Excerpt from Neil Patterson Interview (1)

Neil Patterson is the Assistant Director in the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. In this video segment, he talks about how the pollution in Onondaga Lake has impacted the language of fishing within the Six Nations--an almost Orwellian phenomenon.

LJ: How has the pollution [at Onondaga Lake] affected your life?

Neil Patterson: Well, I didn't grow up here, and even when I moved here, I was on an SU meal plan at Sadler, so I wasn't so dependent on it like I would have been [had I grown up here]. But I know my brothers at Onondaga--we call them our older brothers--are heavily impacted by it. I mean, in fact, we were just talking about that [earlier on it the interview]. With the language, the language of fish and fishing, has evolved over time to more of an enjoyment, more of a hobby, more of an exception rather than a rule.

Kelly: Because of mercury?

Neil Patterson: Yeah, the mercury, and just in general the loss of species. The species that were there: Atlantic Salmon, Brook Trout, Sturgeon and Eel. And right now, the eels are becoming endangered in the system. Salmon don't exist. Sturgeon are barely there. And Brook Trout are completely gone. So now we have a whole community of Pacific imports: Pacific Salmon, and more of a mix of warm water species. So anyway, I'm always going to steer us back toward fish in these conversations! I mean that's part of the idea. Of course there are obviously less pines growing in these nearly saline environments. It's a unique attribute of the Lake--where we would have gathered water and evaporated it for salt. So salt is a big part of our diet, because we don't have fridges! So we had to cure, and brine, and dry everything with salt, so it's critical for preserving meat. So again, it's this system that connects fish with plants, with people, with sustenance, with food, and energy, even. So when you pollute that, obviously you have drastic changes in the language. You know, the loss of fishing terminology, when people don't know how to make nets anymore out of dogbane, or go throw them in the lake to go catch and harvest fish... So, they're not using that language. They're not even saying "fish net". They're not passing that on to their future generations, so the words actually just die.

Kelly: That's really interesting. It's like 1984.

Neil Patterson: Orwellian, sort of. It's tied in with the environment so deeply...One little thing is like a ripple effect. So, directly me? I would love to go down there and like camp out and fish and hunt for a few days. And that's kind of my personal interest. In restoring those uses to those places, and building a relationship with them.