Environmental justice has been up and coming recently. Typically affecting minorities, environmental justice has been an active movement not just for a more clean land and air, but also for the right to be represented at the decision-making table. Native Americans’ culture and way of life is centralized on the ecosystem. Nature and the surrounding land is their main provider of food, water, and sources used in living and everyday life. Besides pollution and bad placement of waste facilities, the main problem is there is not a complete understanding of what is important to the community.
In Environmental Justice in Indian Country by Stuart Harris and Barbara Harper, they discuss how Native Americans’ lifestyle and religious life relies heavily on natural resources. Environmental justice is important to such natives because these resources are key to their survival. Substantial changes are needed to improve living conditions, however the people responsible are not accustomed to creating a healthy lifestyle in a low class area. The EPA is much stronger than before, and wants to get involved because the Native Americans’ environment goes hand in hand with their economy. When cultural use, exposure, environmental goods, functions, and services are contaminated, a problem arises. The problem must be addressed as a direct effect on a combination of the environment and the Native Americans. Rather than taking into account how many Indians live in area, they should focus on the traditional and trust resources of each tribe. A plan must be created to teach the idea of risk ethics, sustainability, and human rights.
Stuart Harris and Barbara Harper, both authors of this article, used research and other references throughout ...
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...ch supplies. In the article Environmental Racism, Tribal Sovereignty and Nuclear Waste, Bullcreek, one of the Indians who lives on Utah reservation said, "The real issue is not the money. The real issue is who we are as Native Americans and what we believe in. If we accept these wastes, we're going to lose our tradition." The government should not intrude on the Native Americans’ traditions and culture by placing waste or hazardous facilities on or near their reservations. These government agencies and organizations do not know what their traditions are; however, in Environmental Justice in Indian Country, it is acknowledged that the first step to creating healthier living conditions is knowing what is relevant to the community. Assessments are regularly done without consulting the community about what is important and what risks or impacts need to be assessed.
The Native American’s way of living was different from the Europeans. They believed that man is ruled by respect and reverence for nature and that nature is an ancestor or relative. The Native American’s strongly belie...
Throughout the 1925-1975 period, the Native American population of the United States has faced many obstacles. Just a few years before, they had been suppressed by the federal government’s “Anti-Long Hair” policy for all Native American males. This would set the stage for future cultural restraint on the Indians. However, they continued to fight for equality. All through this time period, the experience of the Native American culture has been a struggle for equality in their homeland.
As a tribal member it is very important to care for nature and respect the land. With the recent problems Michigan has faced, including but not limited to, the Enbridge 5 pipeline that runs under the straights of mackinaw and the Flint water contamination, it is important to me that we do what we can to be a part of the solution verses the problem. No matter what the amount of recycling Bay Mills Community College accumulates, with no recycling plan set in place the tribal college of Bay Mills will remain a part of the problem.
Starting from the beginning, natural resource consumption has been a process in environmental injustice. The Indian Removal Act passed in 1830 forced Americans Indians from the east to western reservations in a form of ethnic cleansing (Schaefer 146). Donald A. Grinde and Bruce E. Johansen, the authors of Ecocide of Native Americans: Environmental Destruction of Indian Lands and Peoples, make note of a specific quote that non-American Indian settlers phrased during the process, which is “kill the Indian, but save the man” (10). In the book they also point out an interesting fact about how the settlers spoke of the “final solution” well before the Nazis used the phrase. Anyhow, after reforming and internally colonizing Native Americans, the non-American Indian settlers pushed them even further into their corner. A specific occurrence would be the incident at the Great Sioux Reservation. Non-Indians were supposed to keep away from their land and not allowed to hunt. However, in 1874 non-Indians flooded the territory in search of...
