around the world.Hopi Home Dances at Hotevilla send the Kachinas back to these sacred mountain tops outside Flagstaff, Arizona named the San Francisco Peaks on the maps.
As consumers of electricity produced by coal-fired electric plants, we help fuel a market that endangers lives and environment everywhere and affects everyone.
San Francisco Peaks seen from I-40, March 2010.
Doko'oosliid - San Francisco Peaks is the southwest of the Four Sacred Mountains. The Navajo land Dinetah is defined as enclosed by the four sacred mountains:
East: Tsisnaajini' - Mt. Blanca east of Alamosa, Colorado.
South: Tsoodzil - Mt. Taylor near Grants, New Mexico.
West: Doko'oosliid - San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona.
North: Dibe'ntsaaa - Mt. Hesperus west of Durango, Colorado. (Learn more about the Navajo at - http://www.ausbcomp.com/Redman/navajo.htm)
The San Francisco Peaks are sacred to Navajo and Hopi.
Mountain destroyed by mining east of Flagstaff.
Mining entire mountain east of San Francisco Peaks off I-40 outside Flagstaff. Arizona.
Mining entire mountain east of San Francisco Peaks off I-40 outside Flagstaff. Arizona.
West: Doko'oosliid - San Francisco Peaks, near Flagstaff, AZ
Mining pit off I-40 east of Flagstaff, Arizona.
Electric Towers across Navajo Nation Send Power to Phoenix and Los Angeles.
Coal-fired Electric Plants on I-40 in northern Arizona can be seen from space.
Coal-fired Electric Plants on I-40 in northern Arizona can be seen from space.
There is a lot of blame to go around for the deterioration of earth, air and water today.
Much human energy is wasted assigning blame, and either overblowing or denying the obvious dangers of overconsumption, greed and living out of balance.
Today's earth changes are no surprise to most indigenous and indigenous-minded people.
Many indigenous peoples from this continent and others have stories of times when their own ancestors faced the consequences of living out of balance and the people had to relearn the importance of living in right relation to each other and to the earth, air and water that make life possible.
Blaming "them" for polluting earth, water and sky is easy, but hypocritical, and useless. We are "them" whenever we flip a light switch or boot up a computer with electricity powered by coal-fired plants that poison lungs in Navajo Nation and Four Corners that are fired by coal mined by cutting off mountain tops in view of the San Francisco Peaks, sacred to Dine and Hopi.
We are not blameless, but we are not powerless either. We consume electricity produced in these destructive ways and our demand for electricity fuels investment and greed in non-renewable fossil fuels. If we reduce our use of electricity, it can make a real difference.
We can do something. We can reduce our use of energy and resources. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle can be more than a slogan. Its practice can lessen the damage to our home and environment one small change at a time.
We are not blameless, but we are not powerless either. We consume electricity produced in these destructive ways and our demand for electricity fuels investment and greed in non-renewable fossil fuels. If we reduce our use of electricity, it can make a real difference.
We can do something. We can reduce our use of energy and resources. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle can be more than a slogan. Its practice can lessen the damage to our home and environment one small change at a time.
Don't think that moving open pit mining and mountain top destruction from outside Flagstaff to China or West Africa is the answer. Those mountains they are destroying there are sacred, as well.
The water and the air are one. You can't put poison one place without it finding its way everywhere. That's why the earth, sky and water have storms, fires, earthquakes, cyclones and tornados to cleanse and reestablish balance.
The good news is our traditions have stories and ceremonies to reestablish balance when it is disrupted and examples of how people in other times of challenge and change brought their words and actions back into right relation with earth, sky, water and all our relatives.
Our western ancestors were warned by our indigenous ancestors about the inescapable consequences of overconsumption, polluting earth, air and water and living out of balance that we see today throughout the world. It is time to stop blaming and making excuses and work together to set things right.
One Earth. Think About It.
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Photos and text by Charleen Touchette
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See -
BBC News - Rio Tinto signs mines deal with China's Chinalco
news.bbc.co.uk
The Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto says it has signed a deal with China to develop a massive iron ore mine in West Africa.
BBC News - Rio Tinto signs mines deal with China's Chinalco
news.bbc.co.uk
The Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto says it has signed a deal with China to develop a massive iron ore mine in West Africa.
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