On the second ever Earth Day in 1971, the Ad Council—responsible for public service announcements, along with the nonprofit Keep America Beautiful, put out an ad called, “People Start Pollution, People Can Stop It.” It became popularly known as “The Crying Indian” commercial. One of the most famous ever made, the scene opens with a Native American man paddling his canoe upriver.
The water is strewn with trash. Litter also lines the riverbank. While in the background, smoke stacks spew black soot into the air.He walks to the highway’s edge, where a passing motorist throws a bag of garbage at the man’s feet. The camera pulls in to a close-up of his face and a single tear rolls down his cheek. The narrator chimes in, “People start pollution; people can stop it.”
Iron Eyes Cody was the so-called “Crying Indian.” Although he was actually of Italian-American descent, the commercial and the new spreading consciousness of what was then called “ecology,” helped clean up America’s air, water, and land, and made people more environmentally conscious.
As such, the idea that indigenous peoples can help us reconnect with nature and care more about the environment, so as to better safeguard it, isn’t a new one. There’s another aspect, too. Since they’re so dependent on the ecosystems which they inhabit, indigenous peoples, besides being the most knowledgeable about the land, are also the most vulnerable to pollution and climate change.
Indigenous peoples may be in a unique position to help manage climate change. Their also the most impacted by it. Credit: Getty Images.
Indigenous peoples all over the world are being significantly impacted by global warming. In the Himalayas, less glacial ice means less runoff which long-term, threatens windswept populations clinging to the roof of the world. In the Kalahari Desert of Africa, water loss has made herdsman dependent on government bore holes to water their cattle. This is only a short-term solution.
In the arctic, the dwindling of seal, walrus, polar bear, and caribou populations are threatening Inuit food supplies. While, the Saami herders in Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden have seen their reindeer populations plummet. The reason, they no longer have clear access to the lichen they depend on for food, and many are falling through thinning…
The post Could Eliciting Indigenous Peoples’ Help Allow Us to Better Manage Climate Change? appeared first on FeedBox.