Dec. 16, 2022

Connection to the ocean is ancient and essential for all humans - Earth Knowledge with Native Like Water ’s Marc Chavez

Connection to the ocean is ancient and essential for all humans - Earth Knowledge with Native Like Water ’s Marc Chavez

🎤 Connection to the ocean is ancient and essential for all humans - Earth Knowledge with Native Like Water ’s Marc Chavez 
 
Mark Chavez, founder of Native Like Water, has been working to reconnect Indigenous youth with the oceans for the last two de...

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🎤 Connection to the ocean is ancient and essential for all humans - Earth Knowledge with Native Like Water ’s Marc Chavez 

 

Mark Chavez, founder of Native Like Water, has been working to reconnect Indigenous youth with the oceans for the last two decades. In this episode of Indigenous Earth, he discusses the importance of looking within and connecting with nature to thrive. He also shares how his organization provides programs for both youth and adults that focus on Indigenous education and earth knowledge.

 

Marc Chaves shares some Earth Knowledge on us:

 

  • How the term “Native Like Water” reflects the idea that Indigenous people have a deep connection to the land and to nature, and how westernized education does not always take this connection into account.
  • On how we need to look at our bodies of water first when we think of water pollution, as we also are made of water, and how are we treating it. 
  • The importance of maintaining Indigenous traditions and connecting with nature. On how this is done through gatherings and ceremonies, which are important for communication and teach people about their heritage. 
  • The importance of both recognition and practice when it comes to being an ally to Native communities. Recognition is important because it is the first step to becoming an ally, and practice is important because it is how we can truly show our support. 
  • The power of nature, and how we are all connected to it in a pure way.

 

🌊 🏄🏾‍♂️

 

Connect and support Native Like Water:

 

https://www.instagram.com/nativelikewater/

https://www.nativelikewater.org

 

Cool article about Native Like Water by Patagonia: 

https://www.patagonia.com/stories/point-break-medicine/story-125291.html

 

 

🌎

 

  • Welcome to Indigenous Earth Community Podcast.

Where we celebrate Indigenous heroes from around the world, and learn from them on how to honor the traditions of protecting the planet. We discuss actionable tips on how to connect to our beautiful planet while lessening our daily impact.

 

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Connect with us: Indigenous Earth  

Hosted by Frank Oscar Weaver

Sound Engineered: Movix Productions

 

Please help amplify Indigenous voices by sharing this episode with a friend! 💚

 

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We would love to hear from you! 

 

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“I like to call it Indigenous education. A.K.A  Earth education. It's earth knowledge, it's nature's law. There's nothing new that we come up with. It's just what happens when we follow or aim to Indigenize education” - Marc Chavez , Native Like Water

Transcript

native like water

[00:00:00] Frank Oscar Weaver: Hello, Ola. In today's episode, we will go on a journey, a water journey of infinite possibilities. If you recently follow a show, thank you for being here with us. We truly appreciate the company, and by sharing this episode with a friend. You help us spread our message, and by giving us a positive rating, you encourages us to continue.

If you are new here, I want you to welcome to Indigenous Earth, a community podcast where we talk to indigenous conservation heroes from all over the world and learn from them firsthand on how we also can protect our beautiful planet. I'm your host, Frank Oscar Weaver.

Or guide be Mark Chavez, founder of Native Like Water, who for the last two decades is rebuilding the connection of indigenous youth with our oceans. As Mark said in this episode, we are all made of water and looking within, we can go beyond surviving to thrive. This is a very special episode with a lot of knowledge, and I think you are going to.

before we hear from our guests, I want you to take a big breath. Imagine yourself walking along at a beach at night. You see someone sitting near a campfire, you approach and see there's a seat just for you. It's a cool night, and above the sky is clear and you can see thousands of stars. The waves calmly arrive in the shore.

You're warm your hands, and then campfire as he starts 

[00:02:18] Marc Perez - Native Like Water: telling you his story. I founded native like water. something years ago as a youth service organization. So we serviced mostly youth, uh, native American youth, native Hawaiian youth, uh, indigenous youth from other part, other continents. We would host them, um, in different programs.

So we, we have programs that include travel, so it's looking, it's looking at everything through an indigenous lens, and there's so much education that comes with that. So that's, that's kind of how it began. And, um, now, and what native like water is, is youth programs and adult programs. So the adult programs are open to the public and they get to experience what we're well known for.

