyacya, “His story was that the world had more or less come to an end a few times” by way of “an inattention to and a disrespect for nature that had been at the root of [the] problem.” (OI, Mohawk, 215) But those had survived who remembered and practiced the ethics of reciprocity, “a survival strategy” (OI, Mohawk, *)“The Elders say that if you don’t care for the plants and animals, they don’t take care of you. That’s reciprocity.” (OI, Martinez, et.al., 90) “Indigenous and other traditional cultures know that if you want something to continue, to be sustainable, and be a vibrant, living entity, you have to have an active reciprocal relationship with it.” (OI, Nelson, 189-190) And since everything has its own purpose – “And plants act in the plants own best interest…not in another species best interest.” (OI, Mohawk, 128) “The healthy relationship between a human society and a plant has to be reciprocal. The plant has to benefit from it and the human has to benefit from it. Alas,” it’s not “clear whether some of these plants have been colonized by humans, or whether the humans have been colonized by the plants!” (OI, Mohawk, 129) “Humans …have been intimately involved as top carnivores and as keystone species, and when they’ve been removed from those practices that were ecologically appropriate, systems have tended to unravel and unintended negative cascading ecological consequences have occurred. We’re also keystone if we’re doing destructive practices, but by changing our practices, we can have a positive effect on the ecosystem.” (OI, Martinez, et.al., 107) People play an important part, for better or worse, and this reciprocal interaction is important for the health of nature, as well as our own. So “We have a duty to maintain this relationship.” (OI, Gilbert, 38) For example, without people to “harvest and thin out the clams…clam beds have died.” Likewise, the “mystical plant,” corn, “it assumes the stature of a goddess, but it is one of those plants that can’t survive in the wild. It has to have humans.” (OI, Mohawk, 129) In the same way that the demand of an infants suckling creates the supply of milk that is needed, the best way for humans to ensure nature will provide is to use it intelligently. Indeed, in such cases, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” (OI, Nelson, 189) The challenge for humans is learning to interact with nature intelligently and fairly – in a way that’s good for both. As Indigenous Elders say, if we learn to take care of nature, then it will take care of us.
So our relationship with nature need not be hands off, but simply good for both. For when it comes to living things, we are entitled to intelligent use. But it is how we use things, how we interact, that makes all the difference. We live in “complex reciprocal relationships between diverse ecological and human cultures,” (OI, Nelson, xxi), and despite what we have learned from too much recent experience, “humans are actually good for the land scape IF they find this proper behavior with their landscapes, this moral behavior.” (OI, Martinez, et.al., 102)
That is, when we live by our “’Original Instructions’ ,,, blueprints for how to live sustainably within our home ecosystems…they also describe how to interact with ‘all our relations’.”(OI, Nelson, 290)
“By living in harmony and developing a respect of all living things Indigenous Peoples developed a symbiotic relationship with nature.”(OI, Settee, 44) And they did this by thinking dynamically, looking into the future, keeping “their eyes on the time horizon of seven generations.” (OI, Nelson, xxi)
(Discuss domestication…)
A story from the Hopi elders, told by Thomas Banyacya, “His story was that the world had more or less come to an end a few times” by way of “an inattention to and a disrespect for nature that had been at the root of [the] problem.” (OI, Mohawk, 215) But those had survived who remembered and practiced the ethics of reciprocity, “a survival strategy” (OI, Mohawk, *)“The Elders say that if you don’t care for the plants and animals, they don’t take care of you. That’s reciprocity.” (OI, Martinez, et.al., 90) “Indigenous and other traditional cultures know that if you want something to continue, to be sustainable, and be a vibrant, living entity, you have to have an active reciprocal relationship with it.” (OI, Nelson, 189-190) And since everything has its own purpose – “And plants act in the plants own best interest…not in another species best interest.” (OI, Mohawk, 128) “The healthy relationship between a human society and a plant has to be reciprocal. The plant has to benefit from it and the human has to benefit from it. Alas,” it’s not “clear whether some of these plants have been colonized by humans, or whether the humans have been colonized by the plants!” (OI, Mohawk, 129) “Humans …have been intimately involved as top carnivores and as keystone species, and when they’ve been removed from those practices that were ecologically appropriate, systems have tended to unravel and unintended negative cascading ecological consequences have occurred. We’re also keystone if we’re doing destructive practices, but by changing our practices, we can have a positive effect on the ecosystem.” (OI, Martinez, et.al., 107) People play an important part, for better or worse, and this reciprocal interaction is important for the health of nature, as well as our own. So “We have a duty to maintain this relationship.” (OI, Gilbert, 38) For example, without people to “harvest and thin out the clams…clam beds have died.” Likewise, the “mystical plant,” corn, “it assumes the stature of a goddess, but it is one of those plants that can’t survive in the wild. It has to have humans.” (OI, Mohawk, 129) In the same way that the demand of an infants suckling creates the supply of milk that is needed, the best way for humans to ensure nature will provide is to use it intelligently. Indeed, in such cases, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” (OI, Nelson, 189) The challenge for humans is learning to interact with nature intelligently and fairly – in a way that’s good for both. As Indigenous Elders say, if we learn to take care of nature, then it will take care of us.
So our relationship with nature need not be hands off, but simply good for both. For when it comes to living things, we are entitled to intelligent use. But it is how we use things, how we interact, that makes all the difference. We live in “complex reciprocal relationships between diverse ecological and human cultures,” (OI, Nelson, xxi), and despite what we have learned from too much recent experience, “humans are actually good for the land scape IF they find this proper behavior with their landscapes, this moral behavior.” (OI, Martinez, et.al., 102)
That is, when we live by our “’Original Instructions’ ,,, blueprints for how to live sustainably within our home ecosystems…they also describe how to interact with ‘all our relations’.”(OI, Nelson, 290)
“By living in harmony and developing a respect of all living things Indigenous Peoples developed a symbiotic relationship with nature.”(OI, Settee, 44) And they did this by thinking dynamically, looking into the future, keeping “their eyes on the time horizon of seven generations.” (OI, Nelson, xxi)
(Discuss domestication…)