What do you do?
As Co-Founder and Executive Director of Whiteswan Environmental I work with many others to support community healing through the natural, cultural and historical restoration to the Salish Sea for 7th generation sustainability as a measure of ecological health protection. You can learn more about our multi-faceted approach to support such a mission at whiteswanenvironmental.org
Advice/words of wisdom that affected your life you’d like to pass on?
As you see from our website, I have been guided by my respected elders and the spiritual signs of my ancestors. There are many teachings, but the following words have impacted me the most.
• The Creator gave us the sacred responsibility to the land, water, salmon, reef-net and language that belongs to it and if it is not supported it is cultural spiritual genocide. (In a little over 160 years, each one of those elements is at risk.)
• The first part of any healing process is to know who you are and where you come from. (And as ancient teachings meet present day ~ I like to say ~ and as neuroscience, epigenetics, adverse childhood experience and resilience is now showing memory is stored in DNA.)
• The most powerful form of prayer are tears. (The first people of this territory called the waters of Whatcom County the tear drop of the mountain, so in this place with one mind for the purpose of the work, I believe the healing process for mother earth shall begin.)
• It is up to us, we must move swiftly.