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In the Classroom: "Early Environmentalists"
Read the following story. Describe how it would be to participate in this early society. The Native Americans are considered
the "first environmentalists." Why did their spiritual ties with nature prevent them from wasting resources or killing for sport?
What environmental ideas could modern man learn from this early society?
Together with six men, the young hunter waded across the river to the jasper quarry. Along a geological fault, they
searched for the yellow stone that made the best tools. The men dug at the earth with their tools, exposing the jasper
and then breaking it off. Lugging the chunks to the river bank, they shaped them into pieces that could easily be carried
across the river to camp.
The hunters adeptly flaked the stone into knives for cutting, drills for piercing, gravers for incising, scrapers for cleaning
hides and shaving wood, and wedges for splitting wood or bone. The yellow jasper flaked easily and uniformly as they
hammered the stone with river rocks. Two highly skilled hunters in the band made the lance-shaped spear points which
were channeled and then easily fitted and attached to a wooden spear, replacing the old, worn points. These spears
they would use to thrust into wild animals.
In a few days after the tools were ready, the six men left the base camp to hunt. They traveled to the nearby
marshes and bogs which attracted large game. Hiding in the underbrush, they waited for three moose to stop for
a drink of water. Using their spears they charged for the kill. Then they skinned and quartered the animals with
their heavy chopping and cutting tools. After the hunters divided the portions among themselves for their families,
the women stripped the carcasses of bone and meat.
The group that sat around the fire that night was made up of four families--the young hunter's family, his brother's
family, and two others. Each member of the band had a special task. The men made tools from stone and animal
bone, chopped down saplings for shelter, and hunted animals. The women raised the children, gathered plants, made
clothing, and used ths saplings and animal hides to build the shelters. Everyone shared his and her talents with
the group.
Several weeks after the hunt, the men returned to the quarry and gathered materials for their depleted tool supply.
As winter settled into the valley, three other bands arrived at the camp. There they would remain until the spring,
when all the households would disperse to find fresh hunting ground. The young hunter looked forward to the
evening gathering, when the storyteller would spin his tales. Through these stories, the young and the old learned
the legends of creation and daily survival tales. The stories told them how they were connected to the spirits
of the mountains, rivers, trees, rocks, wind, and sun. At the gathering, the people would contact the spirits in
offerings, prayers, and trances, to appease the good spirits and drive away the bad spirits.
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