cover image Story Earth: Native Voices on the Environment

Story Earth: Native Voices on the Environment

Inner Press Service. Mercury House, $14.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-1-56279-035-6

This anthology, compiled by the independent news agency Interpress Service, offers not native folk tales, as the title might indicate, but think pieces from members of indigenous peoples from around the world. Certainly, though, it contains story to the extent that a people's oral tradition informs its attitudes about the environment. Abenaki storyteller Joseph Bruchac, for example, shares a tale about humanity's greedy attempt to capture all the animals of the forest. Pieces are also included from Indians in Guatemala, Brazil and Peru. The book's real value lies, however, in giving voice to indigenous groups usually heard less often. Alberto Hovus Chavez, a Rapanui from Easter Island, and Pekko Aikio, a Sami from Finland, each describe threats to his nation's traditional way of life--tourism in the case of the Rapanuis, the destruction of reindeer habitat for the Samis. The commonalities among these various peoples can be seen clearly: a reverence for the earth, a belief in maintaining ecological and/or spiritual balance and harmony and a fervent desire for self-determination. The volume allows these people to give eloquent testimony to the fragility of life on this planet and the loss all suffer as traditional ways erode and die. (Apr.)