Raised Awareness After Watching Thunderheart....

Does Mining and Natural Gas Drilling Help or Hurt Us?

     Oil and Gas industries are thought to be different or separate than the Mining Industry, however, I feel that they share some common factors. Both are hazardous to humans and the environment. Leases are required before the company can mine or drill on the land. Both industries believe that they are benefiting the World.

     Mining is the process of taking minerals from the Earth. It can be done above or below the surface. Most of the Worlds mineral production is extracted by surface mining (Mining). In the movie Thunderheart strip mining takes place on Indian reservation without the residents knowing it was being done. Strip mining consists of extracting minerals from a series of successive parallel trenches. Equipment is used for mining for such purposes as blast-hole drilling, blasting, loading, transporting, hoisting, pumping ventilation, storage etc. (Mining).

Mining benefits the World by supplying it with energy (Mining). It provides employment, royalties to land owners, and fees to local, state and national government (NMA). By producing energy, metals, and minerals our quality of life is improved. It is also an important financial asset to our economy.

The negative results due to mining are foul air withing miles of the site. Water hazards in which Thunderheart exposed with the poisonings of the Native Americans on Pine Ridge Reservation from the uranium contamination in their drinking water from the mining on their land. Many were sickened and/or died as a result of the poisoning. Other risks are explosion from leaks of poison gases and chemicals that ignite and exposure to radioactive materials.

     Similar to mining, natural gas drilling is also considered to be a benefit because it is a cleaner source of providing energy. Drilling of natural gas is done both onshore and offshore. After a natural gas deposit is located a drill site is formed. A well is developed to extract the natural gases. There are two forms of onshore drilling, Cable Tool Drilling and Horizontal Drilling (Natural Gas). Cable Tool Drilling has been around for centuries. It consists of repeatedly dropping a heavy metal bit into the ground, punching a hole through the rock then water is added to combine with the drill cutting. These days the Horizontal Drilling method is used. A well is still visible on the surface but beneath the well legs branch out and tap into many different natural gas resources (Natural Gas).

      The disadvantages of natural gas drilling are the risks it poses. Gas leaks present a threat by exposing people to toxins that are invisible to the human eye. Gas leaks can also cause fires or explosions that can potentially cause property damage, personal injury or death. Air pollution is another negative result of natural gas drilling. During drilling excess amounts of carbon dioxide can be released into the air in which we breathe and contaminates the lungs. Water pollution the same factor that posed a threat to the Sioux Indians on the Pine Ridge Reservation where their drinking water was contaminated by Uranium (Thunderheart), poses a threat to all who are close to a natural gas drilling site. The process of hydraulic fracturing injects harmful materials into the ground and contaminates lakes and rivers where the drinking water comes from (Reeves).

     Although both the Mining and Natural Gas Industries offer royalties to land owners, it is a small percentage of what they receive from the materials they retrieve. As a land owner you are given a choice to sign a lease; a legal document giving the company the right to drill on your land. With a signed leases you receive royalties, however, if you chose to turn down the lease but co-tenants; people living in your neighborhood accept, the gas company will pursue drilling and put your royalties into a bank account until you sign a lease. I know this because I leased my plot of land and these were the options I was given. I could either take part or it would be done anyways. An unleased co-tenant is not covered under the operating parties insurance and are open to unlimited liability (Cotten). This could be a huge danger-financially!!

     In closing, I hope I have made you aware that even though we have come along way since the 1970 Pine Ridge Reservation strip mining incident we still face the same obstacles with natural gas drilling in 2011. Land owners have no authority! The power lies in the hands of the natural gas and mining industries.

Do the benefits of drilling and mining outweigh the risks? I hope they do considering even though there are great risks involved we are still forced, sometimes unwillingly, to lease our land to benefit the World by providing it with natural resources that our land contains. For every benefit received from these actions there are also risks that involves our environment and our health. So the question remains, are we helping or hurting our World? You decide.

Works Cited

Abandoned Uranium Mine. N.d. Culture Change. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/336/65/>.

