Aloha Pattaya Mail
Through out the years you have allowed The Pollution Solution Group to express opinions that they have had and now, we are happy to say that Pattaya City Hall is now assisting us in our efforts to make Jomtien and Pattaya a safer, cleaner place for us all to live or visit.
We want to wish your great paper and all of your readers a wonderful Holiday along with Health, Long-Life, Inner-Wealth and Happiness.
Now is the time of the year for people to make new year resolutions and we along with Pattaya City Hall have some suggestions.
First we would like to thank all of the smokers that do not leave their toxic cigarette ends (butts) behind, that take up to 12 years to decompose, leaving dangers (poison) for unknowing baby's, wildlife and waterways to ingest.
The Pollution Solution Group have helped 3 different mothers, on Jomtien Beach, take toxic butts out of their choking baby's throat, they were just sitting on the beach, playing and they pulled out of the sand these dirty, toxic, killer, cigarette ends, that can and have killed children, wildlife and contaminate our waterways.
Some Thai and Farangs both need to wake up and quit sharing their killer habit with the rest of us, we know it is a hard habit to quit but for the sake of the voiceless, the children, wildlife and all natural waterways, please quit giving poison to them, killing yourself is one thing, killing others is another, the earth is not your ash tray and we don't want our children playing in one, we are also talking to baht bus drivers, motorbike taxis and police to start setting examples by also not flicking or leaving behind cigarette ends (butts) that get flicked into our streets, wash, blow or get swept into our storm drains and then end up in our ocean, killing much of our sea life and also drifting back to shore where children can find them, It's really a no-brainier, if you smoke,
Please "keep your butts to yourself" Leaving only foot prints behind.
Mahalo Nui Loa (Thank you very much) Happy Holidays to All.
Remember Pattaya City Hall #1337. See something wrong, call them, English or Thai, they want to hear from you. One random act of kindness at a time.
The life of the people is in our hearts and shows in the land (take care of it)
WE are all in this neighborhood together
"PLEASE DO YOUR PART"
If pictures are worth a thousand words, here are 6 thousand words, each bag of toxic cigarette ends are different and picked up each day, at the same area, this lovely mother with her baby, understands the problem and is afraid to let her daughter sit or play on our beach ash trays, the children help sometimes to clean the area they play in, the last picture is a fact, we are there every day and see the problem.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tips To Bring You A Beautiful Life
Click here to view beautiful slideshow with music
Wisdoms of Life
Wisdoms of Life
Lebensweisheiten
View more presentations from ZUHAL S.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tam Boon
Aloha Khun Umnat
Today the 15TH was a good day, we were able to put up many posters at Hat Nang Ram Beach in Sattahip, also Sirikit Hospital and a school, also the English and Thai literature, along with the washing hands posters, everybody thanked MaLee and I plus you and others at City Hall...
We will see you on the 18TH, have a great day...
Your friends KOTO and MaLee
Today the 15TH was a good day, we were able to put up many posters at Hat Nang Ram Beach in Sattahip, also Sirikit Hospital and a school, also the English and Thai literature, along with the washing hands posters, everybody thanked MaLee and I plus you and others at City Hall...
We will see you on the 18TH, have a great day...
Your friends KOTO and MaLee
Clearing Dangerous Piece Of Drift Wood
Aloha Khun Umnat
MaLee and I hope that all is going well, in your not so easy job, of taking care of the environment, we are proud to be a part of it, thank you for including us...
With some help from the beach chair vendors, we were able to remove a very dangerous piece of drift wood, from the ocean, that could hurt or kill a person on a banana boat, water skiing, jet skiing or wind surfing, it was mostly under water and was very hard to see...
Many people that make their living on the beach, often help me, I only need to ask and most will take time to assist me...
Your friends ready to help anytime we can...
With Aloha Gerry aka KOTO and MaLee
MaLee and I hope that all is going well, in your not so easy job, of taking care of the environment, we are proud to be a part of it, thank you for including us...
With some help from the beach chair vendors, we were able to remove a very dangerous piece of drift wood, from the ocean, that could hurt or kill a person on a banana boat, water skiing, jet skiing or wind surfing, it was mostly under water and was very hard to see...
Many people that make their living on the beach, often help me, I only need to ask and most will take time to assist me...
Your friends ready to help anytime we can...
With Aloha Gerry aka KOTO and MaLee
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Celebrate Growing Older
This is something we should all read at least once a week! Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio
"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written."My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with the powers above. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12.. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; the powers above never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. The powers above loves you because of who the powers is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift." 46. Leave only foot prints behind. 47. Reach out for the voiceless, the children, wildlife and natural waterways.
