Respect the Earth

Minwaabaamawiz ii'ew aakii

Gedaa minwaabaamaa aki, wiiji Anishinabe, gaye endayaang.  Gedaa biinitoonaawaa aki, gego wiikaa apagidookaan ziigwebiniganon oomaa aki.

Respect/honor the earth, people, and community.  Keep our earth clean, don't throw your trash on the earth.

In this day and age, we need to take care of each other by protecting what land we have.  We are very fortunate in Red Lake that we have our sovereign status.  Many of the other Ojibwe reservations in Minnesota do not have control of their land base like we do at Red Lake.   We control our borders and what happens within them.

The Solid Waste department has been getting numerous complaints about the collection stations around the reservation becoming over loaded with garbage and people not putting their waste in the collection bins.  These sites are for drop-off of household waste and the containers should be used.  Our crew members do not have the time to clean up after a small number of people who continually throw their garbage on the ground.  Throwing garbage on the ground is an eyesore and clean-up takes time away from getting other solid waste picked up in other communities.  This collection service is free for community members and should not be abused.  We need to take a more pride in our community and keep it looking neat and orderly.

 In the Ojibwe oral traditions, there are reasons for everything and a story.  One of the first stories is about the great flood and how the animals helped each other.  This theme of helping each other is very important in the history of the Ojibwe people.  When the world was young, life was very difficult at times and without the help of other people, many would not have survived. We did this by living in harmony with each other and the environment.  We took great care to give thanks for everything we received from the earth and from each other.  The oral traditions tell us that we have a responsibility to take care of the land and the living things, for they are not ours.