Newsletter – December 2008

Happy Solstice from Sustainable Nations!

This fall brought some challenges, changes, and subsequent shifts in our projects for the upcoming year.

First of all – we are happy to announce that, by January, Sustainable Nations will become an independently functioning 501 c3 organization! Many thanks go to the folks at California Indian Legal Services for being of incredible service in this, and we are indebted to the Seventh Generation Fund for its four years of amazing support and fiscal sponsorship! We could not have come this far without them.

We are currently fully immersed in our work with Ah-Pah/Blue Creek, an organization of Yurok family members we introduced in our last newsletter. We have begun co-design of the community bath/shower facility, survey work, and assessment of water potential, and are looking forward to planning community trainings around this work.

We have just continued our contacts with the Yurok Tribe to develop a sustainable energy plan that suits the needs of Yurok families with our local renewable energy specialist, Roger, and will be meeting on the river within the next month. Roger is also the one who is going to evaluate the microhydroelectric potential of our City’s water pumping and filtration systems. We are grateful to have him as a resource.

We had a setback this fall on our farm project – we were donated the use of a parcel of land to initiate a Community Supported Agriculture farm, but further development was halted by zoning laws. This has served as a good reminder to our City that alterations need to be sensitively made to zoning law to permit families to grow significant quantities of food within biking distance. I am grateful that the City of Trinidad is taking these concerns seriously. Sustainable Nations is currently seeking alternative land.

We are also planning a local educational medicinal herb garden with the Tsurai Rancheria, with the support of Rachel Sundberg and Cutcha Baldy. This work serves to remind our community of the wealth and knowledge of the land we live on.

Upcoming Events:

  • Sustainable Nations will be hosting an Earthen Plaster workshop at a private home in Trinidad, California this coming January – Keep posted online for our specific dates!
  • Indigenous Resistance to Environmental Destruction Film Series will be hosted Every Friday in February at a location to be announced!

SUSTAINABLE NATIONS STATEMENT ON COLONIZATION

The ‘dominant’ society touts values of competition, material wealth, and individual pursuit of ‘freedom’ without any accompanying responsibility. THESE VALUES HAVE LED TO THE COLONIZING GOVERNMENTS carrying out atrocities against Indigenous and poor people worldwide in our name!!!

Indigenous people of all colors and our allies worldwide hold a common wisdom:

We are children of a living Earth, ultimately reliant physically, mentally, and spiritually, upon deep integrated respectful relationships with the land we exist as a part of. Sharing our wealth in our local communities and having humble devotion to the well being of our communities and our place in Creation is the foundation that brings balance to humanity.

Many Indigenous people, through the process of colonization, have become part of the system of oppression, knowingly or unknowingly, through our participation in the colonizers’ economic system. We have been miseducated, taught to look upon our ancestors as backward and innocent, and shaped to believe that our individual power and wealth is of value. And, our Nations are fraught with alcoholism, poverty, social unrest, and hopelessness.

However, many of our Nations have retained their values and culture amidst overwhelming odds, fighting to keep what they know is the salvation of their people.

The strength of our people in the future depends upon being able to undo the process of colonization and bring the knowledge of our ancestors into the modern world.

We believe that through the process of revitalizing our cultures and moving our communities towards a bioregionally sustainable future through renewable energy use, natural building methods, respectful water management, and the support of local food systems will allow our people to heal the wounds of the past, reconnect to the living Earth, and build strong alliances with our neighbors, for the health of all of our children in the future.

Guiding Values

Traditional knowledge, practices, and the strengthening of traditional economies form the foundation of resilient, sustainable Nations, and should be the guide for any development work.

Development plans and projects must be community directed. People of their community are the best ones to serve their community, having intimate knowledge of their culture, their nation, and their resources. Our consultants and trainers serve as resources that community members can draw upon to develop their own strategies and planning, utilizing a ‘training the trainers’ model.

Our work serves on-the-ground planning, development, and implementation. We support policy development initiatives, but the role of Sustainable Nations as an organization is tangible hands-on training and development work.

News & Updates

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