Business As Usual Is Over: Value Change Required For Survival

Today’s blog posting was initially posted on 350orbust on June 30, 2010:

Chief Oren Lyons said, when speaking about Climate Change at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the UN Headquarters in 2007:

We’re talking about change. People have to change. Directions have to change. Values have to change. There is no mercy in nature; nature has none. It has only law, only rule. You don’t abide the rule, you suffer the result…it’s what you do, and how you live. Business as usual is over…Value change for survival. You’re either going to change your values, or you’re not going to survive. You’re going to abide that law or suffer the consequences…Business as usual is over. Carbon is over. Oil is over. We better find something else. We better find some equity. We’re not going to have the luxury of spending $200 billion in a war. You’re not going to have the time or the money. because you’re going to be paying for the environment, for damages coming. You want to talk about the economy, you’re going to wreck the economies of the world…Change or else…Tell your leaders to get off their ass, let’s get on with life.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWiRFAvxu3k]

Chief Lyons is an Associate Professor in the American Studies Program at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is  Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan, Onondaga Nation, Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy). Chief Lyon has been active in international indigenous rights and sovereignty issues for over three decades at the United Nations and other forums. He is the publisher of “Daybreak”, a national Native American news magazine.

More links:

Earthkeeper Heroes

Alberta Tar Sands Destruction: Haven’t We Killed Enough Indigenous People On This Continent?

With everything in my heart I said I don’t want the death of the Lubicon and Chippewayan Cree on my hands. Haven’t we killed enough people on this continent already?”

This was the question posed to a Republican Congress Person during a meeting in Washington, D.C. this week during the 2nd annual Citizens Climate Lobby meeting. Cathy Orlando, who asked it, is the leader of the Sudbury Citizens Climate Lobby Group and a Climate Project Presenter. Cathy’s day job is the Science Outreach Coordinator at Laurentian University.

Al Jazeera featured a story yesterday by filmmaker Tom Radford on Fort Chipewyan, one of the First Nations communities most severely affected by the tar sands:

I shot my first film, Death of a Delta, in Fort Chipewyan in 1972…Death of a Delta documented the fight of Fort Chipewyan to have a voice in the construction of a massive hydroelectric project on the Peace River, the W.A.C. Bennett Dam. At stake was not only the survival of the oldest community in Alberta, but the protection of a World Heritage site, the Peace Athabasca Delta, a convergence of migratory flyways and the greatest concentration of waterfowl on the continent.

In the David and Goliath struggle that ensued, David won. Water was released from the dam and water levels in the Delta returned to normal. The unique ecology of the region was saved. The town survived.

Today, that same David, the collective will of the thousand residents of Fort Chipewyan, is fighting an even more imposing Goliath. The Alberta oil sands is arguably now the world’s largest construction project. Its expansion will have an estimated $1.7 trillion impact on the Canadian economy over the coming decades. An area of boreal forest the size of Greece will be affected by industrial activity.

Once again the issue is water, but this time it is not just the flow of the river, but the chemicals the current may be carrying downstream from the strip mines and bitumen upgraders. In recent years, according to the Alberta Cancer Board, Fort Chipewyan has experienced an unusually high rate of cancer. Local fishermen are finding growing numbers of deformed fish in their nets. Residents and John O’Connor, the community doctor, worry there could be a connection to the oil sands.

Here is Radford’s documentary on the David and Goliath struggle Fort Chipewyan is in the middle of, To The Last Drop:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQrWZzBOCoc]

More links:

Citizens Climate Lobby Canada

To The Last Drop

Indigenous Environment Network

Environmentalist Murdered: “Because I Stand Up, For This They Think I Can’t Exist”

José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria do Espírito Santo,were shot and killed last week in an ambush near their home in the Brazilian rainforest. Da Silva was a leader in defending the rainforest from illegal loggers, and knew that his life was under threat. Since their assassinations, yet another Brazilian environmentalist has been brutally murdered: Adelino Ramos, a land reform leader in the Amazon state of Rondonia, which borders Bolivia, was shot down. Like the Silvas, he also denounced those who illegally cut the rain forest.

The recent deaths add 3 more names to the list of over 1,150 rural conservationists who have been slain in land conflicts across Brazil in the past 20 years. The murders are carried out by gunmen hired by loggers, ranchers and farmers to silence those who protest illegal cutting of the forest, although few of the perpetrators are prosecuted.

