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Black Mesa Trust
December 14, 2020
President-Elect Biden
Delaware, USA

Dear Mr. President Elect Biden,
Hopi science, like Native American Sciences, have been around centuries before the birth of modern western science.

Centuries ago, a Greek philosopher, Hippocrates, in “Air, water and places’’ recognized that man’s life in sickness and health is bonded with forces of nature, and that nature from being oppressed and conquered, must be treated as an ally and friend whose ways must be understood and whose counsel must be respected.

All citizens of the world today are confronted with a troublesome paradox; by exploiting our natural resource base, mankind is able to obtain food and fiber and other material that is essential to life, but by depleting and abusing our natural resources, we also lose spiritual substance that is no less vital to our well-being.

Hopi elders believe COVID-19 is caused by the fact that Mother Earth is sick and is crying out for
help, but no one seems to be listening. We continue to exploit the natural resources gifted to mankind to take care of Her. COVID-19, climate changes are systems of Her illness. Scientists will find a cure for COVID-19 but, other diseases will come again.

In addition to this, mankind is facing the threat of nuclear war. The threat is written on Prophecy Rock, near the oldest continuously inhabited community in North America, on the Hopi Reservation in Northeastern Arizona.

I hope, in your message to the world, you will acknowledge the importance of Native science. Native Americans seem to be the forgotten people.

Today we are living in a chaotic world: Hopi elders teaches that out of chaos can come order.
Humankind is gifted with the ability to think so we can envision, create, and communicate to bring about a new world called the 5th World.

The Hopi elders say the time has come to intertwine modern science with native science, technology, and worlds religious faiths. Modern science has no heart and must be combined with Native science, which is the heart. The mind and heart must intertwine like it used to be long time ago.

Sincerely,
Vernon Masayesva
Hopi Member of the Village of Hotevilla, Arizona

 Executive Director Vernon Masayesva’s keynote speech
presented at the 2018 World Parliament of Religions
Toronto, Canada  November 2 – 6, 2018

 

The theme of this panel is reconciliation.  What does it mean?  How can we bring it about?  How can we bring holiness back to earth?  How can we, the People of different religious faiths, work together to heal Mother Earth?  She is not well and is crying out for help, but few are listening.

For me, reconciliation is bringing mind and heart together.  By doing this, we will create the energy to begin the healing process.

Mankind is gifted by the Great Spirit to imagine using our brain, the ability to weave and to communicate.  Working together, we can imagine the Fifth World of Hopi, and how we can make it a reality.

Hopi Prophecy is warning mankind that we are standing at the Eleventh Hour of the ending of the present Fourth World.  It is turning upside down, and it is caused by political leaders fighting for political and economic dominance.  We see the chaos on television.  We see homeless children, dying of hunger, not enough water to drink.  What have we humans become?

I want to briefly talk about bringing the mind and heart in a broader context.

The mind represents the world of Science and Technology. It is a material world where science and technology has brought about marvelous achievements.  We can now visit the moon.  Scientists are close to curing cancer.  They have a good explanation of how our brain works.  They have made great advances in how the universe work.

But science and technology has also created weapons of mass destruction we call atomic or nuclear bombs that is capable of putting an end to the Fourth World.  Today, we worship science and technology.

The heart represents the Spiritual World.  It is our soul.  The mind has no heart.

I suggest that the mind and the heart must come back together, like it was at the beginning of time.  I do not have time to elaborate and share my thoughts with you, but I have planted a seed, food for thought.

I now want to bring attention to a serious crisis, we, the Hopi Senom (People) are facing.  We live in Northern Arizona in the USA, near the world-renowned Grand Canyon.

Our ancestors were the first people to settle on Tuuwanasavi, known as the Colorado Plateau.  The Village of Old Oraivi is the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States.  Archaeologists estimated that this village was settled around 1000 A.D.  It is, however, not the oldest community.

The Colorado Plateau is a vast spectacular cultural/ecological landscape, unlike any other landscape on Planet Earth.

It is the Fourth World of Hopis World.  We call our Mother.  The heart of our Mother is Sípàapu.  Some call it a sanctuary, a safe place for mankind.  Others call it a learning plaza where one day people of all faiths, talents and skills will gather to fashion the Fifth World, using their mind, hands, and language.

