Did Native Americans Really Live in Balance with Nature?

Though the trope of the "Ecological Indian" is indelible in popular culture, history tells a much more complicated story. Featuring cutting edge perspectives rarely seen outside academia and in-depth interviews with indigenous historians, climate scientists, and other experts, this video will dispel the paternalistic myths and reveal Native American ecology in all its ingenious, imperfect glory. Support Atun-Shei Films on Patreon ►   / atunsheifilms   Leave a Tip via Paypal ► https://www.paypal.me/atunsheifilms Buy Merch ► https://teespring.com/stores/atun-she... Official Website ► https://www.atunsheifilms.com/ Original Music by Dillon DeRosa ► http://dillonderosa.com/ Very special thanks to everyone who sat down to be interviewed for this piece, including fellow YouTubers ‪@NathanaelFosaaen‬ and ‪@CatherineKlein94‬. The Isengard and Mordor metal covers are the work of the talented ‪@GabrieleMottaCarabus‬. 0:00 Introduction 7:15 1. The Makah Whale Hunt 21:34 2. The Biological Cathedral 53:06 3. The Commodity of Nature 1:18:42 4. Plains, Trains, and Buffalo Meals 1:37:19 5. The Makah Whale Hunt, Revisited 2:00:05 Conclusion / Credits ~REFERENCES~ [1] Eric Wagner. "Savage Disobedience: A Renegade Whaler Rocks the Boat in the Makah Struggle for Cultural Identity" Orion Magazine https://orionmagazine.org/article/sav... [2] Kelly Struthers Montford & Chloë Taylor. Colonialism and Animality: Anti-Colonial Perspectives in Critical Animal Studies (2018). E-Book through the Ted K Archive https://www.thetedkarchive.com/librar... [3] "Description of the USA Aboriginal Subsistence Hunt: Makah Tribe." International Whaling Commission https://iwc.int/management-and-conser... [4] Robin Wall Kimmerer. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (2013). Milkweed Editions, Page 3-7 [5] Ross Kenneth Harper. To Render the God of the Water Propitious: Hunting and Human-Animal Relations in the Northeast Woodlands (1999). University of Connecticut, Page 18-35 [6] Kimmerer, Page 179-188 [7] Harper, Page 291-293 [8] Kimmerman, Page 55-56 [9] Shepard Krech. The Ecological Indian: Myth and History (1999). W.W. Norton and Company. E-Book through the Ted K Archive https://www.thetedkarchive.com/librar... [10] William Cronon. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England (2003 Edition). Hill and Wang Page 48-51 [11] Cronon, Page 52-64 [12] Cronon, Page 94-107 [13] Harper, Page 306-325 [14] Cronon, Page 128-141 [15] Andrew C. Isenberg. The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920 (2000). Cambridge University Press, Page 1-36 [16] Jeremy Rifkin. Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture (1992). Dutton Books, Page 45-51 [17] Rifkin, Page 67-80 [18] Isenberg, 123-155 [19] Daniel Pauly. "Ask Dr. Pauly: Why are we giving subsidies to the fishing industry?" (2023) Oceana https://oceana.org/blog/ask-dr-pauly-... [20] John Roach. "Seafood May Be Gone by 2048, Study Says" (2006) National Geographic https://www.nationalgeographic.com/an... [21] David Gillette. "The True Cost of a Hamburger" (2022). American Institute for Economic Research https://www.aier.org/article/the-true... [22] Molly Brind’Amour. "Fact Sheet | Proposals to Reduce Fossil Fuel Subsidies" (2024). Environmental and Energy Study Institute https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact...