Sweetgrass Coaching

I would like to thank my sisters and brothers from the Environmental Protection Agency for inviting us to celebrate Earth Day with you. I wish to acknowledge the EPA’s new Administrator, Lisa Jackson, and also thank her for this invitation. I am honored to share this platform with the other esteemed speakers and performers. I am also very excited to be here in Washington DC – to come together in a spirit of sharing and friendship.

My name is Richard Bull. My ancestral name is Kakeena-monghee-wininiwag – which means ‘Teacher’. I was born into the Bear Clan and adopted into the Eagle Clan. I am Anishinaabe from the Lac Seul First Nation in Canada. I travel with my wife Tamara from our home in Vancouver.

The knowledge I share with you reflects the teachings I received from my Elders. There are many, but I would like to acknowledge three special people. They are Margaret and Jules Lavallee of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Bob Lovelace of the Ardoch First Nation in Ontario. Without their teachings, I wouldn’t be on this stage with you today.

When I was asked to speak at this beautiful celebration, I was deeply humbled at this chance to share my views on the environment. What we’re doing here today cannot be understated. We’re building a bridge – a bridge of understanding, a bridge that brings cultures closer together. We’re coming together in a good way to learn and to grow. Each time we get together like this, it’s an opportunity to see our similarities, hear our shared passions and feel the same energy. I come to you with open hands and an open heart.

We have many reasons to celebrate. We have many reasons to be thankful. In 2009, we’re a part of a real shift in Earth consciousness. Awareness about the Planet’s needs has never been greater. We’re making smarter choices as consumers. Our voices are coming together to demand Earth Justice. And this awareness is growing every day.

I’m very proud of the growth in accountability towards the environment. The very thought that our actions have real consequences, not only for us, but also for the generations to follow represents a true shift. Taking the long view is the ultimate in being considerate, for we’re thinking about people who have yet to be born.

My ancestors thought in this same way. They didn’t make any important decision without first considering the impact it would have on seven generations into the future. With our shift in priorities, we are learning to be less like the rabbit and more like the turtle. We are valuing patience and persistence over flash and dash.

As a Native man, my insight on the Earth is one that differs from mainstream approaches, even the progressive ones. As Indigenous people, the environment, our mother earth is sacred. It’s a relationship that is complex, oftentimes misunderstood. But it’s one that needs to be honored.

The environment is the most critical issue facing us today, even more so than the economy.

When we speak about the environment, anger is not the answer. My People traditionally used ceremony to cleanse and purify the mind, heart, body and soul from this toxin. If anger were to infect this message in any way, then it would quickly turn from one of care to one of attack. And that is definitely not my intention.

The scope of my talk here today is to focus on our emotional and spiritual connections with the Earth. In short, it’s a heart and soul approach.

The conventional approaches to the environment deal only with the mental and the physical aspects of being. However, to live a truly balanced life, the mind, the heart, the body and the soul must all be nourished. Our solutions for healing Mother Earth can’t just be about how we act or what we think. Emotion and prayer are just as important to charting the healing journey for our Mother Earth.

There is hope. We are on the dawn of a new way of thinking that seeks to learn from ancestral wisdom. It is this thinking that will let our great-great-grandchildren come together in celebrations like this one.

It’s not enough to recycle, buy organic local produce, or vote for progressive political candidates. These are all good actions and must be applauded. Make no mistake about that. However, the Earth needs more.

Many of us talk about ‘our relationship with the environment’. The language of relationship is very powerful. This widely used phrase signifies our emotional bond with the Planet. We can apply the lessons of building strong relationships to enriching our own bond with the Planet.

Communication is essential to building any relationship. Think about all your important relationships. They are all built on the strength of communication. Think back to the conversations you’ve shared, even the ones this morning. Consider the wide range of emotions you’ve experienced. It’s quite hard to imagine having any of these important relationships without the essential element of communication.

Our relationship with the Planet is no different. We start by listening. Our Elders say, ‘We were born with two ears and only one mouth for a reason’. Listening is twice as important as speaking. Our spirit shifts when we listen with an open heart to the sounds around us. If we listen long enough, we can actually hear rhythms forming from seemingly random sounds. It is then we are reminded that we are not separate from the rest of creation. We are a part of it.

When we develop a personal bond with the land, we begin to build trust. And trust is the foundation of any relationship. My People offer tobacco, as a sacred gift, whenever we approach water, so that the spirit of the water will know us and be gentle with us.

In my culture, traditional people still give tobacco to the Creator before anything is ever taken from the land. It is this concept of reciprocity – this give and take – that’s missing from the green revolution as it stands today. This type of balance exists in all lasting and meaningful relationships.

A simple act of reciprocity lies in saying just two words: thank you. We say ‘thank you’ dozens of times a day. It’s almost an automatic response to the good in our lives. We say ‘thank you’ to appreciate and acknowledge the many acts of kindness that come our way. Similarly, our spiritual bond to Mother Earth is summed up in those same two words. The spirit of thank you is a powerful way to express gratitude. When we say thank you in a conscious manner, it makes us focus on the positive. And there are so many things to be thankful for.

In the leadership training I do across the country, I have encountered communities ready to embrace healing. People from coast to coast are recognizing the need to grow and to heal. And this is a good thing. A big part of our healing comes from the return to ceremony.

Women are at the fore-front of this wellness movement. It is the women who nurture, who protect and who teach our children. And this care begins even before birth. To all mothers, the womb is sacred. The connection mothers have with the child inside the womb is so very special. This sacred relationship can instruct us all on how to nurture and protect Mother Earth. It is this deep relationship with the Earth that we seek to replicate in ceremony.

Each year, my wife and I take part in the Sun Dance ceremony on the Sagkeeng First Nation in central Canada. In this sacred ceremony, we go without food and water for four days as we renew our vows with the Earth. The days are long and grueling as we’re tested on all levels. Each morning starts before six a.m. with a sweatlodge ceremony. The sweatlodge is a ceremony that takes us back into the womb of Mother Earth. The drumming we hear in the Lodge represents the heartbeat of our Mother during those first nine months of life. The sweatlodge is deeply purifying. It’s a rebirth of our spirit. It’s a reawakening.

Our spirits are allowed to feast when our physical bodies endure suffering and sacrifice. All of our focus and energy during the Sun Dance is centered on the Sacred Tree. Our ceremonies and our altars are born out of the Earth.

In ceremony, I have witnessed truly amazing events. The terminally sick have been healed. Two years ago, I’ve seen a powerful healer even turn away pouring rain and thunderclouds. Behind the power of all these ceremonies sits an unwavering love for our Planet.

The Medicine Wheel is our sacred symbol. It signifies the balance of the physical, the emotional, the mental and the spiritual. In its simple beauty, the four directions and the four colors are also in balance. Red and yellow, black and white all come together. No color is bigger than any other in the Medicine Wheel. All colors are equal in size and importance. This speaks to our interdependence.

A central theme in every major religion is to break through the illusion of difference and realize the undeniable fact of our interdependence. On a deep level, there are no divisions. Our own full experience of life depends on the life force held in the breath of even the smallest living creature.

The challenge I leave each of you is to nurture your emotional and spiritual relationship with Mother Earth. Smart as we are, we cannot fully predict the effects of love and care on our Planet. Not one of us is fully aware of the boundless energy resting inside each of our hearts. Let’s open them together and feel what happens. We’re making our Mother very happy today.