I, Mountain

Humans! I, Mountain, am speaking. You cannot ignore me!

I have been with you since your very beginnings and long before.

I offer you my deep peace and far vision.

Now in return, you ravage me.

You dig and gouge for the jewel in the stone, for the ore in my veins.

Stripping my forests, you take away my capacity to hold water and to release it slowly.

See the silted rivers? See the floods? Can’t you see? In destroying me, you destroy yourselves.

By Pat Fleming and Joanna Macy

Chief Seattle's message

The rivers are our brothers; they quench our thirst.

The perfumed flowers are our sisters.

The deer, the horse, the great eagle - these are our brothers.

The rocky crests, the juices of the meadows, the body heat of the pony - all belong to the same family.