48. The life of the people is in our hearts and shows in the land." 49. "NOW" Is the only time there is, make the most of it. 50. Love yourself, so you will know how to love others.
Friends are the family that we choose for ourselves.
PS Koto at 71, added a few words at the end of this wonderful work, I also put the Powers Above, so regardless of what or who one believes in, The Powers Above should cover all.
Friday, August 21, 2009
A Polution Crisis
Middle School student made this wonderful short video that informs you about the plastic that is building up in our world.
World's biggest garbage dump...plastic in the ocean
World's biggest garbage dump...plastic in the ocean
Monday, August 17, 2009
Waster-size campaign 1980
Gerry began his Waster-size campaign in
1980
By LAUREL MURPHY
Staff Writer
LAHAINA -- Every morning at 7 Gerry Rasmus collects a plastic bag and his dog and sets off across the streets of old Lahaina town, picking up trash along the way.
He arrives at the Sunset Cafe, drinks a cup of coffee, and then heads for the rocky, little adjacent beach where he wades out into the tide and picks up swizzle sticks
Dozens of swizzle sticks. About 150 a day, in fact, which have washed ashore from cruise ships and Front St. restaurants. So many swizzle sticks that he perforates the entire cup of coffee with them, dates it, and sets it out on a table in his backyard as a symbol of Maui's intransigent problem with litter.
Rasmus, age 54, has become a one-man "pollution solution"
Waist to waste, as it were. As Rasmus looks at it, if he can persuade one more person a day to "pitch in" before he dies ---that's 10,000 people he figures---the problem of Hawaii's beaches being twice as littered as the national average would be a thing of the past.
Besides, he says, " it ends up being good exercise. You're not only cleaning up the neighborhood, you're getting rid of your opu.
Rasmus is the kind of guy who sells bananas and papayas in his front yard to tourists---on the honor system of course---and uses the proceeds to pay for the 750 pounds of birdseed he buys each month to feed the Java sparrows and battalions of doves on his roof happy.
He's the kind of guy who answers the phone by saying, "Have a wonderful now," gives out copies of Leo Buscaglia's book "Love is Letting of Fear" to friends ("Not because you need it; because you deserve it"), and rides his bicycle down Honoapiilani Highway wearing an anti-pollution mask.
He often stops litterers with a charming smile and the words, "Excuse me, I think you dropped this." Or, "Are you aware that every shoreline mile in Hawaii has 940,000 cigarette filters?" ( A gallon bottle with such filters is in his backyard collection, representing two hours of work on the lawn in front of the Lahaina Public Library one day.)
Rasmus bubbles over daily with ways to gain support for his crusade.
What about the first Annual Maui Litter Art Festival? Maybe it could be held Labor Day weekend. The entrance fee would be a 30-gallon bag of trash. If contestants couldn't afford a trash bag, he will supply it.
People could bring their creations made of litter and win prizes like, say, a helicoptor ride for two to a remote area where they could pick up trash.
Rasmus wasn't always this public-spirited a citizen. In fact, as he admits, he was once part of the problem, "a waste of skin taking up space."
He moved to Maui from California in 1976 to avoid prosecution for drunken driving. In four months he squandered the $80,000 profit he had made from selling his used car business in San Jose. He ended up living on the beach and taking shower at beach parks.
"You know, many of us who come to the island are runaways," he said.
By 1980, however, Rasmus had seen the light. "I stopped drinking and became a part of the solution."
He started leasing houses, and renting clean rooms to people living on a shoestring like he used to do. He opened (and closed) two stores in Lahaina, Crystal Palace and Song by the Sea. He sold kukui nut leis at the Swap Meet, and became known as Lahaina's unofficial greeter.
In January, it hit him. His true purpose for being.
"Most of my life I have been wondering what I am here for, what I am supposed to do," he said. "Why not start cleaning the place up so when I do figure it out, I'm in a decent setting?"
1980
By LAUREL MURPHY
Staff Writer
LAHAINA -- Every morning at 7 Gerry Rasmus collects a plastic bag and his dog and sets off across the streets of old Lahaina town, picking up trash along the way.
He arrives at the Sunset Cafe, drinks a cup of coffee, and then heads for the rocky, little adjacent beach where he wades out into the tide and picks up swizzle sticks
Dozens of swizzle sticks. About 150 a day, in fact, which have washed ashore from cruise ships and Front St. restaurants. So many swizzle sticks that he perforates the entire cup of coffee with them, dates it, and sets it out on a table in his backyard as a symbol of Maui's intransigent problem with litter.
