I met Chief Oren Lyons for the first time in NYC on APRIL 22, 2004 I had an opportunity to celebrate Earth Day in NYC and be part of the NATIVE CHILDREN'S SURVIVAL'S launch of "r u 2 cool 2 care." PERMANENT PROTECTION OF YOUR WILD PLACES" PSA Campaign hosted by Chief Oren Lyons with a live performance by Robby Romero & Red Thunder. Chief Oren Lyons opened my eyes when he warned the earth could burn and then freeze in 2012 in his speech. About the coming ice age and raising awareness about the environmental impact on Mother Earth.

This concert changed my life in so many ways. The following years I became involved with the Untitled Nations Indigenous Forum where I would meet Indigenous Peoples' from around the world once a year including many Indigenous People's Cultures Events. During those years I have learned about the problems Indigenous peoples' face on a daily basis, the corruptions, the cry for help for their survival and the mega-corporations along with their power driven greed. I realized that it is hard for those Corporations to understand that money and greed can't buy the air you breath, a healthy forest, sacred places, clean waters, the survival of the Earth Peoples'. So the fight goes on for understanding and respect.

I also had a chance to visit Chief Lyons at the 6 Nations reservation in Syracuse, Upstate NY when Adelard Blackman from Canada took me along to visit the Chief's for a presentation. It was an honor to be there and I appreciated the warm welcome of additional Chief's and its people. To learn about their contaminated river and lake they are fighting for years to have cleaned, but no Corporation who dumped the chemicals into the water wants to take the blame and clean it up.

With the art sale of Destination Rising Sun, we wish to contribute to the vision for a clean Onondaga Lake.

Onondaga Lake Vision

I have appreciated the guidance of the Indigenous people in finding my own ancestral return.

Never let our traditions die and never say die to your own ancestral return.

Listen to the howl of our spiritual brother the wolf. For how it goes with him so it goes with our natural world.

NY - Learn, understand and respect the Nation of this land

ONONDAGA NATION

Chief Oren R. Lyons, Jr. (b.1930) is a Native American Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga and Seneca Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy and Indigenous Rights Advocate

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QUOTES

It seems to me that we are living in a time of prophecy, a time of definitions and decisions. We are the generation with the responsibilities and the option to choose the The Path of Life for the future of our children , or, the life and path which defies the Laws of Regeneration.

We can still alter our course. It is NOT too late. We still have options. We need the courage to change our values to the regeneration of our families, the life that surrounds us. Given this opportunity, we can raise ourselves. We must join hands with the rest of Creation and speak of Common Sense, Responsibility, Brotherhood, and PEACE. We must understand that The Law is the Seed and only as True Partners can we survive.

Although we are in different boats you in your boat and we in our canoe we share the same river of life.

"The environment isn't over here. The environment isn't over there. You are the environment."

"If you have a clean environment, you will have a healthy atmosphere. This will make you happy and your happiness will bring joy to your parents and it will affect the community, too. Then there will be peace of mind to one and all."

"The young generation can influence their elders and can make them understand the environmental problems that are faced by us today. The youth can make them see that our environment is deteriorating day by day."

...global warming is real. It is imminent. It is upon us. It's a lot closer than you think, and I don't think we're ready for what's coming. We're not instructing our people, we're not instructing our children, we're not preparing for what is coming. And it surely is coming. We've pulled the trigger, and there is nothing we can do now to stop it. The event is underway.

The chiefs, and I personally, feel that we have not passed the point of no return. Not yet, but we're approaching it. And the day when we do pass that point, there will be no boom, no sonic sound. It will be just like any other day.

Chief Oren Lyons, FaithKeeper, Onondaga Nation

The Onondaga Nation is a member of the
Haudenosaunee (“People of the Long House”), an
alliance of native nations united for hundreds
of years by traditions, beliefs and cultural values.
Also referred to as the Iroquois Confederacy or
Six Nations, the Haudenosaunee consist of the
Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca,
Onondaga Nation's and Tuscarora nations

Onondaga Nation Today

Like other member-nations of the Haudenosaunee, the Onondaga Nation survives today as a sovereign, independent nation, living on a portion of its ancestral territory and maintaining its own distinct laws, language, customs, and culture. Today, the Onondaga Nation consists of a 7,300-acre territory just south of Syracuse, on which it maintains its sovereignty and operates outside the general jurisdiction of New York State. The Nation is still governed by a Council of Chiefs, selected in accordance with its time-honored democratic system. In the same vein, many Onondagas practice traditional ceremonies and adhere to religious philosophies and social customs that long predate contact with Western civilizations. Aspects of this ideology have been incorporated into America’s legal system, as well as into its culture. Personal and societal consideration of the Seventh Generation is but one example of a Haudenosaunee world view that has informed, enhanced and enlightened American and other national cultur

eOnondaga Nation/