And that's, um, I guess you could say outside education or i, I like to call it indigenous education. Um, aka. Earth education. So it's, it's, you know, it's earth, it's earth knowledge, it's nature's law. There's nothing new that we come up with. It's just what happens when we follow or aim to indigenize.

Education, you know, aim, aim to indigenize our educational experience. And so for that was what we're known for. Um, native like water is, is that, is that reflection, is that recognizing that we are water, we are a body of water. Um, we resemble the earth, and of course earth is our mother, but if Earth is our mother and we are water, Might as well call us for who we are.

And so we're native like water, meaning water is the most original thing that there is. And it's almost like time and memorial. And that's very similar to us in a way. When we think about our existence as indigenous people. It's like since the, in California, for example, since the times of the mammoths, you know what I mean?

It's like, and before that, So we're talking like, you know, 10 to 20,000 years old in southern California with some of the nation tribes that I service. Right. And, um, you know, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's ancient knowledge when you think of knowledge and we think of traditional learning or westernized learning, if not traditional learning, but westernized.

We're dealing with institutions that are like a hundred years old, maybe older, 200 years old, whatever. But these educational institutions, that's a flash in the pan when you start thinking about those institutions are on land, where the people are still alive for the most part, and that they're connected to 10 to 20,000 years of knowledge for that specific spot.

Just with that idea and thought or truth. It's, it's, it's, it's only makes sense that, you know, uh, westernized education opens up, um, room in its mind to allow like the, the, you know, us as stewards really come forward. in a different type of setting. Not that we go to board meetings or board rooms within it, within four walls, but that we participate in things that we have traditionally, uh, participated in for thousands of years.

And that could be simple gatherings, that could be ceremony, but those things are very important because like you see the birds. Our gatherings, um, are of that caliber where it's a higher level of communication that's been done for thousands of years on in these environments where, which are basically indigenous environments, I guess you could say, because everything you look around outside is, you see nature, but nature in its most peak.

Is the indigenous untouched form. It's, it's, it's somewhere where the invasive species is not, has not overtaken the indigenous species. And when you are in places like that and you see the indigenous connection in the here and now, you really get a, if you, all of us have been westernized educated, When we, but when we stop to see this and we recognize this and we could share this with other people, which I think is important because we have a lot of folks that want to be allies.

And we are a small community. Native American community is small based on their, on the historical, uh, elimination. Uh, but our community is small, but we have a lot of allies. But it. , how do we hold space and have an open, uh, door policy for folks in a way that need to understand things at a deeper level?

And it's not even me teaching or one specific teacher. It's a group of us that we kind of team collaborative teach, but we're just students, even us as teachers or students, the earth, we just observe. We're here to observe. And if you observe long enough, you pick up stuff and you start to practice, you can start changing the spiral back to, to that indigenous way of knowing.

Um, and basically we become, The indigenous education, because remember, it's always a verb. There is no nouns in indigenous language. There's no like just still stuff. It's always in movement action. So it's our practice of being in its indigenous form, it's natural state of being that we now see things that we haven't seen because for a while, because we haven't seen it in education throughout our.

We haven't seen it on television. We haven't, we don't see it sometime within colonized spaces. So, you know what? It's really a privilege and an honor that when we meet and gather, you we're usually meeting and gathering with a, with a number of, of young people and nation. Um, with the adult programs too, we're, we're gathering with a, a, a good representation of various nations and we're all gathering together around surf therapy, around traditional ways of knowing.

And so it's like, it's, it blows you away really when you can get that much force in any kind of gathering. And then when you're in a natural space that allows for it. Or provides enough space, great things happen and we become leaders in our own community, whether it be leaders in our family or leaders within our community in formal positions.

But more importantly, especially for allies, is that we could do this in our own lives, in our own communities. Um, and it's, and it's, and it starts with just recognition. . The second thing is, is the practice. So how are we all practicing it? And, and that's the question I think we all have to ask ourselves, and that's what native like water is about, is, is if we can go and stand up for water rights and water protectors and go and go to physical locations where they're polluting rivers and lakes, we can go there.

We could support. The, you know, policies to try to eradicate these places or we can protest and then what happens if we wanna really practice it? Cause the protesting and the water protecting is one thing, but what happens when you, that's like surviving survival mode, right? Surviving. Surviving survival mode is one thing, and then actually having time to practice and to.

