Native American Environmental Philosophies

It is the purpose of this paper to explore some challenges to American Indian environmental philosophies, present arguments for and against the American Indian environmental philosophies, and summarize the main points with a conclusion. One has to keep in mind that this delicate topic of Native American environmental philosophy is fraught with landmines and potholes of subjectivity, bias, and prejudice. It is as if it is a hot spot of cultural guilt, an area where everyone tries very hard to do the right thing because the Indians were treated so badly by the conquests of the Europeans. Various social and environmental movements have sometimes taken advantage of that national guilt, making the crying Indian the icon for righting unrightable wrongs. However, in academic work, one has to try to be impartial, to examine and present information from a variety of points of view with a

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be used. It is fairly lifeless and has no more meaning that a microwave or a motorcycle, and real estate laws confirm this. Land in the U.S. can be owned (except for reservation land). People buy and sell land, put up "no trespassing" signs and decide how it will be used in the context of ownership (Momaday, 18). These ways of thinking are quite alien to Native American thought and threaten the cultural intelligence inherent in the original people. They are inconceivable. The fundamental distinctions are difficult from those of a western background perhaps because Indians did and do use their land. They lived off it as did the westerners. But how does the approach differ? Native Americans would not use the word "use" in connection with land. He first loves the land and then cooperates with its natural forces in order to sustain his own life. He delights in it and is alive within it, processes that are somewhat alien to the European intellect. Modern civilization seems to be the antithesis of the Indian deep ethical regard for the earth and sky, the reverence for the natural world. The native person viewed life forms around him with a perspective of reciprocity. The white viewed life as resources to be appropriated fo
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2893
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)