Building on Tradition: Bringing Age-Old Indigenous Practices to the Modern City for a Cleaner, Green

To kill a nattiq was to take responsibility for the consequences of hunting, and water-based traditions signified the release of its soul, followed by responsible consumption of all it had to give.12 Filling the animal’s mouth with (the oft-sparse) resource of freshwater was pure generosity which served to quench the nattiq’s thirst. [...] In Neligh, Nebraska, the restoration of 160 acres of Ponca land came as an unexpected gift -- the farmland of Art and Helen Tanderup who, upon learning the path of the Trail of Tears, chose to right the wrongs of their ancestors with the heirloom farm. [...] Thus, the land was protected against development for the Keystone XL Pipeline, in addition to a total rehabilitation of the damaged soil.12 As a mutually beneficial transfer, this instance stands to be one of the few successful reflections of reciprocity by non-Indigenous people. [...] This philosophy guides not only our taking of food, but also any taking of the gifts of Mother Earth -- air, water, and the literal body of the earth: the rocks and soil and fossil fuels.”20 This encapsulates why consumers must listen to the land which provides for their interests; a harvest is not only the act of acquiring gifts of sustenance, but also the process of gathering up what reciprocity. [...] The legend says that during the time of the Seventh Fire, the choices will lead humans down one of two paths: one that lies scorched and barren, threatening the land and its people, or the path of reciprocity, which is forged in brotherhood and respect.4 At the heart of the prophecy, we must 2 Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 328, 2013.