Day 9. Raising the Next Generation – Teachings for the Seventh Generation.
Stories of Future Accountability
The Seventh Generation Principle is an active governance and stewardship philosophy that has guided Indigenous nations for centuries. Among the Haudenosaunee and many other Indigenous nations, the Seventh Generation Principle calls us to make decisions that sustain life seven generations into the future. It is a radical ethic of accountability; reminding us that our actions today shape a world our descendants will inherit long after we’re gone.
This teaching extends beyond environmentalism; it is a spiritual framework for justice. To live for the seventh generation means to resist exploitation, nurture the Earth, and preserve cultural wisdom. It is intergenerational love made visible.
The principle originated with the Great Law of Peace of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, where leaders are instructed to consider the impact of their decisions on their descendants seven generations in the future.
“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”
— Indigenous Proverb
Learn More
- Read the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force’s teachings – The Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force works to protect the environment and health of the Haudenosaunee people and the land they call home, operating under the mandate of the Seventh Generation Principle.
- Governance and Accountability – The Native American Rights Fund: This guiding framework ensures that resource management, land use, and economic development decisions prioritize ecological health and sustainability over short-term economic gain.
- Youth Leadership – the Indigenous Environmental Network: Contemporary Indigenous youth movements are actively using the Seventh Generation Principle to ground their climate justice advocacy, ensuring their voices represent the unrepresented future generations.
- Exploring the Great Law of Peace – This resource summarizes the foundational governing document of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, detailing the ethical principles, including the Seventh Generation Principle, that inform their governance.
- Cultural Survival – Indigenous Peoples Principles and Protocols for Just Transition
- Global Advocacy – Indigenous Peoples’ Rights to Exist, Self Determination, Language and Due Process in Migration Submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of United States of America
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