Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

As someone who has long been both pro-environment and anti-war, I hope that my words can play a part in providing a bridge between the two movements.

The challenges presented by climate chaos and the Covid-19 pandemic have both elicited cultural responses that superficially appear to be opposed to one another, but that end up working hand-in-hand to bolster a status quo that’s intrinsically harmful to everyone. Both succeed by appealing to wishful thinking.

Thacker Pass is the site of a proposed lithium mine that would impact nearly 5700 acres—close to nine square miles—and which would include a giant open pit mine over two square miles in size, a sulfuric acid processing plant, and piles of tailings.

Repairing the land is directly linked to repairing a way of life. Not just an ecosystem is being restored, but “home.”

That settler-colonialists, mostly of European descent, have wreaked havoc on the ecosystems of the Americas is all-too-clear. To conclude from this that all the introduced plants who live here now “don’t belong” is a step too far, and the idea that they should be eradicated is not merely misguided, but dangerous.

Our practices must return to regenerative methods that work with natural processes, instead of against them. We’ve knocked things so far out of balance that the road back to health will be challenging, but the sooner we get to it, the better.