Native
Americans and the Environment: A survey of twentieth century issues with
particular reference to peoples of the Colorado Plateau and Southwest
(page 10 of 10)
Author: David Rich Lewis. Adapted from: Lewis, David R. 1995. "Native Americans and the Environment: A survey of twentieth century issues." American Indian Quarterly, 19: 423-450, by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Visit the University of Nebraska Press website at nebraskapress.unl.edu/.
Conclusion
In a world where technology and communications are erasing distances
and isolation, Indian peoples wrestle with the same material and environmental
choices facing the international community. Where once Coyote stories
warned against victimization by selfish misuse, laws now stand. According
to Bill Yellowtail, a Crow and EPA Regional Director in Denver, "These
days we (Indians, too) are reduced to regulations and bureaucrats and
environmental impact statements. But the fatal flaw in legalism alone
is that it relieves us of any necessity for ethical investment. With a
sound philosophical core we might restore sensibility to humanity's imperative
struggle: that is, to reconcile our materialistic appetite with the desperate
reality that our life-space is not infinite after all." This is the
challenge: finding some equilibrium between development and environment.
There is no Indian consensus, no tribal consensus on how to proceed. Case
by case, tribes address use and preservation issues in ways they see as
most beneficial for their people. Each decision is a tradeoff between
self and community, between visions of what the present and future could
and should be. Tribal decisions have not always been environmentally benign,
and Indian individuals have not always acted in the best long-term interests
of the land. Locally and nationally, Native environmentalists have challenged
the politics of their own tribal development, faced down government agencies
and multinational corporations. With names like Indigenous Environmental
Network, Native Americans for a Cleaner Environment, Kaibab Earthkeepers,
and Dinč CARE, they work to preserve the land. By their very activism
they put their own people out of work, making life more difficult. Until
a balance is rediscovered, the futures of both the land and the peoples
of Native America remain up for grabs.
In the modern world, Native American land and resource ownership has been
no guarantee of absolute jurisdiction or proper use, however defined.
Yet land-place-remains the essence of Native identity and sovereignty.
It sets Indians apart. Where tribes retain that sovereignty, decisions
about the future of their land and resource use will be theirs to negotiate,
for good or ill. As much as anyone can in this increasingly complex world
economy, they will shape the dialogue within and between Indian communities,
corporations, governments, and environmentalists over the future of Native
environments.
Selected References (see endnotes from published article for more specific sources):
Ambler, M. 1990. Breaking the Bonds: Indian Control of Energy Development. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence.
Burton, L. 1991. American Indian Water Rights and the Limits of Law. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence.
Dinč CARE, Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, http://www.cnetco.com/~dinecare/Dine.html, 8/29/99.
Eichstaedt, P. H. 1994. If You Poison Us: Uranium and Native Americans. Crane Books, Santa Fe.
Fixico, D. L. 1998. The Invasion of Indian Country in the Twentieth Century: American Capitalism & Tribal Natural Resources. University Press of Colorado, Niwot.
Grinde, D. A. and Johansen, B. E. 1995. Ecocide of Native America: Environmental Destruction of Indian lands and Peoples. Clear Light, Santa Fe, NM.
Jorgensen, J. G. 1984. Native Americans and Energy Development II. Anthropology Resource Center & Seventh Generation Fund, Boston, MA.
Krech, S. I. 1999. The Ecological Indians: Myth and History. W.W. Norton, New York.
Lewis, D. R. 1994. Neither Wolf nor Dog: American Indians, Environment, and Agrarian Change. Oxford University Press, New York, 256 pp.
McGuire, T., Lord, W. B. and Wallace, M. G., editors. 1993. Indian Water in the New West. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Trimble, S. 1993. The People: Indians of the American Southwest. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, NM.
Follow these links to:
Introduction
Agriculture and Ranching
Forest and Watersheds
Hunting and Fishing
Water
Natural Resource Mining and Pollution
Waste Storage and the Atomic Threat
Tourism
Stereotypes and Interests in Conflict