In an age of increasing technology and increasing demands upon Gaia, we must
safeguard her from those who would destroy her beautiful gardens for financial
gain. We must each do our own part to leave no mark upon her from which
she cannot heal. It is our sacred duty as an intelligent and willful
species to take care of our environment for the benefit not only of our own
future generations, but also for the benefit of Gaia and all her creatures.
Chief Seattle wrote to the President in 1852 about the sale of his people's
lands to the US government. He gave us some wise words about the Earth,
when he wrote:
The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land.
But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If
we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you
buy them?
Every part of this Earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine
needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every
humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.
We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood
that courses through our veins. We are part of the Earth and it is part of us.
The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle,
these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadow, the body
heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the same family.
The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just
water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must
remember that it is sacred. Each ghostly reflection in the clear waters of the
lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur
is the voice of my father's father.
The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our
canoes and feed our children. So you must give to the rivers the kindness you
would give any brother. If we sell you our land, remember that the air is
precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.
The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh.
The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell you our
land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste
the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.
Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the
Earth is our mother? What befalls the Earth befalls all the sons of the Earth.
This we know: the Earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the Earth.
All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave
the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he
does to himself.
One thing we know: our god is also your god. The Earth is precious to him
and to harm the Earth is to heap contempt on its creator.
Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all
slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners
of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe
hills is blotted by talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where
will the eagle be? Gone! And what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and
the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.
When the last Red Man has vanished with his wilderness and his memory is only
the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests
still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?
We love this Earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell
you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it.
Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve
the land for all children and love it, as God loves us all.
As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This Earth is
precious to us. It is also precious to you. One thing we know: there is only
one God. No man, be he Red Man or White Man, can be apart. We are brothers
after all.
The Earth, also known as Gaia, is our mother. We must take care of her.
It is our responsibility as the only beings capable of managing our own behavior
toward the Earth that we behave in a respectful and peaceful manner toward our
mother, Gaia.