Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – On this 15th Anniversary of International Mother Earth Day, April 22, 2024, let us learn from the Tribes of the Americas how critical sharing is to our surviving and thriving, as they made similar mistakes to Europe, U.S. and Canada.
First let’s salute this priceless gift to humanity of Bolivian President Evo Morales (Amarya tribe) and all Mother Earth Indigenous Caretakers. Added to Iroquois Faithkeeper Oren Lyons, Lakota Chief Arvol Lookinghorse and Hopi Elders educating the UN for decades, “in 2009 the U.N. recognized Mother Earth as a living being and we are all inter-related,” (Sec Gen Ban Ki Moon).
President Morales ignited including “Mother” in Earth Day, after shocking everyone at the UN’s Climate Conference with photos of their melted 14,000 ft only glacier-ski area, the water supply for two million in La Paz. So he warned world leaders, “this is a preview of coming attractions, and finally woke them up to take Climate Change seriously,” which gave birth to the Paris Accord and COP Climate progress, but we’re progressing too slowly to reach our 1.5 C goals.
A major easy way to help restore our planet on April 22 is for everyone to join our Earth Family in singing Her praises on Mother Earth Day, especially Americans, as few still know about and annually celebrate our compassionate magnificent living Earth Mother for all Her gifts. The director of Earth Day and Obama’s White House inner circle didn’t know or believe me until I sent them the link. That’s despite Montana’s Ted Turner the UN’s main funder and taking Colorado’s Southern Utes, our Native ski pioneers, to open his GoodWill Games in Russia in 1996, which helped melt the Iron Curtain. Plus the U.N. is located in our Big Apple.
Imagine Biden and Harris and your local leaders joining other countries in celebrating Her at the WH, City Halls and everywhere, since Indigenous Elders say that would most touch Her heart and raise Her vibration to purify Her and inspire more ideal weather.
Also considering during the UN’s 2012 one, the consensus of 192 member countries via their Zoom was, “The key to regenerating Mother Earth is a combo of green tech and Indigenous Wisdom, especially their snow and rain dances.” That’s because they give Her thanks like all our ancient ancestors once did, and tribes continue every day, why when our ski areas invite tribal youth to ski in their ancestral mountains, it often snows. And like most women, when given loving gratitude, like when it snows and rains or you direly need more in advance, Mother Earth is even more generous. You are needed since there are only “6.2% of Indigenous left globally and 2% in our lower 48 states.”
That is why UN’s Sustainability officer, Maria Mercedes Sanchez, urged NAOTF to “spread our Snowdance Phenomena story globally to “wake people up to Live in more Harmony with Nature.” Plus in countries without snow, oceandances, like our Aztecs do in Puerto Vallarta to also restore our most at-risk ecosystems. Yet the U.N. gave us NO budget despite their declaring on 2023’s that “the Indigenous and young women are now globally taking the lead on climate change.” The World’s Greatest Skier, America’s Mikaela Shiffrin, is a wonderful example of uniting the World Olympians in 2022 to kick butt to save our Snow, Winter Olympics, and Lives.
Stanford-Aspen SkiCo’s Nobel Prize winner Dr Stephen Schneider, April’s The Atlantic Revelation, and a NASA study agree that SHARING is critical for us all to survive and Thrive.
They all reinforce our Native American Olympic Team Foundation’s (NAOTF) Fun, Fast, Native Climate Solution of Governments worldwide, as urged by Dr Schneider, to make amends by funding ski areas to host Native skiing. These cross-cultural Snowdances, which also cool our oceans, were pioneered by Walt Disney after he learned how the Indigenous prevented droughts and massive fires for eons, which saved the snowless 1960 Olympics with 11 ft of snow (covers TIME, LIFE in our 64 yrs of data available of snowdances ending droughts).
The Elders are inspired to lead these heart-warming snowdances when Ski areas SHARE joyful snowsports with tribal youth because they do the most to prevent the suicides and addictions from the government boarding schools in the U.S., Canada and Australia, so they instead happily reach for the sky, like our MD and MBA. See these Native solutions on NAOTF.org and bless you for sharing to help make all this possible. It takes joyful Teamwork! Jackson Brown said, “The happiest people aren’t those who get the most, but give the most!”
Written by Suzy Chaffee, a former Olympic skier that helped invent dancing down mountains, who has turned activist, journalist, filmmaker, and has worked with seven U.S. Presidents. She is now co-chairman of a non-profit partnership of the Elders of the Americas and Olympians, called the Native American Olympic Team Foundation, which aims to heal Mother Earth for all our children through joyful sports and education. For more information, contact Suzy at suzynativevoices(at)aol.com, or visit Snow-Riders.org or NAOTF.org.
