Former men’s lacrosse coach at Bucknell, Sid Jamieson coached for 38 seasons, and upon his retirement ranked 15th in wins among all Division I collegiate lacrosse coaches. Despite his decorated past in athletics, Jamieson’s involvement with Bucknell is by far not the only interesting thing about him. 

He is a member of the Haudenosaunee, one of the six groups among the Native American nations.

Jamieson considers the Haudenosaunee the “original environmentalists,” saying: “We have been given a duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things.” They strive to lead a holistic lifestyle through maintaining a unique spiritual, cultural and historical relationship with the land.

The Haudenosaunee have a mission statement to protect cultural resources to “promote the health and survival of the sacred web of life for the future generations” in order to fulfill responsibilities to the natural world. That being said, keeping the land as pristine as they desire has proved to be an issue.

One example of the environmental issues that they deal with is the Onondaga river pollution (above), where the residue flows down the Onondaga territory and creates turbid water (the result of mud boils). Among this and other water pollution that is caused by mining discharge and fracking, Jamieson notes it is “absolutely unusable” as well as “extremely costly and difficult to remedy.”

He continually emphasizes the significance of everyone honoring the earth, considering what their environmental decisions will mean for the next 7 generations to come. “Be one with the land,” Jamieson urges, “not own the land.”