A global environmental movement is sweeping the world.
Native and indigenous peoples are rising up to protest the damage done to the
environment by oil and natural gas companies, often risking their lives and
their security in the process.
According to David Escobar, aide to
Marin County, CA Supervisor Steve Kinsey, when oil companies decide to obtain
resources from certain lands, native peoples are generally the first to be
affected. Reservations often have the richest oil and gas reserves, and energy
companies have infringed upon the rights of the indigenous peoples who live on
the land to obtain these resources. The process of obtaining fuel often
contaminates the water supply or the environment where the people on the
reservation are living.
This was
the case of the Ogoni tribe in
Nigeria (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/cif-green/2009/jun/09/saro-wiwa-shell) who began
protesting after the Shell Oil Company started drilling on their land, causing
environmental problems and contamination. Many members of the tribe were
tortured, beaten, and shot by the people working with Shell, in an effort to
stop the protests and to make the Ogoni relinquish their land. The Huaorani tribe in Ecuador (http://amazonwatch.org/news/2005/0712-ecuador-indians-protest-petrobras-oil-development
) had a similar experience while protesting the Petrobras oil company.
Native groups in the California
area, as well as in Canada, are protesting as well. In the Pittsburg area of
California, several groups of Native Americans recently got together to protest
the fracking which goes largely unchecked and unregulated in California.
Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, is a method of obtaining natural gas
in which a solution of water, sand, and chemicals (many of which are known to
cause cancer) are injected at high speeds into rock, allowing the release of
the natural gas. These chemicals are released into the air and contaminate the
water supply, often leading to an increase in cancer and birth defects in the surrounding
areas.
The “Idle No More” (http://www.idlenomore.ca/) movement in
Canada is one of the most powerful indigenous movements. Its mission is to
advocate for a safer environment as well as increased respect for indigenous cultures.
This movement has been at the forefront of protesting abuses by the oil and
natural gas companies. “Idle No More” is committed to “…a peaceful revolution
to honor indigenous sovereignty and to protect the land and the water.” In
addition to protests and marches, they hold festivals to celebrate native
cultures and educational events to teach the history of the indigenous
community from their point of view.
In traditional
indigenous cultures, worship of the earth was a part of everyday life and the
natural world was something to live in harmony with, not to fight against. We
all live together on the earth, and therefore have a responsibility to take
care of the world and, by extension, ourselves.
For more information on environmental movements by
indigenous peoples, please see http://www.
-Kate Iida
