Brownville Presenter: Everyone Has An Obligation To Care For The Land, All Living Creatures

The study of Lakota culture can help everyone realize a greater understanding of nature. Mary Hines related that Saturday morning, June 20 at the Schoolhouse Art Gallery in Brownville.
“It may open us to a new way of thinking about Earth. All of us are related to everything on our planet. We are related to humans and species,” she noted in a Humanities Nebraska presentation. It was the first of the 2026 Brownville Fine Arts Association speakers.
Hines greeted her audience with “good morning” in Lakota. She acknowledged the beautiful art display in the gallery, especially the buffalo hide. That was part of the association’s initial 2026 art display by Tokeya Waci U which concluded Sunday, June 28.
The speaker, who is half Lakota, recalled she developed a deep love of nature while growing up in the Black Hills of South Dakota. She continued she is “proud of her heritage.”  Hines termed the Black Hills “the heart of the Lakota nation. The Lakota still own the Black Hills. They have never let it go,” she said.
The presenter explained she focuses on Lakota spirituality and culture.
“You understand better the connectedness of living species as you advance into adulthood. You add an additional layer of intelligence as you grasp that concept. Lakota culture is part of their being,” the author stated.
Lakota spirituality teaches everyone about God and is a more abstract force of great sacredness, Hines remembered.
“Lakota have a deep reverence for our planet and a deep respect for all creation. Everything is nature based. We are all connected. Lakota speak out about the changes in our environment. With more extreme weather events, there is a responsibility to care for the land and all living things,” she related.
The author chronicled climactic conditions residents of the Northern Plains have experienced. Among them are: increased temperatures, drought, heavy rainfall events, flooding risk, earlier snow melt, risk of wildfires, impacts on agriculture including crop yield and livestock production, ecosystem disruption and stressed water supply.
Hines’ 2018 book, Who Cries for Mother Earth, immerses readers in Lakota culture and spirituality as a young Lakota woman experiences a profound vision quest to learn about her people, the earth, and the delicate balance between humanity and nature.
“I write about the environment. It is dear to my heart,” she related.
“We all can learn what we have to need to know to help our environment. If we can all look at nature like the Lakota do. We need to respect the interconnectedness of all living things is sacred. We are all related to all life. We are one. It’s not too late to save planet Earth despite a lot of devastation. I have hope we can turn this around,” the author concluded.
Recommended Reading
Hines suggested the following books.
Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt, former Nebraska poet laureate. The story of an Oglala Lakota medicine man.
Sundancing: The Great Sioux Piercing Ritual by Thomas E. Mails. It is an exhaustive visual and written account of the deeply sacred, highly secretive annual summer ceremony practiced by the Lakota (Sioux) and other Plains tribes. It involves intense fasting, prayer and a piercing sacrifice. Wooden skewers are inserted through the skin and connected to a central cottonwood pole to offer flesh for community renewal.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. Chronicles the systematic destruction of Native American tribes in the American West between 1860 and 1890.
American Carnage by Jerome Greene. An account of the Dec. 29, 1890 Wounded Knee massacre.