Rasmus, age 54, has become a one-man "pollution solution"
Waist to waste, as it were. As Rasmus looks at it, if he can persuade one more person a day to "pitch in" before he dies ---that's 10,000 people he figures---the problem of Hawaii's beaches being twice as littered as the national average would be a thing of the past.
Besides, he says, " it ends up being good exercise. You're not only cleaning up the neighborhood, you're getting rid of your opu.
Rasmus is the kind of guy who sells bananas and papayas in his front yard to tourists---on the honor system of course---and uses the proceeds to pay for the 750 pounds of birdseed he buys each month to feed the Java sparrows and battalions of doves on his roof happy.
He's the kind of guy who answers the phone by saying, "Have a wonderful now," gives out copies of Leo Buscaglia's book "Love is Letting of Fear" to friends ("Not because you need it; because you deserve it"), and rides his bicycle down Honoapiilani Highway wearing an anti-pollution mask.
He often stops litterers with a charming smile and the words, "Excuse me, I think you dropped this." Or, "Are you aware that every shoreline mile in Hawaii has 940,000 cigarette filters?" ( A gallon bottle with such filters is in his backyard collection, representing two hours of work on the lawn in front of the Lahaina Public Library one day.)
Rasmus bubbles over daily with ways to gain support for his crusade.
What about the first Annual Maui Litter Art Festival? Maybe it could be held Labor Day weekend. The entrance fee would be a 30-gallon bag of trash. If contestants couldn't afford a trash bag, he will supply it.
People could bring their creations made of litter and win prizes like, say, a helicoptor ride for two to a remote area where they could pick up trash.
Rasmus wasn't always this public-spirited a citizen. In fact, as he admits, he was once part of the problem, "a waste of skin taking up space."
He moved to Maui from California in 1976 to avoid prosecution for drunken driving. In four months he squandered the $80,000 profit he had made from selling his used car business in San Jose. He ended up living on the beach and taking shower at beach parks.
"You know, many of us who come to the island are runaways," he said.
By 1980, however, Rasmus had seen the light. "I stopped drinking and became a part of the solution."
He started leasing houses, and renting clean rooms to people living on a shoestring like he used to do. He opened (and closed) two stores in Lahaina, Crystal Palace and Song by the Sea. He sold kukui nut leis at the Swap Meet, and became known as Lahaina's unofficial greeter.
In January, it hit him. His true purpose for being.
"Most of my life I have been wondering what I am here for, what I am supposed to do," he said. "Why not start cleaning the place up so when I do figure it out, I'm in a decent setting?"
Friday, August 14, 2009
Big cleaning operation on Jomtien Beach
Big cleaning operation on Jomtien Beach
During the morning of the 11th August, Deputy Mayor Weerawat Kahkai organised a cleaning up operation along Jomtien Beach. The positive activity in improve and clean up the landscape was attended by councilors and beach vendors and students from Pattaya Schools, was in honour of the birthday of HM The Queen and also Mothers Day which falls on the 12th August. News stories placed on this website are short versions. If you would like the full story, please read the Pattaya People Weekly newspaper.
During the morning of the 11th August, Deputy Mayor Weerawat Kahkai organised a cleaning up operation along Jomtien Beach. The positive activity in improve and clean up the landscape was attended by councilors and beach vendors and students from Pattaya Schools, was in honour of the birthday of HM The Queen and also Mothers Day which falls on the 12th August. News stories placed on this website are short versions. If you would like the full story, please read the Pattaya People Weekly newspaper.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Sea Grass
Sea Grass will feed shrimp and other sea creatures
On Thursday morning, July 23RD, 50 student volunteers from Pattaya City schools, Khun Umnat, Department of Environmental Ouality Promotion from Pattaya City Hall, Teachers, Gerry Rasmus aka KOTO, One of the keepers of the ocean and MaLee planted over 400 sea grasses at Thong Kata Bay in Naklua. The students came to protect and enhance the marine environment and coastline. Thong Kata bay is a very important resource, as there is no access there for tourists, and the conditions of the sea, soil and sand in the area is mostly suitable for planting the sea grasses. This is the first marine area in Pattaya that has been planted. Sea grass is an aquatic plant, and its foliage is a food and home for crab, shrimp and other sea creatures. Furthermore, the sea grass also holds the sediments and soil together, which prevents underwater erosion.
