Discuss: The Rights of the Land

Thank You for this beautifully written article!
I am writing through my tears.
Thank you for this vital information—it was passed along to me and I shall do the same…
Thank You to the Onondaga and all who join with them.
I work with the land, or more rightly, it works with me, the plants, rocks, and earth Allowing my participation, having patiently taught me what I do now…..
May the Beauty that IS, nourish all.

this is so moving.  i broke into tears on the part where the family is honoring its generations past deed to give back the land from whom it was taken. inspiring!

I also enjoyed this inspiring story by Robyn Kimmerer, “The Rights of the Land”, where everyone is invited to learn to live well in-community with each other and the land. What I found especially encouraging was the vision of the students at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, based on the philosophy of the Onondaga Nation Thanksgiving Address.  “What would it be like, they ask, to care for and be cared for by the land?”

In this approach to life, there is a circle of giving and receiving, in respectful and convivial relations with fellow expressions of nature. This stands well in contrast to the limited viewpoint of seeing nature as something “out there”, separate from people. Such a view leads to narrow and harmful uses of the land.

Thank you to the Onondaga people and Robyn Kimmerer for sharing this story of learning together to heal and restore our relations in the land-community.

It is so relieving for me that someone has written this article. So often people behave as though they are greater than the Earth, and it pains me to hear such delusions of significance. We are all small pieces of the Earth and acting one with it is the necessity of everyone. Thank you Robyn Kimmerer.

Please note an error in my spelling of Robin Kimmerer’s first name. In posting #11, I mis-typed Robyn. instead of Robin.

There now exists an incredible opportunity to appropriately recognize the history, contribution, and rights of the Onondaga and Haudenosaunee. 

Onondaga County is the local municipality that holds title to most of the shoreline surrounding Onondaga Lake- the sacred site referred to in Dr. Kimmerer’s article.  Our group, Onondaga Shoreline Heritage Restoration(OSHR) was formed to bring together community leaders and citizens to call for our government to return this land to the Onondaga Nation.

Onondaga Lake’s shoreline remains undeveloped, partially because so many acres were contaminated by industrial waste, but also because large portions have been converted to county owned parkland. One of the reasons OSHR will succeed is because this shoreline is publicly held and can be transferred to the Onondaga without having to confront concerns over displacing residents or spending significant funds.

Central New Yorkers would do well to accept that our region is best defined by the Onondaga principles of upholding human rights, democracy, and environmentalism.  Returning this sacred shoreline is the proper commemoration of our heritage.

http://www.myspace.com/onondagashoreline

As an undergrad at ESF over 30 years ago I visited the Solvay waste beds with a professor who was trying to draw attention to neglect by the industry that created the mess. On a slope facing a major highway he wrote “HELP” in huge block letters using only fertilizer. The readily responding vegetation quickly grew, and in its message, announced to the world that even a minimal effort would go a long way toward stabilizing the slime.

I saddens, but does not surprise me, that three decades have passed with so little progress. We all want something for nothing. Would those who purchased the product of those chemical plants have been willing to pay more if they were told the extra would go toward proper handling of the waste? When we trample a Walmart employee to death on Black Friday, would we pay a little extra in advance for that big-screen TV to guarantee that it will be properly recycled when we discard it for a newer, bigger one?

I very much liked the idea of a frontier mentality versus an indigenous mentality. Thank you for this concept!