Is another thing. So how do we get into the practice mode if we're over here? Cause the protesting isn't the nature mode. The protesting is like fight the war mode, somebody else's war mode, somebody else's policy mode. But the other side of that is the actual time to thrive. And I know we can get away on the weekends or once a month, but I think what we're saying is we wanna get to a practice state.

We can have many of us there in its purest form. And when I say purest form, that's some pretty heavy words, but nature is like that. You know, whether if it was polluted is an is another thing. But nature has came to us in its pure form, just like a baby when they're born. The fact that somebody stamped original sin on people and then their practice is to, to sin and to mess up and pollute the.

that's on them. But we are connected in a pure way to nature. And I think, um, that's a big point when we want to think about how we move forward to personally as our own selves or as allies and as our own selves is probably the most important. Because again, we can go and protest, we can go and fight policy.

How is our body of water. . And when I say our, I mean, how is our personal body of water doing so? Like I would ask you that question, how is your body of water doing in the sense that it's easy for us to go and support causes outside of ourselves? And I realize that, you know, it's like the chain starts with self.

So it's like native, like water is to really see the water in yourself and see that reflection. And remember water has. And water is also the best conduit and water reflects light even at nighttime. So we become a reflection of light. We become a reflection of ourselves. We become, we become a unified body of water, of a practicing people.

within a very trying time of crisis right now with the earth or with nature, let's just say N and nature. And we're not, nobody's sweating nature. Everybody's really just sweating themselves. Nature's gonna move forward and go on. People are saying like it gets polluted and things are jacked up. Yeah, it's jacked up, but the most jacked up thing is.

Is the people's future. And so anyway, bro, I I, I thank you for letting me talk, but you know, that's what, that's 

[00:13:45] frank: what we do. No, that's awesome. I, I, I really appreciate, uh, the insight and, you know, mark, I grew up in Paraguay, that is a landlock country. I think I was probably like 14 the first time that I saw the ocean.

And, and it was a really, You know, and the first time you go to the ocean, you, you would always remember because it's just, it's just something that you don't experience anywhere in the world, uh, being that surrounded by the body of water. And, and when you are out there, um, let's say, uh, with the youth and you're doing surf therapy and then, uh, what, what is that energy feels like?

How, how, how is that process? Like what, what does it look. . Yeah. You 

[00:14:33] marc: know, that's, that is the greatest thing. And it's not just youth, it's the adults. You know, we deal with people who are over 50, 60. We have intergenerational programs where we have people of different ages. And it's interesting because the ocean is kinda like the common is the equalizer.

It equalizes everything to its equal. Or, or, or at least the humble. At once. And no matter what it is at your age you are, or what maybe type of things you're going through in life, the ocean's gonna touch you in one way or another. But all of it is super pure. And some of it though, there could be fear based on trauma as well, um, with the connection to the ocean or to the water, and then others, even if there's trauma connected, I have yet to hear somebody that looking out to.

Has not tickled them on the inner depths. So everybody has been touched by looking out to the sea. I don't think there's anybody that, I like to look out to the sea. There's some people that, a lot of people that say they don't wanna go swim in the sea but not look out. So everybody's in the same connectivity right there.

That's the core. Once we get folks on the water, it's a personal experience and like I said, there's gonna be challenges for some and others. It's gonna be right away. They're like fish and frogs like me and. , we're swimming like turtles with no time, without even have to be taught how to do certain strokes.

Babies do that. I dunno if you've ever seen a baby born in the water or even a young kid who pushed in a pool that started just to swim on his own. So we are, the connection to the water is as ancient as we can get it. We're like looking at it face to face, and there's very few things you could do that with.

I don't know any looking at an ancient face-to-face that's alive in the. That's connected to just as many thousands of years as your people are connected to for thousands of years. You're like, and it's not about looking at age, it's, but it is looking at, it's looking at wisdom. It's looking at thousands of years of being an existing and watching the dolphins surf, watching the penguins surf, watching the, uh, pelicans and the ducks.

watching the, the, the Garza surf. Watching the turtle surf. Watching the fish surf. So if we are one and like that and it's in its pure form, we're gonna surf too. And a lot of people say like, you know, the surfing start, well, there's the physical human people surfing, you know, but then I'd be watching seals all the time, like surfing better than any of us.