Here is Mr. da Silva speaking at a TED Amazonia conference last November. His words are an indictment against his murderers, and shine as an inspiration to those of us still able to take a stand for the Eaarth:

“I can be here today talking with you, and a month from now you know what could happen to me – disappeared. Ask me if I am scared. I am afraid. I am a human being. I have fear. But my fear won’t let me be quiet. As long as I have the power to walk I will be denouncing those who are harming the forest.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSS2ALiU1ss]

It is up to those of us still here to work for change, so that José , Maria, and Adelino’s deaths are not in vain. We won’t all make a difference in the same way, but each of us can do something. For practical steps to take in your every day life, go to my Action Not Apathy page.

To support groups working for conservation in the Amazon Rainforest and other important ecosystems, check out:

Pachamama Alliance

Indigenous Environmental Network

Or for more informative links, click here

Media links:

Amazon Rainforest Activist Shot Dead

Adelino Ramos Killed: Third Environmental Activist Murdered This Week in Brazil

Marlice Van Der Merwe: A Brave Woman With A Dedication to Protecting One Part of Our Planet

Marlice Van Der Merwe is a conservationist living in Namibia, Africa.  She grew up on her parent’s farm, Harnas, where injured wild animals were given refuge, and where she developed a close relationship with the indigenous Bushmen who live in the Nambia desert.  She is one of the few white people to speak their language.  She is now a wild life conservationist, protector of the Bushmen, farm manager, wife and mother, who has established her own wildlife refuge, N/a’ankuse, which means “God will protect us”.

In this video Ms. Van Der Merwe (her married name is Van Vuuren) approaches cheetahs in the wild.  What she is explaining, for those who don’t understand French, is that  if you don’t run away from the cheetahs, and maintain eye contact with them, they won’t attack. Amazing!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLZ6FgYkYzQ&feature=player_embedded]

More links:

Marlice – A Vision for Africa

For more videos about Marlice, just search Marlice, lions on YouTube for more amazing footage!

Alberta Oil Spill Causes Ecological and Public Health Disaster For Lubicon Cree Community

I am still on vacation with my family, with only intermittent access to my email and the internet while I am away.  This media release from the Assembly of First Nations, the national organization representing First Nations citizens in Canada, was in my inbox this evening, and I felt it was important to share it in a timely way.  On April 29, 2011, a leak was discovered in the Rainbow pipeline in northern Alberta. Since then, it appears the provincial and federal governments have been slow to respond to this environmental and public health crisis.

Here is the statement from the AFN:

Little Buffalo First Nation in northern Alberta is in the midst of an ecological disaster and Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo today stated that the federal government, the Alberta provincial government, the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) and Plains Midstream Canada must take responsibility and immediate action to support the residents of the First Nation.  There are reports of more than 28,000 barrels of oil spilled at a site 30 kilometers from the Lubicon Cree community.

“We have been monitoring this situation closely for the last seven days and I am seriously concerned by the lack of response for the people of Little Buffalo First Nation,” National Chief Atleo stated.  “It is totally inappropriate and, in fact, dangerous if officials at the ERCB are refusing to deal with the fact that people in Little Buffalo are becoming sick from the effects of this disaster. The local school has already been closed.  All parties need to work with the leadership and citizens of the community to take action now.”

On April 29, 2011, it was estimated that 28,000 barrels of oil was spilled near Little Buffalo First Nation, located in the Peace River Region of Alberta. Many residents, including children, are experiencing symptoms of nausea, disorientation, headaches, burning eyes and stomach pains. Neither the pipeline owner – Plains Midstream Canada – or the provincial government has met with the people of Little Buffalo First Nation.

The National Chief said:  “We need immediate action and we are also calling for an independent investigation into this incident, with the goal of establishing urgent measures and regulation of oil spill incidents. We have a responsibility to protect Mother Earth and the traditional hunting and trapping territories of First Nations. We have made safer and healthier communities one of our priorities for the new federal government.  This is a clear demonstration as to why we need plans in place to deal with future disasters.”

AFN Alberta Regional Chief George Stanley and an independent environment officer were in Little Buffalo First Nation yesterday for a fly-over of the area.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdq6UrPTLfU&feature=email]

More links:

Probe Demanded After Worst Alberta Oil Spill in 4 Decades

Slide show of Alberta Oil Spill

Residents, Including Children, Sick After Large Oil Spill In the Peace Region

Regulator Discloses Massive Leak In Alberta Oil Pipeline

Major Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Spills Adds Doubt To Controversial Keystone XL Proposal

10-Year-Old Challenges Canadian Politicians and Big Oil: “Protect Our Coast From Oil Spills”

Meet Ta’Kaiya.  She’s a ten-year-old girl from North Vancouver who, while learning about sea otters in her home-school, became concerned about the devastation oil tankers would cause to B.C.’s coast.

