As Dr. Robert Spiegelman put it, New Yorkers (and, to a larger extent, Americans in general) are afflicted with "NDD," or "Nature Deficit Disorder." We have grown up in a society that does not herald meaningful interchange with nature, Spiegelman explained, and as such we live without any sort of reverence for our planet. It certainly seems that this disease needs a cure. Treatment begins with awareness. Spiegelman, a sociologist and multimedia artist, spoke at Hamilton on Feb. 16 as part of the New York Council on the Humanities lecture series.
For the most part, New York's indigenous history has been lost, or long forgotten. The Iroquois Confederacy, a league comprised of six Native American nations (the Seneca, the Mohawk, the Cayuga, the Oneida, the Onondaga and the Tuscarora), once densely populated the Northeastern United States; upon the arrival of the Western settlers, they were forced to contend with new ideologies and regulations, some of which clashed significantly with their own environmental principles.
The Iroquois believed in a mutualistic relationship with the earth, in which both the land and its inhabitants benefitted from their interaction. This tenet was exemplified by the "Three Sisters," an Iroquoian dietary staple. The "sisters" were a combination of three vegetables: maize, squash and beans; these interplanted crops functioned symbiotically with one other. One would first place the maize seeds right next to each other. When the maize was sufficiently sprouted, then one would plant the squash and beans. Since the squash grew to cover the ground, they prevented potential weeds from getting sunlight while also keeping cool the roots of the maize. The beans released nitrogen, which benefitted the soil, and the bean vines were also able to grow on the maize stalk.
The Iroquois also believed that one should live sustainably: "what you do today has impact on the future." In "the Great Law of the Iroquois," they proclaimed that "in every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation... even if it requires having skin as thick as the bark of a pine."
Unfortunately, this is not the paradigm followed by Westerners, Spiegelman explained. The early settlers were focused on expanding their influence – the Manifest Destiny. As such, they drove out the Iroquois and shrugged off the original inhabitants' ecological values. The back of an old $2. bill depicts massive Western ships sailing next to comparatively-meager Native American canoes. In an 1848 painting, a locomotive chugs through lush green terrain. In the background stand churches and factories, bright and prominent; in the foreground remain dead tree stumps. In yet another painting, the famous American Progress, the angel dubbed "Lady Progress" carries the United States' umbilical cord – the telegraph line – due West. Meanwhile, the Native Americans flee under the smoke of oncoming trains. As Spiegelman points out, "It is a treeless future."
Lake Onondaga near Syracuse, once clean and habitable, is today one of the most toxic bodies of water in America. Factories have dumped industrial sewage into the lake; our modern efforts at unimpeded technological growth have overwhelmed the area and spoiled hopes for future use. But as Edward Abbey, an American author, once said, "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell."
Spiegelman endorsed the notion of returning to Iroquoian values – perhaps then we could recover our umbilical tie to Mother Nature, a relationship that "entails both dependency and interdependency." Without it, he said, "we cannot survive."
Spiegelman then ended the lecture on a simple note: "The hope is you."
-- by Alex Pure '12
For the most part, New York's indigenous history has been lost, or long forgotten. The Iroquois Confederacy, a league comprised of six Native American nations (the Seneca, the Mohawk, the Cayuga, the Oneida, the Onondaga and the Tuscarora), once densely populated the Northeastern United States; upon the arrival of the Western settlers, they were forced to contend with new ideologies and regulations, some of which clashed significantly with their own environmental principles.
The Iroquois believed in a mutualistic relationship with the earth, in which both the land and its inhabitants benefitted from their interaction. This tenet was exemplified by the "Three Sisters," an Iroquoian dietary staple. The "sisters" were a combination of three vegetables: maize, squash and beans; these interplanted crops functioned symbiotically with one other. One would first place the maize seeds right next to each other. When the maize was sufficiently sprouted, then one would plant the squash and beans. Since the squash grew to cover the ground, they prevented potential weeds from getting sunlight while also keeping cool the roots of the maize. The beans released nitrogen, which benefitted the soil, and the bean vines were also able to grow on the maize stalk.
The Iroquois also believed that one should live sustainably: "what you do today has impact on the future." In "the Great Law of the Iroquois," they proclaimed that "in every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation... even if it requires having skin as thick as the bark of a pine."
Unfortunately, this is not the paradigm followed by Westerners, Spiegelman explained. The early settlers were focused on expanding their influence – the Manifest Destiny. As such, they drove out the Iroquois and shrugged off the original inhabitants' ecological values. The back of an old $2. bill depicts massive Western ships sailing next to comparatively-meager Native American canoes. In an 1848 painting, a locomotive chugs through lush green terrain. In the background stand churches and factories, bright and prominent; in the foreground remain dead tree stumps. In yet another painting, the famous American Progress, the angel dubbed "Lady Progress" carries the United States' umbilical cord – the telegraph line – due West. Meanwhile, the Native Americans flee under the smoke of oncoming trains. As Spiegelman points out, "It is a treeless future."
Lake Onondaga near Syracuse, once clean and habitable, is today one of the most toxic bodies of water in America. Factories have dumped industrial sewage into the lake; our modern efforts at unimpeded technological growth have overwhelmed the area and spoiled hopes for future use. But as Edward Abbey, an American author, once said, "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell."
Spiegelman endorsed the notion of returning to Iroquoian values – perhaps then we could recover our umbilical tie to Mother Nature, a relationship that "entails both dependency and interdependency." Without it, he said, "we cannot survive."
Spiegelman then ended the lecture on a simple note: "The hope is you."
-- by Alex Pure '12
