Ties that Bind: North American Beliefs as a Foundation for Environmental Consciousness

This paper explores specific contributions that Native American thought can make to the ongoing search for a Western environmental consciousness. It begins with a review of the influence of Native American beliefs on the different branches of the modern environmental mouvement of the USA, and some inital comparisons between the Native and the Western ways of seeing. Next, it reviews Native American thought on the natural world, hightliting beliefs in the need of reciprocity and balance, the world as a living being, and relations with animals. It concludes that Native American beliefs are important, can prove inspirational in the search for a modern environmental consciousness, and affirm the arguments of both deep ecologists and ecofeminists.