Cable Tool Drilling Rig. N.d. Natural Gas. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://www.naturalgas.org/naturalgas/extraction_onshore.asp>.

Contaminated River from Mining. N.d. Science Buzz. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://www.sciencebuzz.org/buzz-tags/mining>.

Cotten, Buddy. “Mineral Rights Forum: America’s conversation place for mineral & royalty owners.” Mineral Rights Forum. Kenny DuBose, 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://www.mineralrightsforum.com/forum/topics/what-happens-if-you-dont-lease>.

Gerritsen, Jeff. “Uranium Mining Poisons Native Americans .” Culture Change. Sustainable Energy Institute, 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/336/65/>.

Horizontal Well. N.d. Natural Gas. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://www.naturalgas.org/naturalgas/extraction_onshore.asp>.

“Mining.” Answers.com. Answers Corporation, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://www.answers.com/topic/mining>.

National Mining Association. “NMA Sustainable Development Principles.” NMA. National Mining Association, 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://www.nma.org/issues/environment/sustainable_development.asp>.

Natural Gas. “Natural Gas.” NaturalGas.org. Natural Gas Organization, 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. <http://www.naturalgas.org/overview/background.asp>.

America's Heritage: THE WILD MUSTANG

They have evolved here. They belong here. The mustang is a link to our history.

The mustang is a wild free-roaming horse that descended from horses brought to America by the Spanish. The wild horses were released from the mission ranchers during The Great Pueblo Revolt of 1680 (Kerson). Through reproduction the wild horse herds expanded from the Great Plains, Great Basins, western mountains and out to the East. During the 1880's they were used as range breeding stock.

Some horses escaped and were seized by Native Americans, who used them for transportation, battles, trades, and were a crucial tool in hunts, especially bison.

Ranchers took part in mustang use too. It was also common for ranchers to crossbreed their horses by releasing them into the wild during winter and recapturing during the Spring (Kerson). This was an attempt to improve the pedigree. Ranchers would use mustangs to roundup and capture herds of cattle. Prior to the roundup these “wild” horses would be tamed by a process called “horse breaking”. Once tamed the horses would be reliable and useful for a wide variety of jobs (Kerson).

These fast, athletic, strong, horses were highly regarded by the military because of their accessibility on the open range. Hundreds were used as U.S. Army Calvary mounts while fighting the Indians (Kerson).

There were once over 2 million wild mustangs that roamed the North American land but due to a variety of factors including death at the hands of ranchers, processing plants (for chicken feed and pet food), pollution and poisoning of their water holes to the industrial development that took over a lot of the grazing land and led to their diminishing (Wild Hearts). There are less than 27,000 that remain (Wild Hearts).

The wild mustang admired by young an old for their intelligence, attractiveness and resilience. They have survived for centuries and have been an essential part of our history and culture. We ought to acknowledge their contribution to the formation of America. We need to preserve and protect those that remain. Let's not leave a legacy of vacancy where mustangs once roamed like bison.

“In my dreams thundering across the plains, race immense herds of mustangs, running like the wind-free in every sense of the word in all their glory. “In riding a horse, we borrow freedom.”

–Helen Thompson.

Below are some links to more information on preserving wild mustangs. Donate, Adopt, Take part!

http://wildhorses.com/

http://www.savingamericasmustangs.org/

http://www.wildheartshorsefund.org/home.html

                                                                     Works cited

     Kerson, Nancy. "History & Horses That Have Shaped The American Mustang." Mustangs 4 Us. Nancy Kerson, 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. <http://www.mustangs4us.com/HISTORY1.htm>.

     Library of Congress. Native%20horsman, History-Range, History-Cowboy&Horse. N.d. Mustangs 4 Us. America's Mustang Foundation, 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.  <http://www.mustangs4us.com/HISTORY1.htm>.    
     Thompson, Helen. "Saving America's Mustangs." Saving America's Mustangs. Saving
America's Mustangs Foundation, 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. <http://www.savingamericasmustangs.org/news_and_events/article/ awaken_your_spirit/>.