When she learned about Enbridge’s proposal to build an oil pipeline from the Alberta Tar Sands to the Great Bear Rainforest, bringing more than 200 oil tankers per year to this pristine coast, she got really worried.  Then she took action. This amazing young woman wrote a letter to Canadian politicians as well as a song that became a music video. Here they are:

March 24, 2011
Open Letter to Canadian politicians,

My name is Ta’Kaiya Blaney. I am 10-years-old. I live in North Vancouver and am from the Sliammon Nation. My name means “special water.”

I am writing to you because the Enbridge Corporation is planning to build a pipeline from the tar sands of Alberta to Kitimat, BC. I thought it would be very risky for our coast so I wrote a song, called “Shallow Waters” about an oil spill happening in the shallow waters.

You will be debating Bill C-606 soon, if an election is not triggered, which would ban oil tankers from our northwest coast. I am sharing my song’s music video and a personal message to encourage you to vote in favour of the bill.

Today is the anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. Even today, 22 years later, oil still remains a few inches under the surface of the water.

With this song, I hope to encourage government officials, people of British Columbia, and people across the world will realize the dangers of oil pollution, replace jobs that destroy the environment with jobs that help the environment. I ask government and corporate officials such as yourselves change your plans stop oil tanker traffic on BC’s coast and in waters around the world.
Please feel free to share my letter and video with others.

All my relations,
Ta’Kaiya Blaney

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9dBrlDXVsk]

Join Ta’Kaiya and TAKE ACTION:

More links:

Why Enbridge is Afraid of Ta’Kaiya Blaney

Enbridge Tar Sands Pipeline Threatens Canadian Wildlife

Michigan Oil Spill Among the Largest in U.S. History: Kalamazoo Spill Soaks Wildlife

Dangerous Goods: New Report Highlights Risks of Shipping Raw Oilsands

Take Time To Renew Your Spirit

The Hopi Nation has come forward to ask for prayers for Japan, and for the restoration of balance on the earth.

Their letter can be read in full here. Here are some excerpts:

The Hopi are praying for the people of Japan and for the people around the world as we face crisis in our world out of balance.

We are in a time of great change on Mother Earth and these events have been foretold by our Elders. Through our Prophecies and our Ceremonies the sacred land of this earth is now crying. ..

As Hopi, we ask you to join with us in prayer to balance mother earth and all life. We believe that, through our prayers and that if we pray with good hearts as told by our Elders, we can lessen the impact of these events...

Hopi say that there is a path to follow that allows us to move through this time of change. Walk gently upon our earth with respect for her and all of life. A return of connecting our heart with the heart of the path to the future…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g4Qub4VL6w]

Donuts Or the Planet? What Would Alberta Health Minister Liepert Choose?

The creative folks over at TruthFool.org have put out an excellent video that underlines the cartoonish proportions of the destruction and deadly legacy that the relentless pursuit of “black gold” has brought to northern Alberta.  Unfortunately for the people of Fort Chipewyan, who are hardest hit by the toxic development that is the Alberta tar sands, this is not a cartoon, it is their every day reality.

I’m certain the feeling of living in some kind of alternate reality hits the citizens of Fort Chipewyan when they hear their Provincial Health Minister, Ron Liepert, stand in front of a microphone with a straight face and assure them that the Alberta government will help those affected by high cancer rates but that those efforts will not focus on the environment.

We need to work with the community to ensure that there may be other factors such as lifestyle and those sorts of things that probably aren’t helping matters any.

