Lecturer: Indian culture teaches energy sustainability

Winona LaDuke ran as Ralph Nader’s running mate in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections, but yesterday she spoke to a crowded Montana Theatre about something other than politics.

“I just want to let you know I’m not running for vice president,” she said, alluding to Nader’s Sunday announcement that he would run for president again. “In case you’re wondering and don’t want to wait till the end to ask.”

LaDuke discussed energy sustainability, a widely discussed topic, but from a new perspective: that of an American Indian. LaDuke is part of Minnesota’s Anishinaabe tribe. Her lecture, “Creating Just Societies: The Environment, the Economy and Human Relations in the Next Millennium,” is the seventh installment of the University of Montana’s 2007-2008 President’s Lecture Series.

She urged the audience to consider indigenous culture not just as folklore or something of the past.

“It has great implications today and can teach us about sustainability,” LaDuke said.

Indians think and live cyclically, following the natural cycles of the moon, tides, seasons and life, she said. At her reservation, White Earth, they grow wild rice on a lake, she said.

When time comes to harvest, they give thanks to the lake and take only what they need and leave the rest for the earth, something she doesn’t see in modern America.

“We (Americans) don’t take only what we need and leave the rest,” LaDuke said.

And that’s the problem, she said. Indians believe the Creator’s law is the highest and for that reason they honor the lake and the land. But America doesn’t follow this principle, she said.

“We believe we are able to outsmart the oceans and winds,” she said. “We are foolish.”

During this and other moments, the crowd abruptly broke into applause and repeatedly uttered agreeing “uh-huh”s in accordance with LaDuke’s criticisms of America’s unquenchable appetite for resources and energy, an appetite that must be suppressed, she said.

America allocates water rights until the river is gone, relies on oil like an addict, and makes a business of waste management, she said.

“They’re not landfills,” she said. “They’re land mountains.”

To reach sustainability we need to think of our relatives as the Indians do, she said. All animals and plants are our family, down to the lowly muskrat, she said. A native legend tells of a great flood, she said. A woman sat on the back of a turtle to survive the flood. She asked an otter to swim to the waterbed and bring up some earth to pile on the turtle’s back to build land, LaDuke said. But he couldn’t do it. No animal could except the muskrat.

“This teaches us not to underestimate our relatives,” LaDuke said.

People don’t think of their relatives, the animals, until they need something, she said.

“The problem now is that we didn’t pay attention to the bees until they’re all gone and can’t pollinate our plants,” she said.

LaDuke said people need to get away from their dependence on oil and, at least, use it as efficiently as possible. It’s for everybody’s good, she said.

“We all have to drink the water and breathe the air,” LaDuke said.

LaDuke said Indian prophets, hundreds of years ago, foretold of a time when the people would be faced with a choice between two paths, one scorched and the other green.

“It’s a choice,” she said.

And individuals make the choice, she said.

“I look at the audience and see a lot of smart, young people,” LaDuke said. “Do something of consequence. Don’t be mediocre.”