And like it. Even if we want to imitate them, cuz we saw that, which is a normal case, like Right. I think for humans first, seeing animals which are older than us, surfing and stuff. You, you, that's like the, that's for the gods and that's why in Hawaii and Peru and these birth places of surfing, you know, it's directly connected to a way of being to a life.

It's connected to courtship and courtship. Leads to procreation. So surfing originally done in a social manner with the young ladies of Hawaii, the queens of Hawaii, or the princesses of Hawaii. In a courtship situation where, where men or young boys or young men are watching. From the shore or maybe even in the water.

But from what we see in the picture graphs and the oral history is it was the females out there showing how nature moves. And it's for me, and it's utmost, a lot of times we as humans or whatever, we forget, we're animals, but man is an animal. Not to lower class us, but just to say like we're connected to some stuff just like animals are.

So we're gonna be on these waves and writing this, but yet we're humans. This is like the most beautiful thing that exists on the earth. The nature is pureness all the sea life and animals, and then us as the human species dancing on wood planks on. that are coming from the south seas or anywhere for that matter, that's like, that's heavy.

And the thing is, is that when you look at the Polynesians and, and, and their stretch, you might know this, but they, they went the farthest had the farthest like front yard and backyard than other indigenous groups.

And distance. So they were in South Pacific, all about South America here. You know, you just, oh, you just, you know, everybody knows that. They go South Tahiti and everybody goes to the cook, you know, all these islands down south, south, south Zealand, you know, north America and South America is just, you know, the same is like, we're at the same distance.

Our stories are oral history, which again, is not talked about in books, not even honored for what it should be or is, is our connection to Hawaii, our connection to the Polynesian people, our, our stories, our trade. And part of what we do is we take now in this, in the, now we, we take leadership from our teachers from the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Today, right now are, thank God at the top of the teaching for water safety and ocean knowledge by, right, they should be. And the greatest thing is that they've structured it in a way where we all get to learn. And those who take advantage of this, take advantage of it, but it it within it, it holds our connectivity to the stars.

and to the stuff we see on earth, including us, which is what mostly water and carbon. So is the reflection all the way around. And again, you gotta get in these spaces. And one of the things, again, we follow the Hokulea voyage. Anybody has not known about the, please look it up, Hokulea. It's what the, um, the Polynesian voyaging.

Is is their website, poll and ho org. They, they completed a two year worldwide voyage, a couple years back, a few years back, worldwide voyage on a traditional sailing canoe using only stars as navigation when around the. and this, and you bring indigenous scientists and indigenous knowers and travel internationally and share knowledge and talk story.

And I think we end up reconnecting as a people, and even if it. Feels good. And to start, that's where we began after Covid. It was the restart. And the restart for our program was we do a lot of stuff in our program, but we're now, if we can only do one thing after Covid, what would it be? I chose that and that was surfing and surf therapy is something that is now backed by data and.

and being used internationally alongside licensed therapists or licensed therapists are the surfers themselves, or they work in conjunction with a surf instructor or another surf therapist that teaches the surfing like what we do, and we're able to go out with groups or individually and be able to.

Something that doesn't inquire, that doesn't involve drugs, and that connects you back to your mother. The ocean is the mother, the female, the mother that connects us back with the mother, even if we were disconnected, even if we were landlocked. See, the Landlock people are the most amazing people because I've been in ceremony and.

With landlocked people that were able to reach into their oral history and know that their people said, make sure you make it back to the sea. And so when landlocked people, I'm talking about people from, you know, we're in the west coast of California a lot, and I'm talking about people coming from New Mexico, Arizona border that their ancestors.

told them, make sure you make your way back to the ocean and go give, go have ceremony there. That was so that we stay connected. And so when you get those types of calls or, or, or, or orders or whatnot, and you go out to the coast in Southern California, let's say cuz let's say Southern Arizona or whatever they have to go to, they go to San Diego or la.

So when they get to the coast and they want to have these ceremonies, what spaces can they do this in? What spaces can we host folks in on the coast? Those are the types of things we think about. And so the calling for Landlock people is one thing. Our call out, an invitation for us to gather in our youth programs or even our adult public program.

Is that opportunity for us to gather in a good way, in full respect and full acknowledgement of where we are at and of each other, and each other's ancestral knowledge that they step into the circle with, or just urban knowledge is good too. You don't have to have it all traditional all the time. You can be urban knowing.

