Bucknell symposium speaker speaks about impacts of pollution, climate change

Nov. 5—LEWISBURG — Betty Lyons, an environmental activist and member of the Onondaga Nation, raised the alarm about pollution and climate change Saturday at Bucknell University's 17th annual River Symposium.

Lyons, the president and executive director of the American Indian Law Alliance, spoke about the importance of protecting the earth and cited, as an example, the need to clean up the 4.6-mile long Onondaga Lake in Central New York, considered sacred by the indigenous nation. The lake contains seven million cubic yards of methylmercury.

Listed as one of the world's most polluted lakes, she said it even has a foul odor.

"Who pollutes their own living space? You don't see animals doing that," said Lyons. "People, plants and microbes depend on healthy lakes."

Recent weather activity, including Friday's tornados in the south and the warmer than usual temperatures now occurring across the country, point to human-caused climate change, she said.

"Indigenous people are on the front line of climate change," said Lyons, citing the impacts on planting seasons and food sources. "The Amazon is our Mother Earth's lungs and provides 25 percent of the world's oxygen and it is being deforested at an alarming rate."

Lyons' message stressed the importance for all to have a connection and understanding of the Earth.

"We have to see Mother Earth as a relative and not a resource," she said. "What befalls her will also befall her children."

While some of the information discussed at the two-day symposium was grim, Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper John Zaktansky said, there is good environmental news.

"The biggest problem in Pennsylvania is acid mine drainage but we are seeing treatment systems" which are addressing the issue and restoring rivers and lakes, he said. "That is definitely positive."