Category Archives: Native American
First Nations protesting Red Chris mining
Powerful video here. I just don’t understand why he didn’t want to talk to them nor drink the water…/snarky to the extreme
What price for food that is edible or water that does not contain heavy metals? What price for healthy bodies from unpolluted air, water, and soil?
What price for life?
First Nations ask for Public Inquiry into Mount Polley
The First Nations of Canada sent a letter to Stephen Harper and Christy Clark asking for investigation into the Mount Polley disaster and for mining reform.
I’m sure Stephen Harper will jump right on that…/snarky for sure
My blog on Mount Polley here.
Gotta love humor against ignorance…
As always, I love when we can laugh while trying to make sense of the nonsensical.
From Carol A Hand’s blog on the Daily Show:
Navajo finally get their day in court
This will help give back to them what was taken from them. I hope this will help them become more autonomous as all Native American tribes once were. Here in Indiana, there are folks who are leaving their land to the local tribes…as a way to give back to them.
Protected: The down and up day
Spirituality and Rationality
(This blog is on spirituality, so if it’s not your thing…)
Dr. Carol Hand has one of the most stirring blogs on spirituality I’ve ever read.
I love, love, love, the Native American approach to spirituality–they don’t dictate to each other or complete strangers what they should believe or how they should worship. They worry more about their own spiritual path than others’.
When I was growing up, my belief was that the world could only know Peace if we were all Christians–hence the reason for missionaries and witnessing to others our beliefs.
It took my taking a class on religion in college to realize that despite what you might hear in the press or religious leaders, we aren’t that far apart in our beliefs. As I’ve written about before, all religions have the eerily similar belief in treating others as you wish to be treated. This was such a powerful discovery for me–as at this time, after my divorce and the turmoil that followed, I was questioning God’s existence.
Two things happened that brought me “back”–one is a dream I’ll keep private, and the other is my daughter going through a terrible time. She made it through, although she still has “days” that I think are more related to the poison in her mouth (amalgams) than to anything else.
Anyway, Carol’s post highlights the Native American tradition of seeing women as connected directly to God by our ability to give life. I love this. The European tradition as seeing menstruation as “dirty” –something to be ashamed of, others see it as the blood that gives life to the growing baby. As I wrote that, The Red Tent popped into my head. Even though women were banished to the tent for menstruating, they had a wonderful camaraderie that is absent in our society today. (Not only that, Big Pharma has developed a Pill to stop women from menstruating for three months (or more)…someone I knew was getting married and didn’t want to have her period on her wedding day….unbelievable. God, how Big Pharma must hate women and their icky periods….)
Back on subject—
It does make sense to keep one’s visions to oneself–lest it create jealousy or judgment. Wise.
This passage was powerful and reflected my own conclusions:
When I realize that the temptation to judge and compete with others is becoming too strong to resist, I look at the context and forces around me. Often I find that it’s time for me to change course, to be honest about what is my responsibility to do, and to simplify and refocus my life on what really matters on my path. I have a responsibility to do what I can in my thoughts and actions to end and prevent harm. I have a responsibility to judge actions and their consequences, but I cannot judge or demonize others whose paths I can never know.
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It is hard to resist those powerful urge to judge and compete with others…but if one truly follows the “do unto others..” it helps keep one on the right path. After all, we can only control our own actions and reactions, not those of others.
Peace to you all.
The ingenuity of organic farmers
So…one of the members of the organic farmers group posted about an onslaught of bugs eating his plants–he petitioned for help.
The suggestions made me smile at their ingenuity:
–one suggested using grass clippings for the bugs to munch on so they would leave the good plants alone.
–adopt a lizard.
–put up birdhouses in the surrounding area (great idea!)
–spray a mixture of honey/sugar and lard/oil over the ground near the plants to attract wasps, hornets, and ants that are predators.
–another suggestion was leaving rotting vegetation around (straw, hay, grass clippings, wood chips) so the bugs would eat that instead, and if all else fails with an infestation…get out the dustbuster. Haha.
Finally, a member commented that one of the “pests” –-a pill bug — ate heavy metals….so there you go–nature taking care of the bad stuff. Another mentioned that they are great soil builders, so you really want them around–you just need to provide something else, like the rotting vegetation, for them to munch on. They prefer it over the new plants.
Just thought I’d pass this along for anyone else wanting to get away from the toxic chemical solution–
2014 King Kamehameha Parade
Reposting this as a link instead of reblogging it–I keep forgetting that the pictures are all reprinted, causing the page to load too slowly. Oops.
Fracking wastewater being pumped into wells
Have these people completely lost their minds?
One New York state study found radioactivity in fracking waste water at 267 times the level considered safe for human consumption. Other studies found several cancer-causing contaminants in fracking waste water. The report cites arsenic, lead, hexavalent chromium, barium, chloride, sodium, sulfates, boron, benzene and radioactive agents.
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You might remember hexavalent chromium…it was the stuff used by PG & E featured in the movie, Erin Brockovich.
It, as well as benzene, are known cancer causing agents. Arsenic and lead, of course, are heavy metals that cause neurological damage and in enough amounts–death.
It is just mindboggling that the fracking proponents look the other way at the damage caused by the fracking process. All that matters to them is getting the gas out of the ground, no matter the consequences. Well, it has a way of coming back on you…quality of life goes down…healthcare costs go up…and each generation suffers more DNA damage.
Eagle 