Yeah. 

[00:25:34] frank: Let's say when you were born, you were a little kid. and until now, the, the the, the growth that you had, was that like a straight path that you had when you were a kid, uh, to now like was the water always pulling you or did your story have twists and turns? And The reason I asked. This, it's because there's a lot of, uh, native youth, they're trying to figure out what they're gonna do as a career, right?

They're trying to figure out what they're gonna do at the school. And I'm just trying to see you as an example. Like how was your story? Like, did you grow up already knowing that the C was calling you in, in a teacher type facility, or how did that came to be? 

[00:26:19] marc: Yeah, but I was just like, you. , even though I lived in LA and California's considered coastal, we don't go to the ocean a lot.

Um, fortunately my mother worked a lot around LA and my dad would take us to the beach a couple times a year. So when we'd be driving to the beach the first time, looking out to the ocean was like you, bro. It was like the most in incre and incredible. I sometimes think about those times when I was a kid, when I first saw it for the first.

or remembered seeing it for the first time. And I like, and I like to try to invoke that because sometimes as a surfer, I'm out on the water all the time just looking out to the horizon all the time. That's all we do. Look out to the horizon and I, I sometimes think like it becomes so natural, I forget how it felt when I first looked out there and saw the infinite ipo, the infinite possib.

of just what real vastness means. Like you can't, people don't really see vastness unless they're looking up at the sky on the stars or looking out to sea. I mean, you could see vast forests, I guess if you're up above somewhere. But the sea is the sea. That's why they call it the sea. Far as you could see.

So I was a kid and I remember that just like you, bro. So, after seeing that and that calling probably just like you and I want, that's what I was saying. Probably just like everybody else, I think, I think everybody looks at the scene, has the same feeling. It's almost, like I said, it's an equalizer. I dunno if people looking at that, they could see all kinds of stuff, but what's important is that their mind is, gets thrown.

They go, whoa. Their imagination, their vibes, something's opening up in their, in their skull and like, what do they call it? Sta sim the blossom. So, , that's what I saw and that's what I yearned for and wanted for the most of my life. Cause I didn't get to go there really as much. And because I was, what I would call, we call ourselves landlock.

Like in la if you're like in east of Vista LA or Pomona, San Gabriel Valley, you're, you consider yourself landlock. And that's where is where I live. And you could drive to the beach, it takes you an hour, but like who has a car? And so even public transportation, Does not have its way to make it. So it becomes an unaccessible spot.

And even if you make it and you're now on the coast or on the beach, you likely were in a very affluent neighborhood that became uncomfortable. And yet you have to bear through because you know, I'm here to see the ocean. You know, we need guides. We need people who, especially we're dealing with the ocean, it ain't.

Ocean is no joke. It looks calm and collective at so times, but sometimes people don't, for the most part, know how to even read it so they don't even know what to look for so they can get the ocean. Ain't no notion, don't play. So it's very important to have guides and leads and that's why we look to Hawaii as some of our, our blueprints for, for, for.

Water education. 

[00:29:32] frank: Yeah. And, and one thing that I saw interesting that your organization has done was to create a surfboard outta reeds. Uh, I dunno if you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah. Like the tule canoe. Yes. Can you tell me more about that? 

[00:29:48] marc: Well, yeah, the canoe is heading up, had been head up by the Kumeyaay Community College and Dr.

Stan r. . So we are just students of his. And so when you see the tule bows, because we've been rolling with Stan and we're trying to surf on them, and they're usually made just, they're usually been used in the lakes and still waters. So, and, and marshes or, or you know, saltwater. But like for us to take 'em to the waves is like what we're trying to do.

So we have been, um, surfing. . Yeah. And also thinking about how we could make them even better as surfing canoes, you know? And I guess that's kinda like whatever every, every surfer ends up doing is surfing is one thing, but how can we surf and enjoy all the variations of what a wave and its connectivity to a board or even by yourself, dude, but to a board, especially, you know, shap.

and surfboard building is like hand in hand with the sport itself, which you don't sometimes find that in like basketball or whatever. You don't have people wanting to know how the basketball was made and the court and the design. And within surfing it's always about your craft. So you're always like surfing different crafts or making a craft or thinking about a new craft.