Perhaps he should have kept it to “Duhhh”.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFPoUyw0aU4]

More links:

Stand With Fort Chipewyan on Facebook

Truthfool.Org

Business As Usual Is Over: Value Change Required For Survival

Chief Oren Lyons said, when speaking about Climate Change at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the UN Headquarters in 2007:

We’re talking about change. People have to change. Directions have to change. Values have to change. There is no mercy in nature; nature has none. It has only law, only rule. You don’t abide the rule, you suffer the result…it’s what you do, and how you live. Business as usual is over…Value change for survival. You’re either going to change your values, or you’re not going to survive. You’re going to abide that law or suffer the consequences…Business as usual is over. Carbon is over. Oil is over. We better find something else. We better find some equity. We’re not going to have the luxury of spending $200 billion in a war. You’re not going to have the time or the money. because you’re going to be paying for the environment, for damages coming. You want to talk about the economy, you’re going to wreck the economies of the world…Change or else…Tell your leaders to get off their ass, let’s get on with life.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWiRFAvxu3k]

Chief Lyons is an Associate Professor in the American Studies Program at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is  Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan, Onondaga Nation, Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy). Chief Lyon has been active in international indigenous rights and sovereignty issues for over three decades at the United Nations and other forums. He is the publisher of “Daybreak”, a national Native American news magazine.

More links:

Earthkeeper Heroes

“We Can Change. We Have The Will, The Power and The Spirit”

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Right now at The Forks, a place where people have been gathering since time before memory, things are happening that hold out hope for the rest of the world. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) chose this spot, where the Red and the Assiniboine Rivers meet in the prairie city of Winnipeg, to hold its first of seven National Events over the next five years. For four days this week, First Nations, Metis, and Inuit survivors of Indian Residential Schools and their families, as well as former school employees, are gathering to share their experiences with the TRC. Other Canadians are welcome as well, as the mandate of the Commission includes telling Canadians about the history of the Indian Residential Schools and the impacts it has had on Aboriginal children who were sent to the schools by the Canadian government.  Commissioner Mary Wilson says:

We can all learn from the lessons of the past, and walk toward respectful relations for the future… for the child taken, and the parent left behind.”

Wednesday night my partner and I were in the crowd of 18,000 as Buffy Sainte Marie and Blue Rodeo played an outdoor concert. The highlight for me was when Aboriginal leader and former MLA Elijah Harper addressed the crowd after a performance of “Fools Like You”, a song Blue Rodeo wrote about Mr. Harper and the Meech Lake Accord, when he stood up for his people and single-handedly blocked a vote in the Manitoba Legislature that would have bypassed public consultation on a major constitutional change  (click here for more info on this chapter of Canadian political history). Mr. Harper, a survivor of residential school himself, spoke of reconciliation, saying “We’re on a journey of hope and healing…Forgiveness is the most important thing.”

I spent more time at the Forks on Thursday morning, and was privileged to watch the Pipe Ceremony and Four Direction Drum calling.  I then spent time in the “Learning Tent” where Chief Robert Joseph, a hereditary chief of the Gwa wa enuk First Nation in British Columbia, led a healing circle. He shared his story of healing after spending 10 years at St. Michael’s Indian Residential School at Alert Bay on the central coast of British Colombia as a boy. Chief Joseph emphasized the spiritual nature of the healing that is needed, and invited everyone to become ambassadors of this reconciliation process:

It begins and ends with you, with individuals. We can change. We have the will, the power, and the spirit. We can leave here with new hope and a new vision of wellness for all people. We dare to look at a different future, a different kind of relationship. We can make every place sacred on this Turtle Island.

I have come away from this time at the TRC events humbled by the graciousness of the Aboriginal people and their leaders, and filled with hope that this continent’s First Peoples will lead the way to healing our relationships with each other and with the earth. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is traveling the country for the next five years with its message of healing and forgiveness. Five years is about the time we have to dramatically change our relationship to the earth, before we have irreparably damaged our Mother.  We are doomed if we can’t change our Western/European mindset, that of the colonizer and dominator, which has got us into this sorry state of affairs. It’s this kind of thinking that says making money is more important than being good stewards of the earth. If we can adopt a more indigenous way of looking at the world which recognizes that we are part of the interconnected web of life, and all life is sacred, then there is hope. This view of the world is what I saw in action this week at the Forks. In spite of their lands and way of life being taken, in spite of their children being stolen and abused, the Original Peoples of this country are still willing to extend a hand to their colonizers and abusers and walk together towards a different future. I am humbled and awed. Meegwich, from the bottom of my heart.

Former St. Micheals Residential School Alert Bay. Photo - Iwona Kellie

More links:

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

“Fools Like You” lyrics by Blue Rodeo

Photos of Buffy Sainte Marie/Blue Rodeo Concert at the Forks on ChrisD.ca

Residential Schools: The Red Lake Story

Residential Memories Unleash Tears of Anger and Forgiveness. ChristianWeek.org