Anti-Nculear Activist and Spritual Leader Corbin Harney Passes Away

“My name is Corbin Harney, I’m a Shoshone Indian. I invite each and every one of you on the Shoshone land. Let’s all unite ourself toether and stop this nonsence of what our government is doing to us. Together we can change the direction of what our nuclear energy department is doing. If they want to continue using it why don’t they bury in their own back yards? This is why I ask you people to come out here. This is something that you have to do, you have to decide. Think about the younger people, think about the plant life, the animal life, and so forth. Let’s enjoy them so they can enjoy us. Let’s work together as one people. Thank you.”

That was the voice of Corbin Harney, Spiritual Leader of the Western Shoshone Nation, who passed away today from cancer. He had dedicated his life to fighting nuclear testing and dumping. In 1994, Harney established the Shundahai Network to respond to spiritual and environmental concerns of nuclear issues. Harney also established Poo Ha Bah, a native healing center located in Tecopa Springs, California. Julie Ann Fischer is an attorney with the Western Shoshone Defense Project and personal friend of Harney’s.

“His push for people to understand and to relearn traditional ways of living and to relearn traditional indigenous ways of respecting the earth and the sacred elements of the earth, especially the water and the air-these were real core components of all his life’s work, because without the land, the air, the wate, there would be no life.”

Over his lifetime, Corbin Harney traveled around the world as a speaker, healer and spiritual leader with an environmental and spiritual message. He received numerous national and international awards and spoke before the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Corbin also authored two books: “The Way It Is: One Water, One Air, One Earth” and a forthcoming book, “The Nature Way”. A public statement by Harney’s family says “he will be missed but always honored for his work and dedication to traditional ways.”