This was the place the ancestors met Màasau, a farmer on a desert where no rivers and lakes exist to irrigate the fields.  The story of why our ancestors decided to stay here and to carry on our farming traditions takes days to tell.

Màasau, the ancestors learned, was a prophet, a teacher and caretaker of Mother Earth.  The first one living in Tuuwanasavi.

Our ancestors asked permission to stay.  Màasau said that is your choice, but if you decide to stay, you must agree to live my way of life, and you must help me take good care of our Mother.

Our ancestors decided to stay and made a sacred agreement to help take care of our Mother.

Today, the Sípàapu, the heart of Mother earth is slowly dying.  An elder who made a pilgrimage to Sípàapu told us that water no longer comes out and back in.  The heart is weakening and he wonders what is causing it.

I believe the major cause is the depletion of surface and groundwaters in the Little Colorado River Basin that feeds Sípàapu.  The depletion is caused by over 300 parties who have water rights claims.

The claims are now adjudicated in Arizona State Superior Court. Hopis claim to waters in the basin has been rejected by the Lower Court.

The Hopi elders are very concerned that the Superior Court Judge will uphold the Lower Court’s decisions.  If this happens, Sípàapu will be could die.

Sípàapu is called a place of emergence of Hopi ancestors from the Third to the Fourth World.  It is our umbilical cord to the Spiritual World.  Hopi religious beliefs, history and memories are tied to Sípàapu.

Therefore, if the Arizona Superior Court Judge upholds the Lower Court’s decision, it will have the effect of violating our rights as U.S. citizens to practice our religion, which is protected under the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.

I ask the question; can Judaism and Muslim survive without the Mecca?  Islam without the Qu’ran?  Christianity without the Bible?

Hopi religion, like other indigenous religions, is not written down in sacred texts.  We have no priests.  We have leaders of various religious societies.  We have no synagogues, temples, mosques, churches.

Our place of meditation, prayer, and contemplation is the corn fields, which is why a fundamental Hopi law is never ever abandon the fields.  Every Hopi man is mandated to farm in the ancient traditional way.

On behalf of the concerned Hopi Senom and elders, on behalf of our ancestors, I appeal to you for help.

Black Mesa Trust, which I founded in 1998, has prepared two declarations.  One, calling on the U.S. government to set aside Sípàapu as a federally protected cultural-ecological landscape.  The other is a U.N. Declaration to protect cultural, historic places all over the world.

These documents are available on www.blackmesatrust.org.  Also, please consider giving a donation to Black Mesa trust, so we can use it to prepare an appeal of the Arizona Court’s decision to Federal Court, and possibly to the International Court of Law.

Attending this World Parliament of Religions has inspired me and gave me hope that peoples of all religious faiths are coming together in pursuit of common good to bring holiness back to earth.

 

May there be life,

May it be a good life,

May it be forever.

 

Kwakwa – Thank you!

 

“We are interconnected in the web of life. The elements of water, earth, air and fire are within with our planet and ourselves. This is the time, and the time is now to live in harmony, peace and responsibility for all life.”

“Humanity is responsible for covid 19, because we are not taking care of our Earth. It is now time to place Native Science on the center stage and regain our balance in the natural world.” ~ Black Mesa Trust Executive Director, Vernon Masayesva at The 7th International Conference of Indigenous Elders

“Humanity has lost it’s holistic view of the world. We can’t just eradicate a virus with science, but we also must acknowledge it’s relationship to nature. Ancestral wisdom is more relevant now than ever.” ~Ancient Cultures: Championing Humanity

“In the Hopi view we are the water, the hydrologic cycle cycles of water. We all come from the water.” ~ Vernon Masayesva, Ancient Cultures: Championing Humanity

“Water represents the spirit, the seeds are the body, and the planting stick is science and technology. Six varieties of corn represent the directions east, west, south, north, below the sea from where all life came, and above us, the heavens or cosmic sea.” ~Vernon Masayesva

   The Hopi message to the United Nations General Assembly

The presentation by Mr Thomas Banyacya, the final speaker, was preceded by three shouts by Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Six Nations, and first speaker of the day. The shouts were a spiritual announcement to the Great Spirit of the of the people assembled and the intention to give a message of spiritual importance. Thomas then sprinkled corn meal next to the podium of the General Assembly and made a brief remark in Hopi that translates as follows:

Hopi Spiritual leaders had an ancient prophecy that some day world leaders would gather in a Great House of Mica with rules and regulations to solve the world problems without war. I am amazed to see the prophecy has come true and you are here today! But only a handful of United Nations Delegates are present to hear the Motee Sinom (Hopi for First People) from around the world who spoke here today.