And it all has different dimensions and different uses and that's how like, All of us, for the most part, are seeing the tule canoes in a whole different light. Like we're used to just cruising on the, on the lakes with them, but like, we're just like, how can we make it better? So that's one of the things that we're aspiring to do.

And, um, at Kumeyaay Community College, you know, Stan Rodriguez teaches a great course out a few courses out there and putting these tuey together and harvesting the tules and teaching, you know, hundreds of people basically. like, and so that's the lead and uh, the revival of the culture. That's the lead in what I call the recreation.

The recreation. I use the recreation where the hyphen between the re and the creation. That's amazing. That's our, that's our point. Our point is to be, remember in a natural state of being and align our. calibrate ourselves with nature's law. And Nature's law just would dictate what you need to do. So if Nature's Law is saying, you surf because everybody, all the other , all the other indigenous creatures surf.

So we surf. So I love that. So it's a natural thing and, and it's for everybody. And this is what's so beautiful about it, is that it accepts every. Her arms are open wide. So when you asked me that question early on, what is, you know, what happens when the youth go to the water or whatever? What takes place?

What takes place is that their dna, n a, has memory. So they're back on the water and they're smelling the sea, or they just remember floating. Could be landlocked people too. I deal with coastal people who, who were removed and landlocked. Folks, all of us, we hang out. So the DNA has memory and that stuff brings.

the way of being 

[00:33:18] frank: and, and Mark. This is a phenomenal program that you have with native like water, uh, you know, really changing lives and as you said yourself, uh, the infinite possibilities of the ocean. So let's say that people are interested, they want to participate, they want to maybe do some surf therapy, or they wanna go to one of the retreats you have out over the world.

Uh, where, where they should go to get more information and what should they? , 

[00:33:49] marc: well, they can go to our website, native like water.org. Follow us on Instagram native, like water. Our Instagram poll posts is the most active. You can go to our website to see the most current programs, and then the registration buttons are there.

So right now, in November, we have a program coming at the end of the month. The registration is closed now, so it's not open, but we have a, the similar one, um, in April. . So that one is open now. Um, we have, so stuff that's open to the public, it'll be open in, the next one will be in April. We'll be in Hawaii in February, but with our surf crew and doing ambassador work, um, within the indigenous community there on the west side of Oahu.

And, um, April will be our program, surf and Food as. Surf and food as medicine. We have a great program here in Mexico, in mainland Mexico, off the coast of Colima, uh, in the central part of Mexico, in the Pacific. So we have a great ground. We've been doing this, this retreat for like four years now, more five years, and it's a very special place.

Um, it's a very special space to do everything that I spoke. the whole time on this podcast cuz you need, at the end you need the space. It's kind of crazy. Like you need the space. You need to have the space and can't be adulterated. 

[00:35:23] frank: Yes. And this open to, to everyone. Uh, or you kind of have to have a little bit of experience of as, as 

[00:35:29] marc: a surfer.

No, it's open to everybody. Um, that's the nice thing about it. It's open to everybody at every different level. Um, we have different programs. So we have a serve team program, and then we have open to the public, just like anybody. That's what's happening in November this month, at the end of the month.

That's the program that we're having. Um, it's just, you know, beginners. Um, we're gonna go in deep on some, on some surf therapy facilitator training. , um, on this next program because again, we're trying to flourish, you know, you thrive and you flourish. So in the flourishing part of things, you know, we're, we have some of our folks that have been with us for some years that as a volunteer and have been trained in different ocean water disciplines.

So that is something that we want to flourish and, and have more of our young adults, um, get the know how for so they can, um, help facilitate and just be a. basically in the, in the ocean environment. 

[00:36:28] frank: That's great. And you know, I've been organizing cleanups of the lakes and river of Central Florida for the last 10 years, going to different places to remove the litter.

Uh, mostly plastic. Uh, mostly plastic. And I'm pretty sure that you've seen a lot of, uh, plastic pollution on the oceans, uh, where you are. Uh, what do you think is going on with, with this crisis that we are having and having single use water bottles and drinks? You know, I feel like sometimes. Pausing to, to, to see the effect that our consumption is having in the world.

What are you seeing out there on the, uh, on the ocean and do you have any kind of word of advice for people, uh, about plastic? 

[00:37:18] marc: You know, I think we see an abundance of litter, of plastic and, and, and, you know, what they call the third world countries more, sometimes more than anywhere because it's just,

It's just so raw out there and the first thing that comes to my mind is always the same thing. It's like, I wanna get mad, the people who used it and threw it, but then I wanna think back farther and who are the people who made it and who are the people allowing people to make it? That's cutting it up, sniping it at the bud.

