Introduction
Indigenous people around the world believe the Earth is our mother. We think she is breathing and alive. Nihasdzaan (Our Mother) cares and feeds us. She has organs inside her. The Sioux tribe believe the Black Hills is the heart of Mother, the tribes in South America believe the Rain Forest is her lungs, and the Dine People believe the coal in Black Mesa is her liver. There are other Indigenous nations globally that have a common belief that the Earth is our mother.
All native nations are worried about Mother Earth, and that the damages to her system caused her to retaliate. Many say she is angry, hurt, and in pain, and believe this is why there are stronger storms and other weather events that last longer: hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, earthquakes, and heatwaves. Not only storms but also other damaging events like global warming and the extinction of animal species. The elders on the Dine Nation say, “The damage done, let her heal now.” However, this will not happen because the human populations around the world demand Mother Earth’s resources.
On the Dine Nation, the Navajo people who live on Black Mesa have had to endure the blasting earthquakes, aftermath explosion of dust, and the constant digging of the large dragline’s bright lights and loud engine noise operating 24/7. These two mines, Black Mesa and Kayenta, stripped, extracted, and transported coal to nearby and distant power plants. These power plants burn the fuel to provide electricity to big cities such as Las Vegas with its glimmering lights, and to Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Tucson. The Page Navajo Generating Station (NGS), the Mohave Generating Plant in Nevada, were the two plants that received transported coal. The NGS uses an electric train, and the Mohave used a coal slurry pipeline needing precious water extracted from the D and N aquifer below the mesa. Using the aquifer, depleted running streams and small ponds provided water for the two tribes (Hopi and Navajo) livestock, cornfields, and daily living usages. The mine uses approximately 3,800 acre-feet or 1,425 gallons of water annually.1
Today the shutdown mines leave a legacy of ecological devastation, the reclamation of land from strip mining, scarcity of water, archeological sites destroyed, and human rights abuse. About ten to twelve thousand Navajo families and about eight hundred to a thousand Hopi families removed from their homes were the human rights abuses. It was the most significant removal of Indians in the United States since the 1880s.2 Also, ecological damage from the strip mining of the land slowed the water’s natural flow into the aquifer, and affected water need to saturate into soil and flow with the landscape. The original flora and fauna of the particular stripped area will take many years or decades to return to its natural state. It will take years for native trees to take deep roots, and the natural land formations no longer exist. The rolling hill on the Black Mesa is not a natural landscape scenery because the original structure had gullies, ravines, and cliffs, as well as various species of wildlife that are no longer present.
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