first of all i would discourage you from calling people racist off the bat. not that youre technically wrong but you are taking an aggressive stance toward an imagined person you have not yet interacted with. i understand the frustration but you sabotage yourself by putting those feelings out there; people who do misunderstand native existence will be less receptive to learning if they feel attacked. keep in mind such people did not willingly take on those biases or ignorances. everyone learns from their environment and social conditions.
past that, what kinds of native american culture are you talking about? are they all the same in this regard? were there absolutely no instances of hierarchy, currency and trade, slavery, etc? i know the history is largely erased at this point but there were and are many different tribes existing in the various, drastically different material conditions of the continent, so i would imagine that the social systems they set up as a result of particular material conditions would be vastly different, and designed respective to those conditions. i.e. having more tight-knit families in colder areas to use body heat more effectively and cut down on the amount of warm clothing or blankets needed per household.
going off of that, our material conditions now are much different from pre-colonialist america. what do you think about "land back" in the context that the land itself has been changed so drastically and large amounts of infrastructure have been built? is it right to ask native americans, whose communities and societies have been all but destroyed, to suddenly take charge of restoration? i do agree they should have a say in how things move forward from here, as we must include many differing perspectives in order to build a picture of the best future. but i feel "land back" as a slogan and ideology (?) will not catch on with most americans, as it centers, and in a way targets, native american people, as a contradiction to non-native americans. if it even did become popular, there is the possibility of a violent reaction to it, by such a group you speak of as ignorant and racist.
i think this is a piece of the picture, absolutely, but i do not believe it is the whole picture. that said, i would definitely encourage you to do as much research as you can on the various cultures of pre-colonial america and learn their history. im sure there is much to learn from them. and while we cannot go back, we can use that knowledge going forward.
edit: i want to make it clear that things like "environmental efforts" are not a simple thing disconnected from, for example, our economical processes. what is the environment? what is the scope and scale? what things contribute to its health? what mechanisms are in place that proceed to worsen its health and the health of its people? we must fully investigate the problem of climate change/environmental destruction, understand its causes and influences, and find the absolute most important thing that contributes to its intensification. everything will cascade from there as the principle contradiction that affects all others is resolved. Mao Tse-tung has much to say about this dialectical process in On Contradiction. (a surprisingly easy read, at least if you are somewhat familiar with the study of contradiction) there is much to say about that, but i just wanted to be clear about these details. i see many people talk about things as though they are simple, but every thing is really a network of things that branches out across time and location. to discuss the environment is to discuss that entire network and its history. its important we do not stop short in our investigation of such a thing, as there is always more information to be found in the old and the new.
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