Native Americans and Ecology: Living in Harmony with Nature

Indian religious beliefs are intrinsically ecological since they regard nature as sacred. Before the European invasion, the various tribes that inhabited North America had been there for tens of thousands of years. They developed economically sustainable hunting-and-gathering economies that were environmentally respectful. They did not consider themselves rulers over nature but rather part of it. Humanity was sacred, but so were the animals and vegetation that sustained it. Even the soil, t...