Defending Mother Earth brings together important Native voices to addres urgent issues of environmental devastation affecting indigenous peoples thorugh the Americas. These essays documenta range of problems, including the devastating effects of mining, nuclear power facilities, toxic waste dumps, and water pollution.As the contributors demonstrate, the struggles to stop these threats are intimately tied to the assertion of American Indian swovereignty and the affirmation of Native culture: the Earth is, indeed, Mother to all these nations. In his concluding reflection, George Tinker argues that the affirmation of Indian spiritual values, epecially the attitude twoard the Earth, may hold out a key to the survival of the planet, and all its peoples.