What Can American Indian Traditions Teach Us About Sustainability?

This recorded lesson first defines "sustainability" and then goes on to demonstrate how the Native Americans (focusing most often on the Plains tribes) incorporated profound values of sustainability into their various cultures. The lessons within the Native American traditions for other civilizations struggling to understand and adopt ways of sustainability are very clear. The recording includes video clips on the Sweat Lodge, Vision Quest, the Sun Dance, and and other rites of the Plains Indians.
This lesson is most suited to advanced middle-school or high-school classes. It can be used to supplement classes on history, sociology, current affairs, or other social studies disciplines
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The lecture was presented at Culver Academies in Culver, Indiana on September 10, 2013 as a contribution to Culver's Global Studies Institute, which is "a center for the study of international affairs that seeks to help students and all in our educational community become more knowledgeable, global citizens."
The presenter is author, editor, documentary film producer, and educator Michael Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is a well-known author and editor of many books on American Indian subjects, and has many years of close relations with several tribes. He was the adopted son of the late Crow Medicine Man and Sun Dance Chief, Thomas Yellowtail.