All the panelists who participated in the Youth Water Forum 2013 provided me with information not only related to water rights and policies, but efforts of conservation. There are efforts of conserving waste water and filtering out the harmful and toxic chemicals and materials; there are efforts of participating in the legislative part of water rights; and efforts of pushing for the use of money to provide funding for other conservation efforts. But, the most important effort of conservation that would greatly impact the world in a positive way is to change the relationship between humans and the world.
Currently, most people believe that the world is theirs. People have this perspective where they believe that the world and all its resources is theirs. People with this dominant viewpoint over the Earth don’t have respect for the world. Now, looking at the Native American perspective towards the earth, there is respect. Natives know and believe that people belong to the world, not the other way around. They have more knowledge than any of the scientists in the world because they know that to solve the issue of the earth’s water receding, there needs to be a balance.
People in the world today just take and take and take; they don’t think about what they can and should give. Natives understand this balance. We know that the earth provides water and food for us, and that we in turn must give back by only taking what we need and by restoring these resources. We have to reestablish this relationship with the earth, the relationship of stewardship.
– Arielle Quintana, SFIS
