Native Americans in San Diego

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San Diego Museum of Man
Native Americans and their environment
I took a visit to the San Diego Museum of Man, and it is where I got a lot of insight about Native Americans and more so about the Kumeyaay people. It was a visit that helped me develop a better understanding of how a society can leave harmoniously with nature. Kumeyaay people are the native Americas found in the regions of California around San Diego and other areas of the southwestern regions of the country as well as the northern parts of Mexico. They are a group well known for their traditional ways of life and their abilities to adapt to the different climatic and topographic aspects of the region (Kumeyaay: Native Californians, 2018).
They obtained all their life needs and requirements from their immediate environment and were thus critical in the protection and conservation of their environment (Kumeyaay: Native Californians, 2018). They viewed themselves as part of nature and believed in animism which is characterized by the beliefs that spiritual beings animate nature in the form of certain specific plants and animals. It enabled them to develop rituals, taboos, and mythologies that were instrumental in the conservation of nature. They were people that believed that they were part of nature and not superior to it. This made them adapt to their environment rather than try to change it and consequently led to conservation and protection of their natural environment through their ways of life.

The elements of life and survival of the Kumeyaay people explore certain elements that the modern society of today needs to consider because the world is on the brink of environmental chaos associated exploitation of nature without giving back to it. Anthropogenic activities of modern society underpin the lack of respect for nature.
People consider themselves superior to nature, and it is such perception that has led to such environmental problems as global warming and climate change, pollution and the degradation of the natural environment (Kumeyaay: Native Californians, 2018).
Work Cited
“Kumeyaay: Native Californians.” San Diego Museum of Man, 2018, www.museumofman.org/exhibits/kumeyaay-native-californians/.