      Mustang's Running, Wild Mustangs. N.d. Google. Google, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.
<https://www.google.com/search?q=wild+mustang>.   
     "Wild Hearts Horse Fund." Wild Hearts Horse Fund. Wild Hearts Horse Fund, 2006.
Web. 21 Nov. 2011. http://www.wildheartshorsefund.org/home.html.

The Inspiration Behind Dorothy M. Johnson's "Lost Sister"

     Dorothy M. Johnson was an American author known for her Western fiction. Among her fictional writings is the famous short story Lost Sister, inspired by a true life kidnapping of Cynthia Ann Parker on May 9, 1836, in Fort Parker, located in the State of Texas, by the Comanche Indians that attacked the settlement (Johnson, 96). Cynthia was abused at first but became integrated into the tribe soon after her arrival (“Cynthia”). Dorothy Johnson's character, Bessie is a exact replication of Cynthia Ann Parker in that they are both taken from their white families by Comanche Indians at a young age. They are cared for and raised by the Comanche tribe, and considered as one of their own. They adapt to Comanche culture, learning the Native ways that consists of the women carrying out demanding tasks like cooking, skinning and cleaning animals, maintaining camp, and caring for the children (Comanche, Johnson 104). These ways became their ways (“Cynthia,” Johnson 97). They were Comanche.

     After years of living among the Comanche, Cynthia and Bessie are torn away from the only thing they know, the Comanche and brought back into the white community to live with their family by blood. There was no compassion for them or those they left behind like their spouses and children. The “proper” thing to do according to the Europeans was to return them to their rightful place in society and that was among their race no matter the cost. One life is taken to recapture another. The cost, mental anguish, emotional torment from the separation from their adopted family. Both women unable to adjust to white society. They longed to return to tribe from which they came (“Cynthia,” Ortman, Johnson 96-109).

     What was the reason behind Dorothy Johnson's story Lost Sister, that resurfaces the recapture of Cynthia?

     I think the reason Dorothy chose to write a fictional story based on the true life events of Cynthia Ann Parker was to bring awareness to the ongoing conflict between cultures whereas the European regarded the Indians as savages because they were different than them, racially and culturally. When Indian captives refused to go back to their white societies it was like a slap in the face to the highly regarded superior society. A society that would be forever confused by one of their own choosing a savage lifestyle over theirs. But to the captive it was merely a decision to continue a Indian lifestyle. The only way of life that they were familiar with. One that provided a union of compliance and appreciation from the captives, and constant adoration and trust of the Indians. Indian life often claimed the captives respect and allegiance. When and if they were force to go back home, they were looked upon as uncivilized. We are made aware of the cultural difference in Lost Sister when Aunt Margaret prepares for Bessie's arrival by buying her new nightgowns, hairpins, the best towels all in an effort to make her feel comfortable (Johnson, 98). These are not the amenities of a Native woman. Aunt Bessie hands were gnarled, skilled at making tepees and beading ceremonial clothes (Johnson, 104), but these familiarities were ignored.

     Maybe this was an outcry by Dorothy Johnson on behalf of Cynthia Ann Parker. Her true life story made fictional, renamed Lost Sister, then published for all to read in hopes that one day society would gradually begin to grasp the sadness in life from exile and except the fact that she was Comanche and she just wanted to go “home.”

      Dorothy Johnson got my attention with her story. It was heart-felt and took me on an emotional roller coaster. I was outraged at the fact that they would attempt to tear Bessie away from her Indian family after forty years. I was sad that they did not take her feeling into consideration when making the choice to bring her back home. Not once, did the sisters try to learn anything about her culture, about her. Although there was a language barrier, the older sister, Mary had no problems relating to Bessie. The reason why was because they both have love in common and through the love they were able to express themselves to one another non verbally through touch and sound. Love is a universal language, easily translated. I believe that home is where the heart is and I wish Bessie-Cynthia Ann Parker could have remained at “home.”