My name is Banyacya of the Wolf, Fox and Coyote Clan and I am a member of the Hopi sovereign nation. Hopi in our language eans a peaceful, kind, gentle, truthful people. The traditional Hopi follows the spiritual path that was given to us by Massau’u the Great Spirit. We made a sacred covenant to follow his life plan at all times, which includes the responsibility of taking care of this land and life for his divine purpose. We have never made treaties with any foreign nation, including the United States, but for many centuries we have honored this sacred agreement.

Our goals are not to gain political control, monetary wealth nor military power, but rather to pray and to promote the welfare of all iving beings and to preserve the world in a natural way. We still have our ancient sacred stone tablets and spiritual religious societies which are the foundations of the Hopi way of life. Our history says our white brother should have retained those same sacred objects and spiritual foundations.

In 1948, all traditional Hopi spiritual leaders met and spoke of things I felt strongly were of great importance to all people. They elected four interpreters to carry their message of which I am the only one still living today. At the time, I was given a sacred prayer feather by the spiritual leaders. I made a commitment to carry the Hopi message of peace and deliver warnings from prophesies known since the time the previous world was destroyed by flood and our ancestors came to this land.

My mission was to open the doors of this Great House of Mica to native peoples. The Elders said to knock four times and this commitment was fulfilled when I delivered a letter and the sacred prayer feather I had been given to John Washburn in the Secretary GeneralUs office in October, 1991. I am bringing part of the Hopi message to you here today. We have only ten minutes to speak and time is late so I am making my statement short.

At the meeting in 1948, Hopi leaders 80, 90 and even 100 years old explained that the creator made the first world in perfect balance where humans spoke one language, but humans turned away from moral and spiritual principles. They misused their spiritual powers for selfish purposes. They did not follow natureUs rules. Eventually the world was destroyed by sinking of land and separation of land by what you would call major earthquakes. Many died and only a small handful survived.

Then this handful of peaceful people came into the second world. They repeated their mistakes and the world was destroyed by freezing which you call the great Ice Age.

The few survivors entered the third world. That world lasted a long time and as in previous worlds, the people spoke one language. The people invented many machines and conveniences of high technology, some of which have not yet been seen in this age. They even had spiritual powers that they used for good.

They gradually turned away from natural laws and pursued only material things and finally only gambled while they ridiculed spiritual principles. No one stopped them from this course and the world was destroyed by the great flood that many nations still recall in their ancient history or in their religions.

The Elders said again only a small groups escaped and came to this fourth world where we now live. Our world is in terrible shape again even though the Great Spirit gave us different languages and sent us to four corners of the world and told us to take care the the Earth and all that is in it.

This Hopi ceremonial rattle represents Mother Earth. The line running around it is a time line and indicates that we are in the final days of the prophecy. What have you, as individuals, as nations and as the world body been doing to to take care of this Earth? In the Earth today, humans poison their own food, water and air with pollution.Many of us, including children, are left to starve. Many wars are still being fought. Greed and concern for material things is a common disease. In this western hemisphere, our homeland, many original native people are landless, homeless, starving and have no medical help

The Hopi knew humans would develop many powerful technologies that would be abused. In this century, we have seen the First World War and the Second World War in which the predicted gourd of ashes, which you call the atomic bomb, fell from the sky with great destruction. Many thousands of people were destroyed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

For many years there has been great fear and danger of World War Three. The Hopi believe the Persian Gulf War was the beginning of World War Three but it was stopped and the worst weapons of destruction were not used. This is now a time to weigh the choices for our future. We do have a choice. If you, the nations of this Earth, create another great war, the Hopi believe we humans will burn ourselves to death with ashes. That’s why the spiritual Elders stress strongly that the United Nations fully open the door for native spiritual leaders as soon as possible.

