My favorite part of Honor the Earth touring has always been our visits to the different Indian communities and reservations. Being so urbanized, my heart hungers for a community I haven't known. Visiting the Traditional Independent Seminole Nation gave me a glimpse of how traditional Indian peoples can epitomize the potential of human community. The prayers, thanksgiving, dance, feasts, speaking circles, songs, cooking and appreciation for balance and relationships in the creation weave a fabric of life rich beyond description. I was humbled to be present there

Meeting women like Katsi Cook from Akwesasne and Dedee Sanchez from Western Shoshone was tremendously inspiring. These are women who through necessity, to protect their land and ways of life, became scientific experts on subjects like PCBs and radiation while raising their kids and helping to uphold their communities. These are America's heroes as far as I am concerned. If only many other people could visit these communities, meet these men and women, understand that what they are trying to protect and their dedication to the next seven generations is a model for all of us. It is a vision of sustaining and appreciating life.

The powers that be in D.C. are not listening. The doors are often closed. The members of the communities we visited continue to raise their voices and knock on those doors and we will keep working collectively to make change for the betterment and protection of the planet. There is a greater power, alive and well in the hearts and actions of these communities. Honor the Earth invites us to educate ourselves and uphold a vision of how this world should be.

-Emily Saliers

We saw a major improvement in media coverage on the 1997 Honor the Earth Tour. I can only hope that this reflects a growing support and interest in indigenous environmental concerns. I believe our focus on the national issue of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act brought much needed attention to the broad range of disastrous impacts the nuclear industry has had on the natural world and the human community, especially communities of lower socio-economic levels and color.

As in the '95 tour, I was constantly educated and nurtured by the Indian activists I came into contact with. I was inspired by the coalition building of such groups as Buffalo Nations, illustrating how non-Indians can work with Indians without co-opting their campaigns or appropriating their cultures unnecessarily. Our audience was incredibly receptive and responsive, showing their support and enthusiasm in tangible ways such as making donations and signing political action cards. As always, our time spent in Indian communities was exciting and humbling and gave us strength to carry through the whole tour. The time in the Indian communities was especially important to remember when confronted by the depressing power structure of Washington, DC. Our time in DC left me with even more respect for the years of work and accomplishments by the Indian activist network. I am anticipating with great enthusiasm getting the money we raised into the different communities!

-Amy Ray