Love Water Not Oil
Title: Print – Love Water Not Oil (2023 Remix)
Created: 2023, Original 2014
Medium: Graphic Design
Software: Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop CC
Dimensions: 36″x48″
Articles
“The chant “Love Water, Not Oil,” has become a common refrain for people who oppose the construction of oil pipelines. In Minnesota, the chant is generally in reference to the Line 3 oil pipeline that runs through Northern Minnesota and is operated by Enbridge.
The only problem is, you can’t really say you love water without supporting the replacement of this pipeline.
First, a little context. Oil is the single-largest source of energy for people in the United States, accounting for 37 percent of our total energy consumption.
Oil fuels our cars, the tractors that help grow our food, the semi-trucks that haul our goods from Point A to Point B, and school buses. It also produces heating oil and oil is the basis for plastics.”
– American Experiment, Love Water and Oil, New Line 3 Will Help Us Do Both.
“The summer of 2015 finds Native communities in Minnesota and the Dakotas fighting a multi-front war to protect precious water resources from big oil and uranium mining. There is a compelling Sioux spiritual belief that says tribes have a duty to protect “Unci Maka” for seven generations. “Unci Maka” is Lakota for “Grandmother Earth.” The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 provides the legal argument that tribes have jurisdiction over all water, both above ground and in aquifers on treaty lands. The agreement marked the end of Oglala Sioux Chief Red Cloud’s war against the United States.
But the spiritual and legal battles over stewardship continue to this day. While the spiritual argument for protecting Earth’s resources is a necessary moral imperative, Native Americans find themselves immersed in judicial technicalities that ignore tradition and the sacred duties given to them by their Creator. If a pipeline snakes around a reservation boundary, a boundary that does not include the larger 1868 perimeter, surface and groundwaters are still vulnerable to a spill. Also imperiled are drinking and irrigation waters that the people depend upon.
This week, the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) began a hearing for TransCanada’s recertification of the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline route across South Dakota. The five-year limit has passed since the initial 2010 certification, which included the caveat that construction would begin in four years. President Obama did not give his approval, so the process must begin again.”
– Huffington Post, Loving Water and Not Oil Means Standing for Mother Earth.
Download
Download the 8.5″x11″ print (.pdf), Print – Love Water Not Oil (2023 Remix).
Close Ups
Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
Creative Commons License
This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