Nature itself does not speak with a voice that we can easily understand. Neither can the animals and birds we are threatening with extinction talk to us. Who in this world can speak for nature and the spiritual energy that creates and flows through all life? In every continent are human beings who are like you but who have not separated themselves from the land and from nature.

It is through their voice that Nature can speak to us. You have heard those voices and many messages from the four corners of the world today. I have studied comparative religion and I think in your own nations and cultures you have knowledge of the consequences of living out of balance with nature and spirit.

The native peoples of the world have seen and spoken to you about the destruction of their lives and homelands, the ruination of nature and the desecration of their sacred sites. It is time the United Nations used its rules to investigate these occurrences and stop them now.

The Four Corners area of the Hopi is bordered by four sacred mountains. The spiritual center within is a sacred site our prophecies say will have special purpose in the future for mankind to survive and now should be left in its natural state. All nations must protect this spiritual center.

The Hopi and all original native people hold the land in balance by prayer, fasting and performing ceremonies. Our spiritual Elders still hold the land in the Western Hemisphere in balance for all living beings, including humans. No one should be relocated from their sacred homelands in this Western Hemisphere or anywhere in the world. Acts of forced relocation, such as Public Law 93-531 in the United States, must be repealed.

The United Nations stands on our native homeland. The United Nations talks about human rights, equality and justice and yet the native people have never had a real opportunity to speak to this assembly since its establishment until today. It should be the mission of your nations and this assembly to use your power and rules to examine and work to cure the damage people have done to this Earth and to each other. Hopi Elders know that was your mission and they wait to see whether you will act on it now.

Nature, the First People and the spirit of our ancestors are giving you loud warnings. Today, December 10, 1992, you see increasing floods, more damaging hurricanes, hail storms, climate changes and earthquakes as our prophesies said would come. Even animals and birds are warning us with strange change in their behavior such as the beaching of whales. Why do animals act like they know about the earth’s problems and most humans act like they know nothing? If we humans do not wake up to the warnings, the great purification will come to destroy this world just as the previous worlds were destroyed.

 

If we return to spiritual harmony and live from our hearts, we can experience a paradise in this world. If we continue only on this upper path, we will come to destruction.Its up to all of us, as children of Mother Earth, to clean up this mess before it’s too late.

The Elders request that during this International Year for the Worlds Indigenous Peoples, the United Nations keep that door open for spiritual leaders from the four corners of the world to come to speak to you for more than a few minutes as soon as possible. The Elders also request that eight investigative teams visit the native areas of the world to observe and tell the truth about what is being done and stop these nations from moving in this self- destructive direction.

If any of you leaders want to learn more about the spiritual vision and power of the Elders, I invite you to come out to Hopiland and sit down with our real spiritual leaders in their sacred Kivas where they will reveal the ancient secrets of survival and balance.

I hope that all members of this assembly that know the spiritual way will not just talk about it, but in order to have real peace and armony, will follow what it says across the United Nations wall: “They will beat their swords into plowshares and study war no more.” Lets, together, do that now!

EPILOGUE

The night before the presentations of the native people from around the world to the General Assembly, there was a total eclipse of the moon over New York City and the sky was clear. The evening after the presentation by Mr Banyacya and the other native spokespersons, heavy rain and strong wind began. The weathermen had been calling for a snowstorm but what came the following day were the worst floods in New York’s memory. Major highways were washed away by the sea and the United Nations itself experienced flooding of its lower subfloors, forcing a shutdown of its heating and air conditioning and all personnel were dismissed at three o’clock.

In the ground floor meeting room, where on December 11, native peoples were meeting representatives of various UN agencies, Thomas Banyacya spontaneously called on all the participants, including UN officials, to form a great circle. All the Elders were in the center and Thomas called in some non-native people as well. Each silently said a prayer. The forming of the circle of unity of all people from the four corners of the Earth was more than just a symbolic act. One participant said she had never felt herself to be in such a safe place. Later, several people present noted that no further storm damage occurred in Manhattan and that the storm itself abated that afternoon.