The political climate of environmental injustice movement does not seem promising. With a very polarized, divided Congress, and powerful monopoly run corporations, advocates have to battle—harder than ever to better their communities. Vig and Kraft point out the difficulties of getting environmental legislation passed through Congress when gridlock is occurring. They dissected the issue of policy gridlock into these main indicators: the diverging policy views due to partisan differences, separated powers and bicameralism which occurs when there are major disagreements between the House, Congress, and the President, the complexity of environmental problems where the injustice is so complex that
A primary theme in Native American storytelling is a deep respect for the environment. In a society that is based upon sharing, each individual is keenly aware of his or her own responsibility, giving in equal value to what is received. Native Americans use storytelling to illustrate the mutual interdependence between tribal members and the natural resources that provide them
The Native American Indians are a vital piece of the society of the United States. While their kin have existed on this land for many years, today their numbers are reducing. Once, the Native Americans lived on this continent with little discourse and disturbance. They were overall nourished, content, and established. Truth be told, the men and women generally were set in regular parts. The men were seekers, warriors, and defenders, while the women watched out for the youngsters, their homes, and cultivated. It relied on upon the tribe when it came to craftsmanship. In a few tribes, the men would really weave baskets and blankets. Common nourishments were expended and chased. Deer, wild ox, fish, and different feathered birds were the wildlife of decision. Corn, beans, squash, berries, nuts, and melons were the leafy foods that were expended. Berries were additionally frequently utilized as a characteristic color for fabrics. While the late 1800’s into the 1900’s and past started to bring battle to the Native American Indians, they battled an intense...
The reason of lack of opposition is due to the fact that these facilities can bring potential benefits to communities in jobs and revenues (Kevin 1997). In some cases, not only has there been a lack of local opposition to waste facilities sitting, but community leaders have actively sought out or welcomed such sittings (Kevin 1997). For example, the Campo Band of Mission Indians supported the construction of a solid waste landfill on reservation land in San Diego County, California (Austin 1991). The landfill brought great economic benefits to the Campo Band. Tribal sources estimated that “the landfill directly created at least fifty- five permanent jobs for at least thirty-five members of the Campo Band, almost eliminating tribal unemployment” (Austin 1991). This factor also explains why poor minority communities may be living near waste facilities at a disproportionate
The information collated in this report was collected from a variety of secondary sources including websites, books, documentaries, statistics and academic journals. A report format was selected to ensure that information concerning the guiding questions were successfully answered. While surveys were conducted information collected was discredited due to the reliability of the information collected.
In the article The Clash of Cultures, William Cronon and Richard White delve into “the interrelations between people and their environment,” (11) specifically, between the American Indians and the Europeans and the Americas. The reason Cronon and White wrote this article was, “In part, a result of our current concern with pollution and the exhaustion of valuable natural resources, but it has also proved to be a valuable way of learning more about how people of past generations and different cultures dealt with nature and with one another.” (11)
Sandefur, G. (n.d.). American Indian reservations: The first underclass areas? Retrieved April 28, 2014, from http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc121f.pdf
If a complete transformation was made throughout North America to implement native culture, we would view nature differently. Native Americans believe that Mother Earth is sacred and that it is the ultimate sin to
According to Gordon Walker there are three concepts of justice: Distributive, which conceives justice in terms of the distribution or sharing out of goods (resources) and bads (harm and risk), Procedural, which conceives justice in terms of the way in which decisions are made, who is involved and has influence, and finally justice as recognition, which conceives justice in terms of who is given respect and who is and isn’t valued (Walker, 10-11). In this particular case study I believe that all aspects of justice need to be discussed in order to fully obtain overall environmental justice for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. For there is not one aspect of justice that is actively being represented in this case study. The three concepts of justice for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will be approached through
When we think of environmental justice, we often focus on the ecosystem in which we as humans live, and the natural resources and non-human animals that live there. We tend to think about ethical uses of natural resources, and the effects it has on the non-human animals, such as animal rights, endangerment and extinction, loss of habitat, deforestation, erosion, and pollution. Environmental justice is another factor that is concerned with environmental protection and social justice, including humans into the mix of the complex ecosystem. Environmental justice considers the fair and equal distribution of cost and benefits between humans and the natural world. (1) Environmental justice is also defined as the fair treatment of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income and no particular group should have to bear more than their fair share of the burden of negative environmental consequences from industrial pollution or
“Unless humanity is suicidal, it should want to preserve, at the minimum, the natural life-support systems and processes required to sustain its own existence” (Daily p.365). I agree with scientist Gretchen Daily that drastic action is needed now to prevent environmental disaster. Immediate action and changes in attitude are not only necessary for survival but are also morally required. In this paper, I will approach the topic of environmental ethics from several related sides. I will discuss why the environment is a morally significant concern, how an environmental ethic can be developed, and what actions such an ethic would require to maintain and protect the environment.