"Red is Green"

Joanelle Romero (The Girl Called Hatter Fox) is touting a new PSA to do what the "crying Indian" one did for the previous generation. It apparently launched on Earth Day (April 22) last month.

Here's a press release I just received on it:

American Indians Launch Environmental Public Service Campaign

RED is GREEN--American Indians Placed at the Forefront of Global Green MovementRed Nation Celebration announced today the launch of a test spot for a new national public service announcement (PSA) campaign to be launched on Earth Day, Tuesday, April 22, 2008, that serves to share with the public an American Indian legacy about reverence and care for Mother Earth.

“Water is our bloodline to Mother Earth,” quotes Joanelle Romero, founder of Red Nation Celebration, the American Indian-owned nonprofit directing the Campaign. The test spot, which will premiere on Red Nation television channel and other web-based media, also features the campaign slogan: "RED is GREEN--Honoring American Indian as our nation’s first environmentalists," which points to the fact that American Indians have kept environmental traditions alive for thousands of years, living harmoniously with the living systems of the Earth. The RED is GREEN Campaign seeks to share this sensibility via six upcoming announcements now in production, some featuring Academy Award-winning celebrity endorsements.

Although the RED is GREEN Campaign references the iconic “Crying Indian” PSA campaign launched in 1970, with a weathered Indian (Iron Eyes Cody), with a tear in his eye overlooking a polluted river; the RED is GREEN test spot bears a slightly different message: “Water is Sacred.” After spanning polluted waterways, an Indian woman, great with child, is shown as she kneels at a river and reverently cups water in her hands, blessing it for the new life she carries. She then offers water to the viewer, just as Mother Earth gives water to her people.Comment:  Slightly different? Other than the environmental focus, this PSA sounds substantially different.

For more on the subject, see Ecological Indian Talk.