By Niánn Emerson Chase
Being raised by a spiritual, scientific father who was a water and soil conservationist on four different Indian reservations in Arizona (where I freely roamed the surrounding wild lands), I grew to understand the interdependence of humans with the natural environment and to hold sacred not only the life and health of human beings but also all life—plant and animal—and the ecosystems that keep us all alive.
In college and the ensuing years, I increasingly realized that it was almost impossible to live in the sacred manner I desired under the influence and control of the dominant culture of materialism and the conquer-all-in-nature mindset. And so in my 20s and 30s I lived in a conflictive state of compromise within mainstream society, doing what I could to live simply, buy minimally and responsibly, conserve water, recycle, repurpose, garden, participate in a cooperative where we bought organic foods in bulk and split among ourselves, and so on. I constantly researched and learned of better ways to live sustainably and attempted making changes within my nuclear family unit, which was at times challenging when certain family members did not want to participate. (more…)