Conference examines impact of environmental issues on human rights

In many locations around the world, native names are being ignored, thus denying people’s cultural pasts and histories, says Jim Enote, a Zuni tribal member, farmer, artist, and activist for the environment.

Enote was the keynote speaker Oct. 23 in the Student Union Theatre during the Eighth Annual UNESCO Chair and Institute of Comparative Human Rights Conference. The event’s topic was human rights and the environment.

“Indigenous people around the world have always had names of places, but in many cases those names have all been eliminated and replaced with other languages, other terms, and words that are foreign to us,” Enote said.

“In many cases, these are a direct denial of our past and history.”

For example, Bear Spring in New Mexico is now called Fort Wingate, Enote said.

“What is embedded in my language is thousands and thousands of years of environmental monitoring,” he added. “It’s all part of these languages that are becoming extinct around the world.”

The Zuni are indigenous Americans living in New Mexico.

Indigenous peoples have a lot to contribute to the dialogue about the environment and human rights, he said.

“Somewhere in the lives of society and cultures, we all want a piece of the pie,” he said.

“We all want that security. We have always sought something better. Somewhere, from the time of our innocent birth to the time we grow up, we develop a sense of compassion, a sense of sharing. But what happens when our environmental resources are stretched?” he asked. “What about the ethics of helping each other, the ethics of sharing our resources? Which voices are being heard and which aren’t?”

He said that human beings have “an urge to get something you don’t have – to seek something better. But in that process comes about conquering and displacement. Many native communities around the world have been conquered and displaced.”