Mediacology

This video was written, edited, produced and directed by 12 year old Walees Crittendon, resident of Big Mountain.
Source: Indigenous Action Media

I think every step towards greening, as small as it might be, is a great (see linked article below). I’m still concerned, however, about the amount of electricity consumed by the Las Vegas strip. It has been many years since I’ve been there, but at the time of my last visit I recall experiencing one of the strangest sensations of my life: the hum of death. As you amble down the strip it is impossible to ignore a pervasive electrical crackle. The buzzing is visceral, eery, strange. Do others notice it? Hard to tell. Most are too drunk to even be aware that they are breathing.

Anyhow, do you know about the plants in Norther Arizona that slurry coal with rare desert ground water? And did you know that these operations effect Native American tribal resources? See, we still have a colonized interior in which indigenous people are exploited for the pleasure palaces of the rich (and wannabes). Hopi and Diné land in Northern Arizona has been the location of the most important coal operation in the region, an energy production complex forming the basis of the United States’ Southwestern power grid. Ironically, not only do many regional tribal members have no access to electricity (some by choice), coal is transported from the mines by slurrying: the pumping of crushed coal through pipes mixed with fresh drinking water that is rare and precious to the area’s inhabitants and for survival. That we would sacrifice our environment to power the bright neon and video screens of Las Vegas or sports stadiums of Phoenix says a lot about the current matrix between media, technology, ecology and Native Americans.

Technorati Tags: ecology, las vegas

For a detailed history, see Winona LaDuke’s Recovering the Sacred and the detailed chapter, “Salt, Water, Blood and Coal.” She quotes a tribal official: “There was tremendous opposition by the Hopi elders… because we’d be violating a religious covenant: Treating water like a commodity—selling something sacred.”

Some links: Indigenous Action Media, Shundahai Network, Native Unity

The greening of Las Vegas | CNET News.com:

Vegas doesn’t seem like a green city at first glance. The zillions of lights of the Strip blaze 24 hours a day, and there’s a large Hummer dealership in town. Plus, the city’s marquee economic activity is one of conspicuous consumption–a blow-the-life-savings-on-a-roll-of-the-dice ethos, not frugality of any sort.

But city officials, as well as the Nevada legislature, have begun to implement environmental programs that will, ideally, ease a bit of the burden of trying to keep a growing metropolis humming that just happens to be located in one of the more inhospitable deserts in North America.