January 01, 2008

Native Voices Foundation
American ski areas blessed with abundant snow following united prayer

“Say 'thank you Creator/God' for the snow,”
says Olympic skier Suzy "Chapstick" Chaffee.

by Carl Jackson, for Native Voices Foundation

Ravendancer Gene Tagaban (Tlinket-Cherokee) with World Cup Speedskier Stew Young (Tulalip), and Olympic skier Suzy “Chapstick” Chaffee of Sedona, and dignitaries at the National Ski Shows where Gene coached skiers to say "Thank you Creator," when it snows."

Sedona, AZ - “This Christmas we have much to be grateful for, including the abundant natural snow at ski areas across America, thanks to so many praying for snow nationally and internationally around December 11,” said Olympic skier Suzy “Chapstick” Chaffee.

Ms. Chaffee helped orchestrate the prayer through Native Voices Foundation, at the same time as the 13 tribes of Arizona and many of California and Colorado. As a result, snow sports lovers were blessed with an unprecedented blanket of snow for the holidays. American ski resorts like Arizona Snow Bowl in Flagstaff, nestled on slopes of the sacred San Francisco Peaks, were thrilled with the economic boost, after receiving a record six feet of natural snow.

“I hope that continued snowfall will make it unnecessary for ski areas to use reclaimed water (treated effluent sewage) in their snowmaking. Instead we urge them to follow Aspen Valley’s green model to inspire abundant snow,” said Chaffee.

As NVF’s co-founder, Chaffee inspires ski areas to invite Native Americans back to their ancestral mountains to ski and snowboard and share their magnificent earth-honoring dances and prayer ceremonies, some call snowdances. (www.Snow-riders.org).

“And when it snows or rains, say 'thank you Creator,'” said Gene Tagaban (Tlinket-Cherokee), a member of the Native American Olympic Snowboard Team, who captivated kids and adults alike, when the tribes were honored as the First Caretakers at the National Ski Shows. “Nature often responds to sincere gratitude, just like people, with even more (powder) snow,” he said, after performing his stunning Ravendance.“Everyone’s prayers helped the Snow Bowl stay pure, especially since these Peaks are a sacred cathedral to the 13 tribes, and the precipitation center for the whole desert region,” said Chaffee. "According to a pharmacist who recently spoke in Sedona, 'hormones from birth control pills, livestock, etc. cannot be filtered out of our reclaimed water, and eight year old girls in some areas are developing breasts and having babies from drinking it.  Everyone is getting more estrogen from the water and food, so some couples are having trouble having babies because men's testosterone levels are lowered due to increased estrogen.'  Chemicals from medications, genetically altered foods, and toxic synthetic fragrances in everything, also cannot all be cleaned from our sewage water, " says Susie Brighten, class facilitator for OLLI at Yavapai College.

Sedona leaders, like Mal Wienges, Chairman of the Sedona Chamber of Commerce, and Matthew Turner, an environmental scientist, founder of Green Sedona, and Sedona Mayoral candidate, were delighted with the snowfall after participating in the prayer. “The quick fix of using wastewater for snowmaking could further contaminate the aquifers and rivers of downstream communities like Sedona,” said Turner.

“Many of the 22,000 students at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff also did their part this year to fight global warming by switching to green cleaning, helping to reduce pollution and enhance natural precipitation,” said Chaffee. “Kudos to student organizer Mimi Torres (Navajo) who graduated last Friday. NAU is part of a nationwide Climate Campus Challenge that includes over 400 colleges,” she said.

“This early national snowfall gives us hope that through spiritual and practical green solutions, we can go back to operating by Nature’s Laws,” said said Greg Luce, a green x-treme skier of the founding family of Time Magazine. “More and more green towns like Sedona, Aspen and Telluride are appreciative of the tribes for enlightening us on protecting our snow and water, and since we are 90% water, our families’ lives,” he said.

Says Chaffee, "If you are still looking for a meaningful holiday present, check out Carbon Footprint Offsets through NativeEnergy.com, to help America convert from coal, which is responsible for over 57% of our electricity and over 73% of our CO2 pollution, to clean tribal wind power.  As part of the America Indian plan put forward by Intertribal COUP, who just won a World Clean Energy Award, Native Energy's offsets are the choice of Nobel Laureate, Al Gore. Therefore this is a gift to all youth, including the Native American Olympic Teams!"