Like so the fact that we have a lot of. It's like crazy cuz we know the statistics, it can like literally the plastic can drown us. So it would be beneficial for us to really concentrate our efforts on like, who is making this stuff and why isn't anybody being responsible? And that's I think always the question, like who is the responsible party and making so much of this, 

[00:38:24] frank: you bring such a good point on talking about it's not.

We don't have to worry so much about the litter that goes into the ocean, but the litter that goes inside of our bodies. I think there's such an amazing holistic, uh, approach to the work that you and everyone in native like water is doing that is such an amazing indigenous relationship to water. To history, to community, uh, infinite possibilities as, as you have mentioned.

And as we wrap up here, um, if you could have an advice that you give up to the youth, uh, to people that wanna make a difference, like what would you tell them? 

[00:39:04] marc: Like, the same thing we've been talking about is just, you gotta try to, you've gotta try to align yourself with nature's law, like you, yourself, like you say, okay.

Like it's, this is real, this is real. Like Nature's law is, and let's try to calibrate ourselves with that. And I think, I think that's the big one. Cause it's the practice. Like you can go run in your mouth. Look at me over here, run in my mouth, the whole podcast. I'm talking to you so I can, I'm talking to me, I'm like, I gotta do my best cheerleader.

Cause it's something that we working on every day. So when the youth, I'm just, I'm looking for consent. When the youth, I'm looking for consistency and, and discipline and the thing that they love, period. The thing that they love, not to go discipline themselves on something they don't. Discipline on something.

They do what you love and be disciplined and consistent with it. And that's what I'm looking for right now. And that's what I would say youth to, uh, aspire to be is be consistent. Cause that's my still my biggest challenge and lot of our biggest challenge. We don't know what's on the other side of consistency.

You do because that's why you have this podcast or because you've been. Inconsistently. Yes. 

[00:40:13] frank: That's, that's really a good advice. And anything else that you would like to add, um, before we finish here? 

[00:40:20] marc: No, that's it. Just follow us on native like water on uh, dot org or on our Instagram native, like water, follow us and check our cool stuff.

We have a lot of cool content where like, since we're all over the place, we do dope stuff. So there's some stuff we capture on. on film. Some we don't, but a lot of, we, a lot of stuff we don't catch on film, so it's kind of cool because in the, in the, uh, last thing I would say is in the world now of, of stunting of everything, like being staged for content.

You know, we come from the old school of like really doing the do from the get get. And so like we never had to stage anything. We were going hardcore. We always go hardcore and, and. now that we got Instagram age, you know, it feels nice that we don't gotta, um, stage stuff like a lot of content out there does.

So it's really cool that we could be in the now doing what we've always done and just sharing it with our followers because it's an educational page. It's like we're all here to, even if we're having fun, you're supposed. . The best way to learn is like laughing or having fun. So that's like the key, uh, you know, I keep dropping this education word, but it's really like, have fun and then learn.

So anyway, bro, I appreciate you having me shout to shout you out. Thank you for shouting us out and connecting with native like water. Um, , you know, we, we wanna do stuff together. You, you can definitely have a retreat down here with us. We, we, this is a, we co-host stuff because again, that's part of the sharing.

And some people have their own body, their own bodies of, of, of reasoning, like, like, like you do or other organizations. And we really make it a, a point that we could share it in, in, in good, good meetings and good words. And in and in ceremony. 

[00:42:19] frank: Yes. Thank you so much. Uh, mark, I really appreciate it. I learned so much, uh, from talking to you.

I really like the, uh, knowledge that you drop on the podcast. And, uh, please everyone, you're listening to this support native like water. , I'm gonna put the, uh, website and the Instagram on the descriptions. Go there, follow them like their photos, support, because this is a great organization that is changing lives with the, uh, power of the inner knowledge of water.

So thank you again, mark, and I look forward to seeing you again. 

[00:42:55] marc: Yeah, thank you bro. Thank you very much. Bye-bye. Blessings, blessings. 

[00:43:02] frank: Thank you for listening. We really appreciate you being here on the show descriptions, I would have ways to connect with Native Lake Water and visit indigenous earth.org for more information.

Thank you. .