On Thursday morning, July 23RD, 50 student volunteers from Pattaya City schools, Khun Umnat, Department of Environmental Ouality Promotion from Pattaya City Hall, Teachers, Gerry Rasmus aka KOTO, One of the keepers of the ocean and MaLee planted over 400 sea grasses at Thong Kata Bay in Naklua. The students came to protect and enhance the marine environment and coastline. Thong Kata bay is a very important resource, as there is no access there for tourists, and the conditions of the sea, soil and sand in the area is mostly suitable for planting the sea grasses. This is the first marine area in Pattaya that has been planted. Sea grass is an aquatic plant, and its foliage is a food and home for crab, shrimp and other sea creatures. Furthermore, the sea grass also holds the sediments and soil together, which prevents underwater erosion.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
We are all in this neighborhood together
WE ARE ALL IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD TOGETHER
Aloha Pattaya People
The Pollution Solution Group, Checked out the 5 storm drain pipes, that empty into the ocean at Bali Hai Pier, The reason we did this was because of the waste that was not draining out of the storm drains in Pattaya City and the mosquito's breeding in them.
We notified Khun Umnat at City Hall, telling him that they needed to spray the drains again to kill the mosquito's beeding in the toxic waste, Then pump out the drains, (Not) Dumping the waste into the ocean, After that digging out the storm drain pipes at the oceans edge, which are full of sand, blocking the drains from letting the rain water drain into the ocean.
We are also asking, that the heavy foot traffic areas around storm drains to be stenciled in Thai and English (GOES TO OCEAN) (NO GARBAGE) WITH A PICTURE.
We all need to take an active part in reporting storm drains that have garbage, cooking oil, cigarette butts in them, To City Hall, the waste all goes to the ocean, Killing sea life (SEA FOOD) And much of it washing back to shore, Making our beaches a mess, A danger to all, (Especially the children)
We re all in this neighborhood together, it is time for us to reach out and do our part, Don't wait for someone else to do the (Tam Boon) (Hearing the cry of Mother Nature) Take pictures of storm drains that have waste in them, send them to The Pollution Solution Group. We will take them to City Hall, Make sure you put the location with the picture. Mahalo Nui Loa, Thank You Very Much. "The Life of the People is in Our Hearts and Shows in the Land" Health and Happiness to all.
With Aloha KOTO, One of the keepers o the ocean
pollutionsolutionthailand@yahoo.com
Aloha Pattaya People
The Pollution Solution Group, Checked out the 5 storm drain pipes, that empty into the ocean at Bali Hai Pier, The reason we did this was because of the waste that was not draining out of the storm drains in Pattaya City and the mosquito's breeding in them.
We notified Khun Umnat at City Hall, telling him that they needed to spray the drains again to kill the mosquito's beeding in the toxic waste, Then pump out the drains, (Not) Dumping the waste into the ocean, After that digging out the storm drain pipes at the oceans edge, which are full of sand, blocking the drains from letting the rain water drain into the ocean.
We are also asking, that the heavy foot traffic areas around storm drains to be stenciled in Thai and English (GOES TO OCEAN) (NO GARBAGE) WITH A PICTURE.
We all need to take an active part in reporting storm drains that have garbage, cooking oil, cigarette butts in them, To City Hall, the waste all goes to the ocean, Killing sea life (SEA FOOD) And much of it washing back to shore, Making our beaches a mess, A danger to all, (Especially the children)
We re all in this neighborhood together, it is time for us to reach out and do our part, Don't wait for someone else to do the (Tam Boon) (Hearing the cry of Mother Nature) Take pictures of storm drains that have waste in them, send them to The Pollution Solution Group. We will take them to City Hall, Make sure you put the location with the picture. Mahalo Nui Loa, Thank You Very Much. "The Life of the People is in Our Hearts and Shows in the Land" Health and Happiness to all.
With Aloha KOTO, One of the keepers o the ocean
pollutionsolutionthailand@yahoo.com
Friday, June 19, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Toxic Trapper Abtech - TIME
Trapper Abtech - TIME
InventorGlenn Rink created the technology behind Smart Sponge in 1996 as a way to turn oil slicks into solid sheets that could easily be plucked out of the water.
Read full story Time.com
Monday, April 13, 2009
Chief Seattle's Thoughts
'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.'
In 1854, 'The Great White Chief' in Washington made an offer for a large area of Indian land and promised a 'reservation' for the Indian people.
Chief Seattle's reply, published here in full has been described as one of the most beautiful and profound statements on the environment ever made:
'In 1851 Seattle, chief of the Suquamish and other Indian tribes around Washington's Puget Sound, delivered what is considered to be one of the most beautiful and profound environmental statements ever made. The city of Seattle is named for the chief, whose speech was in response to a proposed treaty under which the Indians were persuaded to sell two million acres of land for $150,000.' -- Buckminster Fuller in Critical Path.
Chief Seattle's Thoughts
How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us.
