Simple Changes

I’ve been thinking. Thinking about the Amazon rain forest fires, polar ice cap melting, plastic in our oceans and numerous other contributors that are destroying our environment. Thinking how our advancement in science and technology are now needed to fix the problems our progress created.

I think it is time. Time to change how we view our planet, people and nature.

I have a passion for learning about (and from) the Indigenous people on our planet, especially in Canada, where I live. The more I learn, the more I see that they have a very different world view about land, water, plants and animals.

We need to start listening.

I had the opportunity this summer to hear Elder Adrian Wolfleg of Siksika Nation speak at the Closer Look Tour: Niitsitapiisinni: Our Way of Life at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. He spoke about the history, traditions, and values of the Blackfoot people who have lived for thousands of years on the plains of Alberta and Montana.

At one point Elder Adrian Wolfleg explained how tipis were built. Whenever they cut down a tree for the frame, they planted a new tree to replace it. I commented how our world would be very different if we adopted that practice. He agreed and said that for every house we purchase, every piece of furniture we buy or make, we should replace the resources we have used.

Can you imagine? What if our government, businesses and communities thought that way? We purchase a chair or table or house, then we (the manufacturer, suppliers, sellers and us personally) contribute back to the environment by planting the appropriate number of trees, etc.?

I had a similar moment of enlightenment speaking with Dr. Patricia Makokis, Ed.D. from Saddle Lake Cree Nation this past year when I participated in the Walk for Common Ground and Treaty Talks. Dr. Makokis shared they are teaching her grandson that all life is sacred, and all animals, including insects, are his relatives – to be cared for and protected.

Indigenous people in the Amazon are saying the same thing and fighting desperately for their own survival in the rain forests and for our planet as well.

We need to start listening to the Indigenous people of this world. It is time to embrace a similar world view. To see our planet and all life as sacred.

Are you ready?

Filed under: Earth, People | Tagged: all life is sacred, climate change, indigenous world view, plant trees |