———————– ** Fresh Green Beans ** ———————– Grown in Kansas. Eaten Worldwide.

“All creation is connected and interdependent. If any part of the system is upset, the whole system is affected. There is no separation between our land and our spirituality; this is simply our way of life… We grow ourselves out of the land.”
– Nasbah Ben, a coordinator of the Save the Peaks campaign and a member of the Navajo Nation in Canyon de Chelly, Arizona.

The San Francisco Peaks are sacred mountains that are revered by thirteen different First Nation groups in Flagstaff, Arizona, including Nasbah’s own Navajo people, the Diné.

These days, the land isn’t used for ceremony, or herb gathering; rather, the land is restricted for use by the Arizona Snowbowl, which now occupies the Peaks. This huge, barely used, ski resort was erected for the wealthy of the area, seemingly mocking the mountains that were deemed as holy by the local people for centuries.

Now, to add insult to injury, if the Arizona Snowbowl wins a pending court case, they will be able to continue developing their resort and start using recycled sewage water to create artificial snow - controversial because of the dangers it may cause to the environment and in turn, the people.

This is an issue that isn’t just about the San Francisco Peaks but about the rights of all humans to protect their environment and maintain their relationships with the land.

Since the ski resort was built in the 1960’s, there continues to be resistance by the Navajo and those who have sided with this solidarity movement to stop further development of the resort and maintain respect for this once sacred space. Unfortunately, their voices are barely heard.

In an interview with Nasbah - it seems as if only superficial legislation have been passed to help protect sacred land, such as various Executive Orders passed under Bill Clinton, which consider the voices of the native people in the area, but won’t stop companies from development. These measures seem only to be symbolic, projecting an illusion of environmental justice while effecting no actual change, but only placating the demands of both the activists and corporate interests.

The issue with the San Francisco Peaks and the Snowbowl represents the tremendous amount of injustice that occurs to many minority populations and low-income populations all over the nation. Environmental justice works to keep these populations respected by public policy and corporate development, but often it is the case that these voices aren’t heard.

Environmentalism goes hand in hand with Human Rights; it should be a natural right for people to have clean water, clean air, and sacred space.

In this world, it seems that only the wealthy can afford to choose their environment and modify it to their liking, while there are groups like the Navajo, who are marginalized from wealth and political persuasion. These people represent those of many that are victims of structural violence – when people are subjected to poor lifestyles and harm because of exploitive social structures and institutions. Despite trying to voice their opinion, power plants are erected in their neighborhoods and amusement parks put on their temples.

How can we heal this rift, which separates a clean and healthy person from a clean and healthy environment? How can we stop the destructive development, which is built on the homes of the poor just to be out of the sight of the wealthy? And how can we make this change global? These are questions that the baby boomers and generation X have placed squarely on our shoulders, and we do not have their luxury of leaving them unanswered.

-Juliana Tran

San Francisco Peaks: Flickr

: : : : : : : : : : :