Statement for the Earth Charter Day June 29, 2022

from Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan, Onondaga Council of Chiefs, Haudenosaunee, Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy

The Earth Charter

The Earth Charter’s 22nd Anniversary is a time for assessment and a time for reflection. The Charter was an international alert and a guide to humanity at large, to value and protect Mother Earth for our coming generations, and all the life that abounds upon it.

Our people, the Indigenous Nations of the world, understood our relationship and responsibilities to our relatives of the natural world. It is inclusive of all living things. We have no word for “wild”, free is as close as we come to it. The Earth Charter is a recognition of that relationship and that responsibility.  It is more important now than ever before.

PEACE to one and all,

Oren Lyons,

Wolf Clan, Onondaga Nation, Haudenosaunee