Disruption of the Earth and Coronavirus: Dineh Louise Benally on First Voices Radio

My elders used to say, 'What is in the Earth is what holds the balance of the Earth. If we dig it all out and destroy it, then it is going to lose its balance ... The moon and the earth are going to lose their balance with each other.' -- Louise Benally, Dine' of Big Mountain.

Article by Brenda Norrell
Broadcast by First Voices Radio
Photo by Roberto Nutlouis
Censored News

Louise Benally, Dine' of Big Mountain, shared the messages passed on from her elders of how Mother Earth has been disrupted, speaking today on First Voices Radio with host Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Lakota from Cheyenne River.

Sharing the teaching of her Dine' elders, Louise describes how the minerals in the earth hold the earth in balance. When these minerals -- coal, uranium, oil and gas -- are extracted, there are consequences, she said referring to the coronavirus and what is happening now on the Navajo Nation.

"If so much disruption happens, then things will change for the worse for mankind. We are witnessing this now from this virus, because I do believe it is coming from the poison that is being extracted and produced and constantly being developed in fossil fuels, like oil, coal, uranium, gas, all kinds of minerals are being exposed when they are mined."

"Whatever is in the Earth needs to be left alone because those were lives from before that walked this earth. They got purified and they became a part of the earth."

"If you bring those back and process it to where there is no limit, it will become toxic."

This virus is taking lives and choking people. That is what people are doing to the earth. They are cutting down the rainforests which are the earth's lungs.

"Our elders said these are the lungs of the earth that purifies things."

For 50 years coal was extracted, she said, referring to the coal mining of Peabody Coal on Black Mesa near her home, which fired the Navajo Generating Station on the Navajo Nation. The coal-fired power plant provided cheap electricity to southern Arizona and the Southwest.

Louise and her family spent the past 50 years resisting relocation at Big Mountain. Tens of thousands of Dine' were relocated to make way for Peabody Coal's mines on Black Mesa.

Louise said now on the Navajo Nation, there is a lot of toxicity in the air, water and land. The politicians don't regulate these poisons they bring out. It is all left exposed on the surface.

When animals and people eat these poisons they ingest it into their systems. It is the same way with the air, when it is toxified, it builds up things in our systems we can not get rid of.
That is the teaching of the elders. Each nation has its own way of communicating with the earth.

Read the full article at Censored News
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2020/05/balance-and-respect-disruption-of-earth.html

Listen to this broadcast at First Voices Radio, with host Tiokasin Ghosthorse. Produced by Liz Hill, Ojibwe.

https://firstvoicesindigenousradio.org/program/20200507