Prophecy of the Seventh Fire: Choosing the Path That Is Green

The collection of lectures and publications from the Schumacher Center for a New Economics represents some of the foremost voices on a new economics.

In the folklore of the Anishinaabe peoples of North America, the Prophecy of the Seventh Fire predicts that there will come a time when we must choose between two paths. LaDuke—member of the Ojibwe Nation of the Anishinaabe peoples—says now is that time. For more than twenty-five years she has been a leading advocate and organizer for Native American groups working to recover their ancestral lands, natural resources, and cultures. During last year’s Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, LaDuke called for us to choose the path that is green. As a Water Protector, she believes that the times we are living in require us to take action and fight for environmental justice, indigenous rights, and a just transition. As a society we must let go of some of "the baggage" we’re used to and work together to understand and respect the natural world as well as the rights of Mother Earth. LaDuke instructs us to “Get someplace, stick there, and fight for it.”