Chili Yazzie: The Planet is in Trouble, Time for Conversations with Indigenous

By Duane Chili Yazzie 

Shiprock, Navajo Nation

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The energy development interest is mired in a mindset that says there is nothing wrong with how they do business. The first impulse is to oppose any suggestions that energy development could be done in a different way. They bristle at the talk of addressing the climate crisis and of renewable energy. The automatic reaction to the Biden Administration's strategy on the climate issue has been to hit the trenches with contingency plans to hunker down for an all-out campaign to defend their domain.

The business of energy development is fused with the ideology of capitalism, which is built on the law of supply and demand. The driving force is the economics, the profit margin. Because of the bottom line at the bank and the rat race to maintain it, it is a battle with many fronts in an all-encompassing effort to stay ahead of the game. There is little regard for the human and environmental devastation strewn along the way. That is the cost of doing business, just an expense.

It must be a vicious cycle with potential threats to the supply line, the perceived damage that could be done to the infrastructure of society and government, the payroll of families and the health of the corporate bottom line. The metering gauge in the board room must be erratic, vacillating between emboldened confidence and frenetic anxiety over the policy that looms to save the environment.

This appears to be the dynamics of the energy development world. We understand. Antithetically, the energy development hierarchy does not seem to have any reason to be open to understand the argument of the environmentalists to preserve the earth. The environmentalists' arguments are pragmatic science. I suppose that with sincere objectivity, the corporation and the environmentalist could find common ground and agree on some basic premises based on facts – if there were such an opportunity.

In a separate paradigm, I do not believe the corporate big wheels readily comprehend why Indigenous peoples claim the earth as our mother, that the earth has a life essence, a spirit. Indigenous understand the corporate mind. There is no doubt in our Indigenous mind that we can show you the fallacy of your corporate ways and why you need to rethink your priorities. This is a challenge.

Our planet, our home, is in trouble. It is imperative that we have a conversation. We ask respectfully that we come to the table as equal humanity, the future of our collective world. Your business, the lives of our grandchildren, and coming generations depend on us to do so.