"Great Law Recital...takes saving Mother Earth to new heights with zero waste"

AKWESASNE - I was able to attend the Great Law Recital this year from the first day at the Tyendynega sunrise ceremony til the last day, five days later in Akwesasne.

I was able to attend all of the Great law Recitals, so far. And as usual, I was impressed at how well the Akwesasne people put this on. I know it takes a lot of volunteers from the community to make this go. A lot of hours to coordinate everything.

Each day breakfast was served, then the recital it­self took five days, five hours per day.

After lunch discussion was held. The first three days on anti-colonialism and how it is affecting the Onkweonwe. The next two days our wampums were talked about.

Many wampum belts were on display and were talked about. There are so many there was not enough time to talk about all of them. But some were talked about. We were told of the significance of these wampum belts in our history.

How the settlers had their portion of the treaties on parchment and we, Hodenosaunne had our wampum belts and how we are getting many or our wampum belts returned.

Every night there was a social. Yippy!

Another thing that impressed was the waste control used in the kitchen.

It took waste management to the next level.

First of all, I asked if they had any water for sale. No, they had refillable water bottles for sale for a buck and water stations throughout. And you could also bring your own water container.

This eliminated the plastic water bottles and we all know how they add up.

The next thing was the food.

I did not know it but people were encouraged to bring their own utensils. If not, they had some there, but not foam!

The food disposal was unique.

Waste barrels were set up.

One barrel took food scraps for composting. Barrel 2 took recycling and barrel 3 took landfill items.

And a barrel was for refund items. Refunds were given back to the committee. The compost is taken to local gardens.

Washing and drying stations were set up for the dishes so you could wash your own.

This seems like a lot of work but, if people are serious about waste treatment this zero waste is the way to go..

The motto...recycling is a part of the solution but, why create it in the first place!

I did meet the people that helped create this zero waste technique they call themselves Gathering Solutions Zero Waste Consulting.

They said this is a passion with them and they are more than willing to travel anywhere where people want to learn how to set up and get started at no cost because they believe in helping our Mother Earth.

I do believe we on Six Nations could use a solution to all of the waste we create at all of the doings we have on Six Nations. We could get them here and have them set up a display and workshop.

Anyone interested contact Cam Staats at 519-732-­5705 or camstaats@gmail.com