Native American storytelling toward symbiosis and sustainable design

In Native American traditions, humans are viewed as part of the natural system. Thus, all forms of life are related to humans and must be treated with equal respect. Legends, ceremonies, songs, dances, arts, and stories are integrated parts of the spiritual system, instructing people on how to behave with each other and the environment. This perspective piece discusses the role of Native American oral tradition as it relates to Traditional Ecological Knowledge that has been carried through generations, as a means of understanding Native Americans' role and responsibility to the earth and its resources. The paper also reviews communal intelligence and Native American sustainable design with the aim of translating such knowledge to contemporary aspects of sustainability and green design. Critical thought of the foundations of current day sustainable guidelines and ordinances is needed, along with the application of Seventh Generation Teachings and a move toward a regional perspective of defining sustainability. Finally, this paper is a call for additional nuanced research in the discovery of Traditional Environmental Knowledge held by many Native Americans, to better understand the fragile nature of humans' relationship to the earth and its provisions and its application to sustainable design paradigms today.