Tribal Environmental Policy in an Era of Self-Determination: The Role of Ethics, Economics, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge Symposium: Strwards of the Land: Indian Tribes, the Environment, and the Law 21 Vermont Law Review 1996-1997

21 Vt. L. Rev. 225 (1996-1997)
Tribal Environmental Policy in an Era of Self-Determination: The Role of Ethics, Economics, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge

handle is hein.journals/vlr21 and id is 239 raw text is: TRIBAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IN AN ERA OF
SELF-DETERMINATION:
THE ROLE OF ETHICS, ECONOMICS, AND TRADITIONAL
ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE
Rebecca Tsosie'
No one is much without the earth
in their hands
and I pick up earth,
touch the people
the country
and things we try to forget.'
INTRODUCTION
Our future is tied to the land. No matter how far we advance as a
society, that single fact persists and in some ways constrains our dreams
for the future. For American Indian nations, the significance of the land
is particularly compelling. Pushed to the perimeter of civilization
during the years of westward expansion, Indian lands are now often
perceived as fields of opportunity for a nation faced with the dismal legacy
of overdevelopment. Imagine, for example, a vast expanse of western
high desert: the subtle colors of dawn and dusk on rock outcroppings, the
soft green of sagebrush and juniper, the ephemeral cloud-shadows that
glide over the land. Once perceived as a barren no man's land,
entrepreneurs now see economic opportunity in that landscape:
undeveloped deposits of coal or uranium, a place to graze cattle or sheep,
perhaps even a site for a waste dump. Although some tribal members seek
to develop those lands, others disagree. The land, they say, embodies a
* Associate Professor, Arizona State University College of Law; J.D., University of California,
Los Angeles, 1990. I would like to express my appreciation to several of my colleagues in Indian
Law-Professors Robert N. Clinton, Bruce Duthu, Carole Goldberg-Ambrose, Frank Pommersheim,
and Robert A. Williams, Jr-and to my colleagues at ASU, Professors Jeffrie Murphy and Joan
McGregor, for reading this paper in earlier stages and offering valuable criticism and advice. I would
also like to thank the participants in an interdisciplinary faculty colloquium sponsored by the ASU
Religious Studies Department, who provided me with a spirited and valuable discussion of this paper.
I am grateful for the generous summer research support provided by the ASU College of Law.
Finally, I owe the inception of this Article to the University of California President's Postdoctoral
Fellowship program and the UCLA American Indian Studies Center, who generously supported my
research in 1993. My heartfelt thanks to Dean Susan Prager, Professor Carole Goldberg-Ambrose,
and Professor Duane Champagne-my mentors and my friends.
1. LINDA HOGAN (Chickasaw), ECLIPSE 37 (1983).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.

Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

What Is HeinOnline?

Purchase Access

Contact Us

Log In

NEED HELP?

CONTACT US

Get started

Subscribe to our Newsletter