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http://theconversation.com/sure-pipelines-are-good-for-oil-companies-but-what-about-jobs-related-to-preserving-nature-and-culture-72042

This article talks about the recent issues with the Dakota Access Pipeline Project (if you haven't heard of this, I highly suggest you guys google it to see what it is) and how Trump's new executive order advocating the project will harm not only the environment but the Native American cultural heritage as well. Reading this article got me thinking about House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday. The novel delves into topics about how Native Americans view the relationship that we as humans have with nature, and how it is different from the western idea of the relationship with nature. In class, we learned that Native Americans believe that we are one with nature and that we are not meant to dominate it (it should be on the same level as us), while the western notion claims that nature exists to be dominated and used by us.
This article (and the issue itself) creates a larger narrative about what is important to us as people and what we value. Trump's new order clearly makes it obvious that he stands with the western ideologies about the relationship between people and nature - that it needs to be conquered and controlled by us. This type of thinking can be harmful because it completely negates any kind of Native American ideologies that the people living in Dakota might have. Momaday's novel is constantly talking about how Western ideologies and Native American ones are different (with Angela's relationship with the other characters).
It is interesting to think about these kinds of controversies because Native American issues are not widely discussed in popular media and for the first time in a long time, their problems are headlining news reports and it is creating more narratives and larger discussions that we should be having.

I agree with both the above posts that the Dakota Access pipeline project is a serious problem bot only in terms of its potential negative environmental impact, but also in terms of the effect that it will have on the Native American populations that reside in the area. I also strongly agree with what Ankanee said in her post regarding the very western notion that nature is a force to be dominated over, an idea that Trump clearly endorses. I find his lack of respect and concern for both the environment and the Native population to be a rash way of thinking, but I feel like unfortunately it may take a large scale environmental catastrophe to occur before he will start taking environmental issues seriously. Trump rarely touched on environmental issues during his campaign and he clearly has no real plan for environmental protection as he has cut large percentages of funding that goes into environmental issues and research. Additionally as iIhave already mentioned in another post, he has appointed Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA, a man who has previously denied claims of global warming. Clearly this pipeline project has some very serious environmental implications behind it that could ultimately prove to be a huge health risk, though hopefully this issue gets resolved before the Native American population or the environment have to suffer.