The social, economic, and health disparity between the average American and Native Americans, including Inuits, is startling. They’re fighting for respect, and some are losing. 150 years later, their descendants are still fighting, but it’s a different battle. Conflict was inevitable, even likely, due to the vast amount of land covered by nomadic tribes. Western tribes like the Diné (Navajo), Lakota (Teton Sioux), Nimiipuu (Nez Perce), Nde (San Carlos Apache), and Tsėhéstáno (Cheyenne), were forced from their territorial homelands after long, violent struggles. It’s a stretch to use the term “treaty” to describe many of these transactions. The decoupling of American Indians and their land was a long and protracted process of subjugation and deceitful negotiations. All of America was originally settled, let’s not forget that, including our current national parks. It remains one of the most influential advertisement campaigns of all time notwithstanding the fact that Iron Eyes Cody was an Italian American and the commercial was funded by companies opposing a bottle return policy.
#REX TILLERSON SLEEPY TIME TAILS FULL#
Some of us are old enough to recall a 1971 Earth Day advertisement from Keep America Beautiful starring Iron Eyes Cody, who, in full Native American regalia, famously shed a tear over pollution. No, not the European settlers, the Indigenous ones. In commemoration of the first Earth Day in 1970, I am paying tribute to this Nation’s settlers. Once we truly grasp its meaning, we will find it is the most difficult challenge of our times. Now, mind you, I am all for sustainable improvements and the steps toward achieving a balance but let’s be clear about the concept of sustainability, and let’s stop using the term so nonchalantly. Unless your company’s primary focus is preserving the biological hotspots of the world, you probably shouldn’t be promoting your company as “totally green.” Unless your company is a non-profit with 100% of its earnings going to support a people in crisis, you shouldn’t be marketing your “total commitment to sustainability.” Consequently, the recognition of this allows us to be discerning with the information that is being marketed. Can products be sustainable? Can companies be sustainable? Can people be sustainable? If we recognize that we have to achieve a balance with the personal and business lives we lead, we can then approach sustainability with all of these areas.
Sustainability is all about achieving a balance. After acknowledging that, we can finally get somewhere. Sustainability means balancing that economic gain with strict environmental standards and a commitment to social responsibility. This produced 178 billion dollars in payroll income. According to the Travel Industry Association, domestic and international travelers spent 700 billion dollars in the U.S. But with this knowledge that sustainability is a global issue, do we have a specific responsibility to be sustainable in the U.S.? Yes! Yes, incontrovertibly, and forever. Agricultural conversion of rainforest in the Amazon is as much of a factor as melting ice sheets in Greenland. Population growth in developing nations is as much a factor as recycling rates in America. Sustainability is compromised by many factors. As many of you have heard me say in the past, here we are conducting this never- before attempted lab experiment on the only planet we call home by altering its chemical balance and we still are debating whether a customer will accept a surcharge for converting a hotel to a percentage clean energy? Well I guess I would pay for staying at a hotel or eating at a restaurant that isn’t contributing to my descendants’ demise, wouldn’t you? Don’t feel guilty. As a result, we all collectively need to be paying better attention. Hmmm, doesn’t that indict all of us? Yes, to a degree. If our products, actions or associations compromise the ability of future generations to have the same natural experience on Earth as we have had then we may not be sustainable.
Still, it doesn’t change a thing about sustainability.
Nowadays we hear about the triple bottom line and environmental ethics and sustainable certifications. Okay that is broad, I admit, but it is the essence of the term. The myriad of definitions of the term are all variations of the theme of not compromising future generations with our current actions. It seemed perfectly appropriate this first entry to start with something that we must begin to understand in more depth: sustainability. Reprint rights are granted with author acknowledgement. These essays reflect the opinion of the author and are not intended to represent the opinion of the organization as a whole. They range in topic from climate change to monarch butterflies. These are a collection of Earth Day articles written by David Mahood.
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