Seventh Generation
Oren Lyons, Chief of the Onondaga Iroquois Nation, speaks of ancient wisdom:
- "We are looking ahead, as is one of the first mandates given us as chiefs, to make sure and to make every decision that we make relate to the welfare and well-being of the seventh generation to come...."
- "What about the seventh generation? Where are you taking them? What will they have?"
GreenPolicy Siterunner: Chief Lyons is one of our favorite Bioneers who has joined with us -- and helped to open our eyes and hearts for many years
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Today's Challenge
Generational Thinking, Sustainable Living
"The eyes of the future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time." -- Terry Tempest Williams
Seven generation sustainability is an ecological concept that urges the current generation of humans to live sustainably and work for the benefit of the seventh generation into the future. It originated with the Iroquois - Great Law of the Iroquois - which holds appropriate to think seven generations ahead (about 140 years into the future) and decide whether the decisions they make today would benefit their children seven generations into the future.
"In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation... even if it requires having skin as thick as the bark of a pine." This is an often repeated saying, and most who use it claim that it comes from “The Constitution of the Iroquois Nations: The Great Binding Law.”
In fact, the original language is as follows: In all of your deliberations in the Confederate Council, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self-interest shall be cast into oblivion. Cast not over your shoulder behind you the warnings of the nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law which is just and right. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground – the unborn of the future Nation.
• http://blog.nativepartnership.org/sustainability/
Chief Oren Lyons
"We are Part of the Earth" (Video)
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"Honor the Earth"
Indigenous Vision for a Sustainable Earth
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Sustainable Thinking, Sustainable Design, Sustainable Living,
- Ancient Wisdom, Modern Vision, Future Focus
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Chief Lyons and the Bioneers
Indigeneity is a Native-led program within the Bioneers that shares Indigenous solutions to our most pressing social and environmental issues. We welcome all people to re-indigenize by learning from Indigenous teachings and the experiences of your ancestors.
Terri Hansen: “The Native American model of governance that is fair and will always meet the needs of the seventh generation to come is taken from the Iroquois Confederacy. The seventh generation principle dictates that decisions that are made today should lead to sustainability for seven generations into the future. And Indigenous nations in North America were and are for the most part organized by democratic principles that focus on the creation of strong kinship bonds that promote leadership in which honor is not earned by material gain but by service to others. In the plains, there was great honor in giving your horses to the poorest members of the tribe. The potlatch still practiced in the Pacific Northwest is another example of voluntarily redistributing wealth to those who have the least.”
As a Bioneer, a Planet Citizen - http://www.bioneers.org/staff/chief-oren-lyons/
- "The Roots of American Democracy" (with Video)
Bioneers & Planet Citizens Marching for the Common Good
- Bioneers Lyons, Kucinich and DiCaprio
- 2014, Marching in NYC
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