The First Americans were not the explorers from Europe in search of fame and fortune. No, the first people to discover America, arrived 8000 years earlier after venturing across the Bering land bridge into Alaska. These Native American sought not fortune, but rather a Great Land that would supply their needs, and the needs of generators to follow. By the time, Columbus "discovered" America, America's true natives had settled into every available ecological niche. They thrived because of their intimate connection to the the land. Today Americans survive because agri-business farms have have turned the land into an exploitable commodity. How shall we progress during the next 200 years?

"For each tribe of men Usen created He also made a home. In the land for any particular tribe He placed whatever would be best for the welfare of that tribe." Geronimo, of the Apaches

"I was born by these waters. The earth here is my mother." Garry, of the Spokanes

"The earth is part of my body and I never gave up the earth." Toohoolhoolzote, of the Nez Perces

"The mountains and hills, that you see are your backbone, and the gullies and the creeks, which are between the hills and mountains, are your heart veins." Eufaula Harjo, of the Tulsa

"When the white man cut up this living entity [the land] with his surveying instruments, the Indian felt the horror of dismemberment. " author Angie Debo

"How can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people ....
"Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.
"This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
"One thing we know: Our God is also your God. The earth is precious to Him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator."
--- attributed to Chief Seattle in 1855, when President Franklin Pierce stated he would buy the land of Chief Seattle's tribe.(2)

Indian Pictograph, Olympic National Shoreline: Whale Hunt

Indian Pictograph, Olympic National Shoreline: Harvest Dance

Olympic National Shoreline: Sunset at low tide

Learn more about Native Americans Tribal cultures and traditions.

Learn more about Native Americans and their Environmental beliefs

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