On Thursday, Oct. 24, Buffalo Weavers, a collaborative music group comprised of its namesakes Strong Buffalo and Ben Weavers, gave a performance of songs and poetry in the John B. Davis Lecture Hall for the environmental studies department’s weekly EnviroThursday event. The duo also highlighted their work in helping local communities cope with the effects of climate change.
The program started with a video detailing Buffalo and Weavers’ work through the group Society of Mother Earth (S.O.M.E.) — a collaboration to connect over climate anxieties — and the experiences of those impacted by it.
Within the video, an activity that was at the forefront was a ‘healing circle,’ rooted in traditional Indigenous practices, where those suffering from climate-related grief can share their thoughts and feelings in a safe space with like-minded individuals.
Healing circles often take place in parks or forests and have a collection of natural objects at the center. Healing circle participants can take an object and have a quiet moment to themselves before they release it to nature. This allows them to self-reflect while maintaining the main focus of the healing circle as a collective experience.
“We don’t try to pull anything out of anybody, or have a perfect response to somebody who’s shared something very heavy, but we just allow them to let it out,” one participant in the video, Jothsna Harris, said. “And something about allowing that imperfectness to come through just feels so human, because without acknowledging it and naming those emotions or things that are coming up, we can’t move through them.”
“The first time I went to [a healing circle], I was not in a good place,” another participant, Vanessa, said. “I was really in the throes of a really bad difference of state brought on, basically, because of climate anxiety. I think it was healing for me to be in a place where there were others who were feeling the way that I felt.”
The program then moved into a performance of songs, the first sung by Weavers. The song was written from the perspective of a cedar waxwing — a bird that is significant in Lakota culture.
Buffalo’s poems “Visible Walking,” “Hidden Falls from Just Thunder” and “Trees and Leaves” focused heavily on the themes of collective responsibility for the Earth and creating supportive relationships. Buffalo believes that rather than staying silent in the face of climate destruction or resorting to anger, we should start by creating our own positive bond with the Earth. According to Buffalo, we can then start standing up for it and create the change needed to protect the planet.
“We are the first generation in history to be able to affect the infinity or the continuation of the Earth,” Buffalo said. “It’s our responsibility, and we need to begin to use our minds and our powers and our spirits to make the changes required.
“And we can, and if we can’t, well, then we all go down trying to make the right changes,” Buffalo continued. “We have to begin to look into ourselves, because that’s where the solution starts. If your heart isn’t full of compassion, you’re going to shrivel up and if we don’t begin to make this world a better place for all of us, then it’s our loss and the future generations.”