#tagish

Raven suggests we must recognize and respect, as Gaia theory and most indigenous cosmologies hold, that earth systems' responses are contingent in part upon anthropogenic stimuli. Wallace Broecker, a preeminent climate scientist, put it this way: "The climate is as an angry beast and we are poking at it with sticks," an analogy Julie Cruikshank's (2005: vii) animistic Tlingit and Tagish informants could readily identify with in terms of their own intersubjective view of glaciers, which "listen" and respond to humans in a moral way. Indeed such conceptualizations confirm that earth's complex systems collectively comprise not only a kind of colossal being - a beast - but one capable of listening, and of being seriously insulted and reactive if per turbed by human activity (be it consciously directed or not). This is the anarchic stuff of Raven stories. Of course, the reaction is contingent on the level of insult; and our ability to respond appropriately is contingent upon our ability to recognize what constitutes an insult as opposed to an acceptable level of manipulation (as in Raven pricking the Old Woman of the Tides), and adjust our behavior accordingly.

In short, Raven teaches us, through his accomplishments and failings, how we must become aware and respectful of the contingency and integrity of human-environmental relations. He does not accomplish this through high moralism against human profligacy as an environmental Jeremiad, or through the high managerialism of the Technofix Earth Engineer, or by reenchanting scientific knowledge as New Genesis proponents seek to do. Rather, Raven demonstrates - sometimes with humor and sometimes with hubris - his own capacity to adapt to the exigencies of life he faces and dynamic reactions he catalyzes in a world in which critical thresholds are often exceeded.

Part 2 of (grizzly) bear in different languages of North America inspired by @ancesters

Shashchō - Tā̀gish (Tagish)

Shär Cho - Häł gołan (Hän)

Daxpitcheetáale - Apsáalooke (Crow)

χawgəs - ʔayajuθəm (Homalco)

Kiláwnaʔ - Nsyilxcən (Okanagan)

Náṇ - Haíɫzaqvḷa (Heiltsuk)

Likin̓skw - Nisg̱a’a (Nisga'a)

Lak'insxw - Gitsenimx̱ (Gitxsan)

Dlēze - Denek’éh (Slavey)

Shas - Dakeł (Dakelh)

Sources

First Voices

Crow Dictionary Online

Various dictionaries in the MEGA folder