In 1992, the Haudenosaunee sent a delegation to the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to spread the words of the Thanksgiving Address, the philosophy of our people. This delegation reminded the entire world we have a responsibility to act as caretakers of the natural world.
Following the Earth Summit, the Haudenosaunee held a Grand Council to discuss the environmental degradation of our communities. In accordance with the Kaianserakowa (Great Law of Peace) the Grand Council agreed and passed, based on Haudenosaunee protocols and cultural beliefs, to establish the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force (HETF).
The Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force is composed of delegates (Haudenosaunee leaders, environmental technicians, and scientists) chosen by each of the Haudenosaunee Nations. These individuals are committed to identifying environmental problems in their communities and working to find solutions to them.
Over the next two years, the HETF worked collectively to put together a document called Haudenosaunee Environmental Restoration: An Indigenous Strategy for Human Sustainability (HERS). In 1995, the HETF presented the Haudenosaunee Restoration Plan to the United Nations at the Summit of the Elders. It was among the first comprehensive responses by an Indigenous Group to Agenda 21, Chapter 26.
Since the Summit of the Elders, the HETF has been working to implement the strategies outlined in the Haudenosaunee Restoration Plan. Much of the work for the past three years has focused on setting up an infrastructure for the organization.
The HETF presently administers a grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency to assist the Cayuga, Tuscarora, and Tonawanda Seneca Nations as they develop environmental programs.
The Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force (HETF) partnered with SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) Center for Native Peoples and the Environment to establish the first Native Earth Environmental Youth Camp funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). A group of educators got together with a group of environmentalist and developed an environmental youth camp integrating western science with traditional knowledge through a series of hands on outdoor activities focused on encouraging Native youth to get more involved in understanding and protection of the natural world.
THANKSGIVING ADDRESS: GREETINGS TO THE NATURAL WORLD
The People
Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as People.
I was getting a headache. We’d only been there for ten minutes, but the periodic strong whiffs of propane gas were already getting to me. “It was worse two days ago,” Yvonne Shafer explained to me, “the whole outside and inside of the house would smell like that, about every half hour. At its worst, I spent two hours in the basement because it was the only place I could breathe.”
Such was our introduction to the domestic nightmare that the residents of Hedgehog Lane in Bradford, PA have to live through daily. This residential road winds up a valley outside of town, surrounded by forested hillsides. “We moved here because it was perfect,” Yvonne explained. “You couldn’t see the neighbors, there was lots of wildlife, clean air to breathe and clean water in the wells.” This all changed about a year ago, when a company called Aiello began hydrofracking on the hillside above them.
HETF Cayuga Nation Satement on Global Climate Change
Written by Administrator
Monday, 15 February 2010 11:26
On November 18 &19, 2009, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Held the 14th Annual Indian Nation leadership Meeting in Syracuse, NY to strengthen our relationship with the leadership of EPA and the Tribal and Nation leadership in Region 2 to protect our environment for the future generations. Each year, we pick a theme that both parties can come together to discuss and see how we can work on collaboratively. This year the theme was Global Climate Change. The Global Climate Change Panel set up to open the dialog at this meeting included John Filippelli, EPA, Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper, Onondaga Nation, Jim Ransom, Chief, SRMT, Bernadette Hill, Clanmother, Cayuga Nation.
This here is a statement read by Cayuga Nation Heron Clanmother, Bernadette Hill...
The People