Tribes lead on Earth Day

Indian Tribes Lead America’s Efforts to Utilize Alternative Energy Sources and Establish Conservation ProgramsIndian Tribes across America celebrated Earth Day this past weekend and used the day to showcase tribal efforts that demonstrate a variety of green energy and conservation programs to preserve and improve reservation lands and the overall environment.

An on-going concern and respect for the environment has long been a tenet of native culture. As Chief Seattle so eloquently noted more than 150 years ago, "Man did not weave the web of life--he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."

In Indian Country, it is said that work done today should provide a better life for the next seven generations. In keeping with that philosophy, tribes have made long-term investments in environmentally-friendly projects funded, in large part, by resources from Indian Gaming.