Book Review: Ecocide of Native America

Native American Indians have lived in harmony and balance with their environment for thousands of years. In just a short amount of time, the non-Indians who came to Turtle Island (Mother Earth) with an attitude of dominion over the earth and a lack of understanding that man and nature are interrelated has quickly lead to the poisoning and destruction of the environment and people. This attitude has caused "Ecocide" of Native America, and the environmental destruction of Indian lands and people.

This book boldly states that ironically Native Americans with their close ecological harmony are now "among the primary victims of 'ecocide' in today's polluted world."

Native Americans have become victims of "ecocide" because of greedy money hungry corporations that value money over people and a United States government that has failed to enforce the very laws they created to protect the environment and people. As one reads through the environmental degradation that is revealed by this book, one becomes shocked and appalled. Shocked and appalled by the crass industrial corporations who have committed ecocide and genocide in the face of the United States environmental laws, like the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, that have been implemented in the early 1970's to prevent such poisoning and destruction to Mother Earth.

This books is well researched, well written, and is a must read for anyone interested in obtaining a deeper understanding of Native American environmental issues plaguing Indian lands today and the ill effects to both the people and the Natural World. The authors, Donald Grinde a Professor of History and a Yamasee Indian, and Bruce Johansen, a Professor of Communications and Native American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha are well established writers who are highly respected for their integrity by the Native American Indian community.

"Ecocide of Native America: Environmental Destruction Of Indian Lands and People" begins by exploring Native American Indians as the first ecologist. The main idea behind this chapter is to show that Indian people have a traditional ecological knowledge, respect, and belief that they are stewards of Mother Earth and to dispel European propaganda that Indians abused their environment. I have always found the Europeans attempt to claim Indians abused Mother Earth as an appalling and lame attempt to justify their own destruction and continued exploitation of Turtle Island.

Grinde and Johansen explore numerous Native American environmental perspectives from Indians of different Nations that shows that their traditional teachings include a deep respect for nature and an understanding that man and nature are interrelated and dependent on one another for survival. To show this respect and interconnectedness of man and the Natural World, the authors include a quote from Tom Porter, a Mohawk, who gave the following Thanksgiving Address to open the New York Assembly hearings in regard to the environmental crisis at Akwesasne (the Mohawk Nation):

"[Before] our great-great grandfathers were first born and given the breath of life, our Creator at that time said the earth will be you mother. And the Creator said to the deer, and the animals and the birds, the earth will be your mother, too. And I have instructed the earth to give food and nourishment and medicine and quenching of thirst to all life... We. The people, humbly thank you today, mother earth.

Our Creator spoke to the rivers and our creator made the rivers not just as water, but he made the rivers a living entity.... You must have reverence and great respect for your mother earth....You must each day say "thank you" [for] every gift that contributes to your life. If you follow this pattern, it will be like a circle with no end. Your life will be as everlasting as your children will carry on your flesh, your blood, and your heartbeat."

The previous quote shows the respect for the natural world and how it is important to give thanks, for we, man and nature, are all related. "Ecocide" of Native America is also cultural genocide because the traditional ways to live, of providing for their families, and their spiritual connection with the Natural World has become greatly impeded by the poisoning of the waters, air, and the destruction of Mother Earth.

In chapter seven, "Akwesasne's Toxic Turtle," the authors reveal the environmental degradation at Akwesasne caused by industries surrounding the reservation, and they discuss some of the devastating effects that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) and fluoride can have on humans, the Natural World, and on cultural survival. In this section, they talk about snapping turtles being found that have such a high level of PCB's that enable the turtles themselves to be classified as "toxic waste." Unfortunately, many of the ill effects to the land, animals, people, medicine plants, and those yet born are unknown, and only time will tell the extent and full effects of the pollution.

In chapter eight, "The High Cost of Uranium", the authors, write about the harmful effects to the environment and humans caused by the uranium mining in the Black Hills (Paha Sapa) and on the Navajo Nation. The authors write that people often think that the biggest nuclear accident in America was Three Mile Island, but that is not true, for the "biggest expulsion of radioactive material in the United States occurred on July 16, 1978 at 5 A.M. on the Navajo Reservation."

In this chapter, the authors explain in detail what happened when 100 million gallons of radioactive water gushed through the dam into the Rio Puerco destroying a major water source for the Navajo. Furthermore, not only is the process of strip mining devastating to the land, the huge iron jaws tearing into the breast of Mother Earth, but the tailings that are left over after uranium is mined and then left sitting in piles on top of the land are radioactive. Many people who have lived around these tailings have died of cancer from the exposure. A picture of a dead horse that died from drinking this contaminated water caused by uranium mining is quite eye opening.

This book is a must read, for it will open one's eyes to the destruction of Indian lands and people, the "ecocide" of Native America that continues today. When people think of environmental destruction in the proportions revealed in this book within Indian Country, one thinks of economically poor third world countries and not America. It is appalling that our generations to come have to plant their feet on a sick planet so that a few greedy people can get rich.

I highly recommend getting a copy of this book, so we can all be aware of the "ecocide" going on within Indian lands across Turtle Island in hopes that we may stand together and demand that the industries victimizing Indian people and lands be stopped before it is too late. Mother Earth can heal, but it is going take each one of us working together as one heart, one body, and one mind to help her do so.

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Created December 22, 1999; Updated August 2001