PROCLAMATION TO PROTECT AND PRESERVE SÍPÀAPU  

WHEREAS, we, members of independent self-governing villages of Lower Moencopi, Upper Moencopi, Hotevilla, Bacavi, Oraivi, Kykotsmovi, Shungopavy, Shipaulovi, Mishongnovi, Walpi, Sichomovi, Tewa, and Spider Mound hereby call upon the National Historic Landmark Program (NHLP) to officially designate Sípàapu as a Traditional Cultural Place (TCP); and

WHEREAS, it is the responsibility of all people, societies and communities living on the Colorado Plateau to protect the rich ecological, cultural landscape for foreseeable time; and

WHEREAS, the Colorado Plateau is facing industrial-governmental degradation and genocidal destruction of Native American historic sites, graves, and artifacts so that they may profit from vast coal, water uranium and oil resources; and

WHEREAS, Colorado Plateau is home to Hopi and twenty-two (22) different tribal groups who have cultural, historical ties to the region: and

WHEREAS, Sípàapu is central to Hopi religious beliefs and practices which are protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and other relevant acts of U.S. Congress; and

WHEREAS, Sípàapu is crucial to the repository of our memories, and serves as living knowledge that provides comfort and reassurance as a rooted place between past and future and as a seedbed for historical insight and knowledge and as a catalyst of hope for the preservation and revitalization of Hopi civilization; and

WHEREAS, Sípàapu, the heart of Colorado Plateau— birthplace of the Fourth World of the Hopi nation—is dying due to the impounding of waters in the Little Colorado River Basin by corporations, The State of Arizona, northern Arizona county governments and towns; and

WHEREAS, the Arizona State court ruling in Re: The General adjudication of “All rights to Use Water in the Little Colorado River System and Source” could be disastrous to the health of  Sípàapu; and

WHEREAS, it is essential that the U.S. government, which serves as trustee of natural resources of all tribal nations, affirms the continuity of Hopi heritage and memories by protecting and preserving Sípàapu as a living component of Hopi culture and a living symbol of our right to carry on our religion; and

WHEREAS, Orayvi, a thousand year-old village, considered to be the oldest continuously occupied community in north America is listed on the registry of NHL and is historically and culturally connected to Sípàapu; and

WHEREAS, the office of NHLP is responsible for nominating, conducting studies designating and coordinating landmark monitoring; and

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Hopi Tribal Council expeditiously support the Peoples’ Proclamation by enacting a resolution; and

NOW THEREFOR BE IT RESOLVED, we, members of the Hopi tribe and independent villages, respectfully request NHLP to act expeditiously to protect Sípàapu the ancient shrine as a traditional Hopi cultural place using the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the American Antiquities Act of 1978, the International Treaty agreement between United State and Republic of Mexico (the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848) and the U. N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948; and

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that this Proclamation is made in memory and honor of the ancestors who brought us here to a safe place, and created a sanctuary for all mankind; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that we call upon the United Nations to adopt The Declaration of Right to Historic Cultural Memory to the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.

 

 

 

 

 

“Ya ‘Itam Hakim Hopiid?”

Hopi Elder – Youth Conference

May 3, 2019

Theme:  Ya Itum Hakim Hopiid?  We must look to the past so we do not make the same mistakes in past world called the “underground” world, some call the 3^rd world.

The past world, some call the “underground” world, others call it the 3rd World.  The 3^rd World is the world of the Mayans, Toltecs from whom we are descendants.

We do not know exactly where the Third World is, but in our story we talk about a place called Palatki or Palatkwapi.  We know the reasons why our ancestors left.  One reason is the once beautiful pyramid cities became corrupt.   Ruling priests sacrificed young people to please the gods.

The wise elders said there must be another world above the sky ceiling.  Every night we hear someone walking around. So, they left in search of a safe place to raise the children and start a new civilization.  This is the 4^th World.

After hundreds of years traveling through the desert, they came to Pisisvaya, what is now called the Colorado River, and followed it upstream.  After many more years of traveling through the bottom of what is now the Grand Canyon, they came to a mound shaped like a giant ant hill.  Water was coming in and out of the mound.

The wise elders said this is where we are to come out of the canyon.  They did so and came to the new world, the Fourth World.   They named the mound Sipaapu, meaning umbilical cord, a place of emergence.

