How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. We do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of water. How can you buy them from us? Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people…. We are part of the earth, and it is part of us…. This we know: all things are connected like the blood which unites one family. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

Indian Chief Seattle to the US Government,1854.