Why do we use TURTLE ISLAND in our name?
Turtle Island is not just a name, but a way of seeing the world — where the land is a living, breathing being, and we are all bound in a relationship of care and reciprocity.
As part of a global collective that engages in nonviolent direct action to fight against the continuing injustices and harms of global climate change, our chapter invokes Turtle Island as part of our name to honor the Indigenous nations and First Peoples who have been the stewards of this land for millennia.
Land Acknowledgement on Turtle Island
Land acknowledgements are an honest and historically accurate way to recognize the traditional [peoples and]… territories of a place. They can be presented verbally or visually: think signage, short theatre presentations or simple spoken-word greetings. According to Anishinaabe-kwe Wanda Nanibush, the first curator of Indigenous art at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), land acknowledgements have one goal, regardless of format: They commemorate Indigenous peoples’ principal kinship to the land—and the fact that we have not and cannot be erased from her, our collective first mother. “They’re a starting place to a change in how the land is seen and talked about,” she says. “[They] help redefine how people place themselves in relation to First Peoples.”
~Selena Mills, “What are land acknowledgements and why do they matter?”
We acknowledge the deep and enduring connection that Indigenous communities have with the land, and their ongoing efforts to resist colonization and reclaim sovereignty.
On Turtle Island, colonization meant that in many places
“…a culture promoting exploitation and extraction displaced an indigenous culture. Often the indigenous humans of a place had a locally well-adapted culture that honored and cherished the land, with practices and beliefs that made them well-integrated participants in local ecosystems.”
These links can help you find out more about whose land you are on, and do what you can to connect with the representatives of those original peoples.
Native Land also offers a teachers’ guide for using their map, along with a guide and additional resources for territory acknowledgement.
The vast majority of indigenous cultures include a wealth of traditional ecological knowledge, along with their own expressions of, wisdom about, and commitments to promoting right relationship with the land. For those of us who are recent settlers, and/or descendants of historic colonizers or enslaved people brought to distant lands, there is much we could learn about appropriate ways to act with integrity in our local ecosystems by learning more about the indigenous peoples of the land.
The turtle is not just a symbol of life and resilience, but a profound reminder of our shared responsibility to protect the planet. For many Indigenous nations across this continent, the turtle symbolizes the Earth itself: enduring, nurturing, and interconnected.