They found a man working in his field.  He was a  farmer in a dry barren desert.  His field was located south of Orayvi.  The farmer’s name was Ma’sau.   They named the place Tuuwanasave, meaning earth center.  People still farm Ma’sau’s field with corn, beans and squash today.

The elders were amazed.  His plants were healthy.  They were amazed at how anyone could raise corn, squash and beans in a land where there is no lakes and river to irrigate the plants.

After days of talking with the farmer, they asked if he owned the land?  He said, “No, I am just a caretaker.”   They asked if they could stay with him.   Ma’sau said that it is not up to him.  If you decide to stay you must agree to walk my way of life.  My way is hard.  You must agree to help me take care of our Earth Mother in a peaceful, respectful, and simple way.  Some believe Ma’sau came from the Third World to prepare for the coming of people of all races and tribes.    He brought seeds with him and was the first one to settle in the Fourth World.  Ma’sa said before you settle you must make footprints in all directions on this sacred land.   Some decided to move on never to return.  Our ancestors, Moti Sinom, left their footprints all over the Colorado Plateau and Mesa Verde.  They returned to settled and agreed to live by Ma’sau teachings and started a new civilization.  A civilization based on Nami’na ngwa – Sumi’na ngwa;  peace charity, respect, humility and faith.

Ma’sau warned that a time will come when strangers from another world will come and a life of comfort and ease.  They will lay claim to the land and call it “my property.”  Some people will prefer this life of comfort and start leaving my path.  When all of you stray out of my path you will lose the privilege of living here.  You will leave your belongings and continue traveling.  This story is inscribed on a large boulder near Orayvi, which is the oldest continuously living civilization in North America.

The ancestors agreed to stay.  They made a sacred agreement with Ma’sau.   I know of one other peoples, the Jews, who have a Covenant with the Creator.  In the Jewish story, god chose the Jews.   In the Hopi story the ancestors chose Ma’sau.  Ma’sau did not make that choice.

The story about coming from the Third to the Fourth,  meeting up with Ma’sau, then agreeing to a covenant with Ma’sau takes couple days to tell.   Some knowledge is privileged and cannot be revealed.    We just have one day, so all we can do is give you a brief introduction to your history in a story-telling way.  Hopefully this will be a first step in a study of your history, heritage and birthright.

Today, we find ourselves living in a different world dominated by science, technology and driven by money and greed, we are forgetting the Covenant we agreed to live by.  As a result, we could be standing at the end of the 4^th World.  Hopi elders  tell us there will be consequences when we no longer care for our Earth Mother.  Will there be a 5^th World?  This is up to how we conduct ourselves.  As one elder said:  “We are the ones we have been waiting  for.”  Who else will do it, if not us?

Koyaanisqatsi:

Today we find  ourselves living in a different world dominated by science, technology, money economy, greed, politics, power hungry political leaders.

In such a short time since Europeans came our society has gone through a lot of turmoil.  We are confused.  Our world seems to be running upside-down.  We have many social problems that we seem to be helpless to deal with.   Koyaanisqatsi has arrived.

Herman Lewis, Kachina Priest at First Mesa once told me that we, the Hopi sinom, used to eat from the same bowl, now we are eating like strangers.  We no longer know each other.

A potter from First Mesa, Dextra Nampayo, said we were once a beautiful pottery that dropped and shattered into pieces.  But, she was optimistic and said we can still put the pieces together.

Like the traditional corn planters, they plant a straight row moving toward a marker at the end of the field.  After planting several times, they look back to where they started to align themselves with the marker making sure they are traveling in a straight row.

Today, we are still farmers but, we have lost sight of our goal.  We don’t know where we are headed.

The purpose of this gathering is to define or redefine the goal.  This requires all of us, educators, political leaders, traditional practitioner, village governments to work together in the spirit of suminangwa – naminangwa (fellowship) to teach, motivate and inspire the students.

Kwak kwa

Vernon Masayesva

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Grand Canyon is getting drier, study shows, casting more doubt on the water-guzzling mega-resort developers want to build on the doorstep of Grand Canyon National Park.

read the full story here

https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/blog/grand-canyon-will-get-drier-climate-change-study-shows