If we do not own the freshness of the air and 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 clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man.
The white man's dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful earth, for it is the mother of the red man. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man --- all belong to the same family.
So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us. The Great Chief sends word he will reserve us a place so that we can live comfortably to ourselves. He will be our father and we will be his children.
So, we will consider your offer to buy our land. But it will not be easy. For this land is sacred to us. This shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you the land, you must remember that it is sacred, and you must teach your children that it is sacred and that each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.
The rivers are our brothers, they quench our thirst. The rivers carry our canoes, and feed our children. If we sell you our land, you must remember, and teach your children, that the rivers are our brothers and yours, and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness you would give any brother.
We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his father's grave behind, and he does not care. He kidnaps the earth from his children, and he does not care. His father's grave, and his children's birthright are forgotten. He treats his mother, the earth, and his brother, the sky, as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright beads. His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert.
I do not know. Our ways are different than your ways. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in spring or the rustle of the insect's wings. The clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around the pond at night? I am a red man and do not understand. The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of a pond and the smell of the wind itself, cleaned by a midday rain, or scented with pinon pine.
The air is precious to the red man for all things share the same breath, the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man dying for many days he is numb to the stench. But if we sell you our land, you must remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.
The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. And if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred as a place where even the white man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow's flowers.
So we will consider your offer to buy our land. If we decide to accept, I will make one condition - the white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers.I am a savage and do not understand any other way. I have seen a thousand rotting buffaloes on the prairie, left by the white man who shot them from a passing train. I am a savage and do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be made more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive.
What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of the spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.
You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of our grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children that we have taught our children that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.
This we know; the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected.
Even the white man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see. One thing we know which the white man may one day discover; our God is the same God.
You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land; but you cannot. He is the God of man, and His compassion is equal for the red man and the white. The earth is precious to Him, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator. The whites too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.
But in your perishing you will shine brightly fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man.
That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires.
Where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone.
The end of living and the beginning of survival.
In 1854, 'The Great White Chief' in Washington made an offer for a large area of Indian land and promised a 'reservation' for the Indian people.
Chief Seattle's reply, published here in full has been described as one of the most beautiful and profound statements on the environment ever made:
'In 1851 Seattle, chief of the Suquamish and other Indian tribes around Washington's Puget Sound, delivered what is considered to be one of the most beautiful and profound environmental statements ever made. The city of Seattle is named for the chief, whose speech was in response to a proposed treaty under which the Indians were persuaded to sell two million acres of land for $150,000.' -- Buckminster Fuller in Critical Path.
Chief Seattle's Thoughts
How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us.
If we do not own the freshness of the air and 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 clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man.
The white man's dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful earth, for it is the mother of the red man. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man --- all belong to the same family.
So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us. The Great Chief sends word he will reserve us a place so that we can live comfortably to ourselves. He will be our father and we will be his children.
So, we will consider your offer to buy our land. But it will not be easy. For this land is sacred to us. This shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you the land, you must remember that it is sacred, and you must teach your children that it is sacred and that each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.
The rivers are our brothers, they quench our thirst. The rivers carry our canoes, and feed our children. If we sell you our land, you must remember, and teach your children, that the rivers are our brothers and yours, and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness you would give any brother.
We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his father's grave behind, and he does not care. He kidnaps the earth from his children, and he does not care. His father's grave, and his children's birthright are forgotten. He treats his mother, the earth, and his brother, the sky, as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright beads. His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert.
I do not know. Our ways are different than your ways. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in spring or the rustle of the insect's wings. The clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around the pond at night? I am a red man and do not understand. The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of a pond and the smell of the wind itself, cleaned by a midday rain, or scented with pinon pine.
The air is precious to the red man for all things share the same breath, the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man dying for many days he is numb to the stench. But if we sell you our land, you must remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.
The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. And if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred as a place where even the white man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow's flowers.
So we will consider your offer to buy our land. If we decide to accept, I will make one condition - the white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers.I am a savage and do not understand any other way. I have seen a thousand rotting buffaloes on the prairie, left by the white man who shot them from a passing train. I am a savage and do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be made more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive.
What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of the spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.
You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of our grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children that we have taught our children that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.
This we know; the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected.
Even the white man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see. One thing we know which the white man may one day discover; our God is the same God.
You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land; but you cannot. He is the God of man, and His compassion is equal for the red man and the white. The earth is precious to Him, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator. The whites too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.
But in your perishing you will shine brightly fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man.
That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires.
Where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone.
The end of living and the beginning of survival.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
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