Budd Inlet lies at the south end of Puget Sound. The estuary of the Deschutes River, the inlet was once teeming with many thousands of birds and endless swarms of fish. Humans fit in.
Then in the middle of the 19th century it all changed. Humans of European lineage arrived with machines capable of dominating natural systems. To be fair, many involved early on didn’t know the full impact of what they were doing. As time has passed, we do know what we’re doing. Money has become the driving wheel at the cost of reason and truth.
Local governing bodies align in subtile ways. The Port of Olympia which governs the inlet’s central peninsula claims to be “a vital economic engine and community partner, responsible for owning and operating a marine terminal, Swantown Marina & Boatworks, Olympia Regional Airport, and real estate properties throughout Thurston County. The Port is committed to sustainable practices, economic growth, and community engagement, ensuring a prosperous future for all of Thurston County.”
Sustainable practices? What activity are we wanting to sustain? Sustainability is often presented as an environmental goal. Or sometimes mitigation, trading damage here for no damage there.
But not to lose heart. It’s becoming more apparent, day by day to one and all, that we have really screwed things up. People are sick of the dominant paradigm. And there’s a clearly defined pathway out.
Deep Ecology is an emerging belief that all living things have intrinsic value regardless of their usefulness to humans: a diversity of life forms contributes to the realization of these values and is a value in itself; it’s foolish for humans to reduce this diversity; and recognizing the ecological self, one’s true self, involves moving past an isolated ego to realize that we are deeply interconnected with the entire natural world.
These ideas took form during the beatnik mid 20th century but they are nothing new. The ideas presented in Deep Ecology are consistent with indigenous cultures in which spiritual beliefs center on a deep respect for nature. All living things as well as those of land and water possess consciousness. The funny thing is, none of these ideas run contrary to what we’re learning, the deeper we look into our crystal ball at dark energy and quantum entanglement.
The Northwest Coast was densely populated when Europeans first made landfall in the 18th century. There were the Tlingit in British Columbia and Southeast Alaska, the Haida centered in the Queen Charlotte Islands or more correctly Haida Gwaii and the Salish into Central Washington. These groupings are arbitrary. There is tremendous overlap in culture and language and sub-groups within each.
The Haida term Haa Aaní (Our Land) is the belief that the land is alive and connected to the people. Humans are caretakers, using the land while respecting its spirit. A central figure in oral traditions, the raven is a trickster, creator and cultural hero who brought light to the world and shaped the environment. And there are primordial ancestresses, powerful figures like SGuuluu Jaad (Foam Woman) and Jiila Kuns (Creek Woman) tied to matrilineages. Matrilineal society is symbolized by the Eagle (or Wolf, depending on the region) and the Raven.
Painting by Berselalau
The term “Coast Salish” refers to a language family, including two dozen distinct languages. The Coast Salish-speaking peoples have lived in what is present-day western Washington and southwestern British Columbia for more than 10,000 years. Their geographic territory includes the lands bordering the Salish Sea—Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands, Gulf Islands, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Strait of Georgia—as well as the Pacific coast of Washington and northern Oregon, including what we now call Olympia.
The Tlingit, like their neighbors, have a rich culture based on fishing and art and a family system passed down through women. They believe that all living things have a spirit and are connected through universal consciousness. Their name means “People of the Tides”. They understand the importance of the tides, the mixing of salt and fresh waters, the estuaries and the richness of life.
Central values require individuals to honor elders and maintain balance and respect for family, clan and tradition. Traditional practices like the Potlatch serve as social systems for validating these beliefs. Every stream of any size was the site of a village. Although each was autonomous and sovereign by gathering regularly to celebrate and exchange gifts peace and harmony generally prevailed. These traditions extend down into Mexico where, for example, Bucerias and La Cruz celebrate Nuestra Señora de la Paz from January 16 to 24 every year, as they have since time immemorial.
Around 1857 there was a war of sorts with some newcomers and the First People were gathered up by the Americans and imprisoned in concentration camps on Squaxin and Fox Islands. They were soon given reservation land to the west but some people returned to their homeland. Ron Seacrest, who grew up at the mouth of Schneider Creek in the 1930s, told in an interview of a native family living in Schneider Creek valley into the 20th century. They moved out when a baby was eaten by a settler’s pig.
Winter villages, typically located at the mouth of a stream, had in some cases hundreds of citizens. Each tribal group has its own name for themselves. Many tribal names today, such as Tulalip and Muckleshoot, refer to reservations where people from different tribal groups have come together to live.
The predominant watershed in East Olympia is Indian Creek. The origin of the name? There’s a good chance it was a sizable native village continuing well into American settlement. Indian Creek has ecological and social significance. Since the streams merge, the estuary of Indian Creek is Moxlie Creek and East Bay.
Crows, ravens and jays will make friends with you. And black bears too. Not to mention marine mammals. Nature can be a friendly place.
Photo by Kelli Williams and Connie Wagoner.
Deep Ecology has been likened by critics to the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement. Yes there are too damn many people. But the two concepts could not be more antithetical. Advocates for human extinction see no hope. Advocates for deep ecology see a paradise on earth.
Back to Deep Ecology.
Humans should only reduce biodiversity in an existential crisis.
Current excessive interference in the natural world is worsening and needs to be reversed.
Fundamental economic, material and ideological structures must change.
Focus should shift from standard of living to quality of life.
Strive to implement these changes.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Northwest-Coast-Indian
https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/coastal-salish
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tlingit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_and_religion_of_the_Tlingit
https://www.redbubble.com/i/art-print/Haida-Tlingit-Native-by-Berselalau/90198577/wqnt
(footnote) Northwest Coast groups can also be classified into four units or “provinces.” The northern province included speakers of Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and the Tsimshian-influenced Haisla (northernmost Heiltsuq or Kwakiutl). The Wakashan province included all other Kwakiutl, the Bella Coola, and the Nuu-chah-nulth. The Coast Salish–Chinook province extended south to the central coast of Oregon and included the Makah, Chinook, Tillamook, Siuslaw, and others. The northwestern California province included the Athabaskan-speaking Tututni-Tolowa as well as the Karok, Yurok, Wiyot, and Hupa.
The Kwakiutl, or Kwakwaka’wakw, are an Indigenous First Nations people of the Pacific Northwest Coast (Desolation Sound). They traditionally inhabit the northeastern region of Vancouver Island, adjacent British Columbia mainland areas, and surrounding islands. The name “Kwakiutl” originally referred to a single specific band, but historically was used by outsiders to describe the broader group of Kwak’wala-speaking tribes
Long stretches of coast consist of uninhabitable cliffs rising from the sea.
Garden Bay 