Protect the Earth and Water
“We are here to protect the earth and the water.
This is why we are still alive. To do this very thing we are doing.
To help humanity answer its most pressing question:
How do we live with the earth again, not against it?”
~LaDonna Brave Bull Allard at Standing Rock
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#Eco-Warrior
#DreamANewEarth
We Are All Related
“In Lakota culture, we give thanks, always, for everything. We wake up, greet the morning and give thanks for making it to another sunrise. We look out and give thanks for Unci Maka (earth) and all her beauty. When it’s time to eat, we give part of our breakfast and Wakalyapi (coffee) to the spirits with a prayer of thanks. We then offer up prayers for the gorgeous day we are about to embark on. By the time I’ve ingested my food and am ready to start my day, I’ve already offered up thanks for so many things.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Being aware that the creator is responsible for everything we do, we see, we experience, is innately part of us; it’s the fabric of our culture. It helps us to stay grounded, humble, Ice Wicasa, or Ice Winyan: common man or common woman. It reminds us we are no better than anything around us, we do not rule over the grass or the pebbles just because we are larger than them.
I feel this is a lesson for all human beings, Lakota or not. This is what seems to have been forgotten in wasicu society, or perhaps they never had it. Based on their past and present history with women, and other nations, I imagine the latter is probably true.
See, in our culture Lakota women didn’t have to rise up and have a feminist movement, because we were never discriminated by our men. We are sacred in our culture. We are rulers of the roost, literally. There are issues now, between women and men, but that is due to acculturation — and that is a whole other post for another time.
Back to what I was saying, this issue of equality between human beings has always been a dividing line between our cultures and it continues to be one; manifest destiny did not, and does not, mean the same thing for everyone .
For Lakotas one of our common mantras is “Mitakuye Oyasin” — we are all related. All of us, no matter who you are (person), or what you are (grass, trees, rocks), are the same. No one is better than anyone else. Our lives really are circular, and yes, everything REALLY is related to everything else…”
~Mary Black Bonnet
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excerpt from Mitakuye Oyasin – We Are All Related
Water is Life ❤️
Sacred Earth Institute stands with Standing Rock.
“On one side is the unquestioned assumption that land is merely a warehouse of lifeless materials that have been given to (some of) us by God or conquest, to use without constraint. On this view, human happiness is best served by whatever economy most efficiently transforms water, soils, minerals, wild lives, and human yearning into corporate wealth. And so it is possible to love the bottom line on a quarterly report so fiercely that you will call out the National Guard to protect it.
On the other side of the concrete barriers is a story that is so ancient it seems revolutionary. On this view, the land is a great and nourishing gift to all beings. The fertile soil, the fresh water, the clear air, the creatures, swift or rooted: they require gratitude and veneration. These gifts are not commodities, like scrap iron and sneakers. The land is sacred, a living breathing entity, for whom we must care, as she cares for us. And so it is possible to love land and water so fiercely you will live in a tent in a North Dakota winter to protect them…”
~Robin Wall Kimmerer & Kathleen Dean Moore
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It is time for each of us to treat Mama Earth
with love, honor and respect.
Find Robin and Kathleen’s entire article here: The White Horse and the Humvees—Standing Rock Is Offering Us a Choice
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Water Is Life
We Give Thanks for All the Earth Lovers
We give thanks for all those who are moved, in their lives, to heal and protect the earth, in small ways and in large. Blessings on the composters, the gardeners, the breeders of worms and mushrooms, the soil-builders, those who cleanse the waters and purify the air, all those who clean up the messes others have made. Blessings on those who defend trees and who plant trees, who guard the forests and who renew the forests. Blessings on those who learn to heal the grasslands and renew the streams, on those who prevent erosion, who restore the salmon and the fisheries, who guard the healing herbs and who know the lore of the wild plants. Blessings on those who heal the cities and bring them alive again with excitement and creativity and love. Gratitude and blessings to all who stand against greed, who risk themselves, to those who have bled and been wounded, and to those who have given their lives in service of the earth.
May all the healers of the earth find their own healing. May they be fueled by passionate love for the earth. May they know their fear but not be stopped by fear. May they feel their anger and yet not be ruled by rage. May they honor their grief but not be paralyzed by sorrow. May they transform fear, rage, and grief into compassion and the inspiration to act in service of what they love. May they find the help, the resources, the courage, the luck, the strength, the love, the health, the joy that they need to do the work. May they be in the right place, at the right time, in the right way. May they bring alive a great awakening, open a listening ear to hear the earth’s voice, transform imbalance to balance, hate and greed to love. Blessed be the healers of the earth.
-Starhawk
Who Speaks for our Mother?
From a Shaman’s viewpoint, every part of Earth is alive and has a spirit; each blade of grass, pine tree, fox, flower, stone and drop of water is infused and flowing with spiritual essence and consciousness. Our Earth is a pulsing, flowing living system. And humans are completely interwoven and interdependent with every other form of life on the planet. All of life is interconnected; the idea that humans are separate from other life forms is simply an illusion.
Stone Memories
Our human actions have a huge effect on our Earth Mother. The history of human life is physically and energetically imprinted into the elements of Earth. The elemental structures of Earth hold our human stories of war and violence, love and connection, loss and pain; our mother stores our history within her water, soil and stones. Like a great elemental library, the body of Earth “remembers” the entire history of life on this planet.
Although humans may have long forgotten the stories, our Earth continues to hold the history of all those who lived here before us. These traumatic imprints were created through human neglect and ignorance, and they can continue to haunt us for generations. When a piece of land holds a story of human aggression, loss, disconnection, trauma or suffering, those energies continue to impact the animals and people who live, work and interact with that place years later.
Healing Mama Earth
Without some form of balancing or clearing process, a traumatic event may continue to negatively impact the land and the people who live on the land years later. Earth can stay ‘stuck’ in a state of imbalance for generations. But each of us can help our mother release old traumas and heal.
Whenever we consciously treat our Earth Mama with the love and respect she deserves, we actually help her restore balance and heal. And we heal our own relationship with this beautiful blue planet in the process.
Carl Sagan once asked, “Who speaks for planet Earth?”
It is time for each of us to honor and speak out for Mama Earth.
Who Says?
Cost of Conventional American Lawns
Amount of lawn in the United States: 40.5 million acres
Total amount of money spent on lawn care: $30 billion
Percent of residential water used outside: 30 to 60%
Amount of water used daily for residential irrigation: > 7 billion gallons
Amount of fertilizers used on lawns annually: 3 million tons
Amount of synthetic pesticides used on lawns annually: > 30 thousand tons
Ratio of pesticide use per acre by the average homeowner versus the average farmer: 10 to 1
Source: Statistically Speaking: Lawns by the Numbers
by Bill Chameides | July 25th, 2008
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Additional Information
- Natural Landscaping at EPA’s Laboratory – www.epa.gov/ne/lab/pdfs/LabLandscapeFactsheet.pdf
- Bormann, H. F., D. Balmori, and G. T. Geballe. Redesigning the American Lawn: A Search for Environmental Harmony, Second Edition. Yale University Press, New Haven. 2001.