1. The Ecological Indian

2. The assumption of indigenous environmental value is a foundational belief for deep ecologists and many ecocritics. Native Indians are the locus classicus of this assumption.

3. Iron eyes Cody “Pollution: it’s a crying shame.” --- Advertisement of Keep America Beautiful

4. Cultural stereotype of the Ecological Indian “ The dominant image is of the Indian in nature who understands the systemic consequences of his actions, feel deep sympathy with all living forms, and takes steps to conserve so that earth’s harmonies are never imbalanced and resources never in doubt.” --- Shepard Krech III

5. “The typical traditional American Indian attitude was to regard all features of the environment as enspirited. These entities possessed a consciousness, reason, and volition, no less intense and complete than a human being’s.” ----- J. Baird Callicott

6. Dances with wolves (1990) When the Sioux hunt the bufalo, it is a heroic, albeit brutal showing The Sious hunting buffalo for sustenance rather than for financial profit, within a ritual context, and in an environmentally harmonious way.

7. James Welch’s novel Fools Crow (1986) Genre: Magic Realism Theme: Massacre of buffaloes and the encroachment into Indian lands “ For three more sleeps I followed this strange white man that leaves his meat. He killed a long- tail, a bighead, three real-dogs and five wags-his- tails. … But for many moons now the hunter kills animals until they become scarce. I fear he will kill us all off if something isn’t done” ---- The Raven

8. The colonisation of America has to be seen in ecological terms European imperialism was not solely an ideological or human phenomenon. Continents with similar climates to Europe were invaded by a “portmanteau biota” including domestic, feral and wild animals and plants as well as epidemic pathogens– Alfred Crosby Whites brought ploughs, cattle, pigs, tough short- stemmed grasses, small pox, measles and the whooping cough

9. Chief Seattle’s Speech his 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. Whatever befalls the Earth - befalls the sons of the Earth. 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. 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 slaughtere d, the wild horses tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with 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".

10. Seattle’s speech was promoted in the 1960s as a testament to Indian values In 1854, Seattle accepted a demand from the US Government that he concede land Reconstructed from notes over 30 years later by white physician Henry Smith

11. The return of the buffalo- Silko The buffalo are returning. They roam off federal land in Montana and Wyoming. Fences can’t hold them. Irrigation water for the Great Plain is disappearing, and so the farmers, and their plows. Farmer’s children retreat to the cities. Year by year the range of the buffalo grows a mile or two larger”