“It don't matter what happens, if you're only strong and have great courage.
-Mary Jemison (Indian Captive)”
― Lenski, Lois

Works Cited

     "Comanche." Crystalinks. Ellie Crystal, 2011. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.   <http://www.crystalinks.com/comanche.html>.

     "Cynthia Ann Parker." Lone Star Internet. Lone Star Internet, 2 Sept. 2010. Web.
7 Nov. 2011. <http://lone-star.net/mall/texasinfo/CynthiaAnnParker.htm>.

    
     Johnson, Dorothy M. “Lost Sister.” The Hanging Tree. N.p.: University of Nebraska Press , 1995. 96-109. Print.

    

     Lenski, Lois. "Lois Lenski Quotes." Goodreads. Goodreads Inc., 2011. Web. 7 Nov.
2011. <http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5310.Lois_Lenski>.

    

     Ortman, L.K. "Connelly Family of Clark County." Geneology Trails. K.L. Ortman,
2011. Web. 7 Nov. 2011. <http://genealogytrails.com/ill/clark/families/connelly/ch_5.html>.

Google images

My personal pictures

Is there a link between White Buffalo Woman and Jesus?

Is it faith that links the two?

 

“What was once impossible now summons us to dismantle the walls between ourselves and our sisters and brothers, to dissolve the distinctions between flesh and spirit, to transcend the present limits of time and matter, to find, at last, not wealth or power but the ecstasy (so long forgotten) of commonplace, unconditional being. For the atom's soul is nothing but energy. Spirit blazes in the dullest of clay. The life of every woman or man-the heart of it-is pure and holy joy.” George B. Leonard (American author b.1923)

White Buffalo Woman is a story shared by different Indian tribes throughout many generations. Although the story has changed slightly depending on who is telling it the overall meaning remains the same, the white buffalo brings peace.

The story goes.....

Two scouts from the Lakota Tribe see a white buffalo in the distance the closer it gets to the scouts the image transforms into a beautiful young lady. The one scout has lustful thoughts about the woman and approaches her with the intent to make her his wife. She turns his body into a pile of bones. His disrespect has brought him death. She tells the second scout to go to his tribe and prepare for her arrival. If he does what she has told him to do she will bring him no harm. He does exactly what she asks of him. The Lakota Tribe is prepared once the mystical woman arrives. She teaches them great things. To hunt, cook, weave, pray and respect the land. She performs rituals to bless them, there land and homes. Before leaving, she gives the a scared pipe to the Lakota Tribe in which she teaches them how to use. It has great power. It unites all that is living. Respect it and it will take you to the end of the road. The Lakota Tribe will be protected until the end of time. White Buffalo Woman left but promised to return again one day...

After reading this story, I was reminded of how Christianity played such a major role in my upbringing and how the stories of Jesus Christ are similar to that of White Buffalo Woman. The stories give hope, knowing that we have something looking over and protecting us. Both are linked to faith. The Indians have faith in the White Buffalo Woman and the precious tool she left behind-the pipe. The pipe brings good luck to those that respect it by way of food, clothing, protection and longevity. They have faith that it will watch over their tribe until White Buffalo woman returns again. Christians have faith in God and through his son, Jesus Christ we can be reunited with Him again. We believe that the Holy Spirit is what guides us. It protects us from evil in human and spirit form.The Bible is the tool that provides divine guidance to obtaining everlasting life. Not on earth, like the pipe promises in the story of the White Buffalo Woman, but an eternal life beyond this World, in Heaven. They both allow us to dream of, hope for, imagine, something, someone or an entity that is much more powerful than humanly possible to guide us through life here on earth.

Are White Buffalo Woman and your Divine Being linked in any way? Think about it....

Leonard, George B. Thinkexist. N.p., 2011. Web. 3 Oct. 2011.
     <http://thinkexist.com/quotes/George_B._Leonard/>.

Share International Magazine. "The White Buffalo Woman." Mercer Online. J.
     Miller, 1998. Web. 3 Oct. 2011. <http://www.merceronline.com/Native/native05.htm>.

Bing Images