It really grinds my gears that people are still looking to land and water protectors with the same condescending, outraged expressions as those plastered across the faces of white supremacists in the ’70s, when “Save the Trees” signs were deemed insignificant, “hippy” slogans, conjured from a hazy cloud in la-la land.
Today, more than ever, these statements are relevant and detrimental to our continued visit on this planet. Does anyone remember a time when there were only humans, by themselves, flying through the galaxy with nothing to stand on? No, neither can I. We have never existed without this planet. It is literally not possible.
So, why the nonchalance and arrogance when pressed with serious opinions around where we get our resources and how? When people ask for these mass extraction projects to stop, why are they met with such jarring and definite resistance? Why are the dogs called on them? The guns? The tear gas? The brute force?
And how is supporting our planet—our lifeline—bumped from being considered the most imperative priority? Well, probably because we’re so fucking lost.
Many of us were born here on Turtle Island: it’s our home, but our families and ancestors tell us glory tales of Europeans arriving here, escaping extreme conditions elsewhere and striving to claim land, to build a life. Yet we have no stories that actually stem from this chunk of rock. Our bloodlines originate in faraway places.
So it’s been pretty sickening to watch how the Canadian government and RCMP have treated the First Nations people who ask for oil and gas extraction to stop. This year, last year… since we arrived. Most of so-called “Canada” is unceded territory, meaning the Indigenous people who were here since time immemorial never actually gave us the go-ahead to establish what has become “modern society”… Not like this, anyway.
Everything about our everyday life either consumes our planet’s resources or leaves some sort of garbage or waste. For the most part, there are greener options. Some folks are riding bikes and recycling many things—and, truly, that is great; please keep doing that—but nowadays we seriously have to “Save the trees! Save the waters!”
Maybe there’s some stigma in your past about such statements being “hippy” thoughts for stoners and tree-huggers, but that’s an exhausted outlook with a perspective that’s no longer valid.
Indigenous communities and their allies are not just getting in the way and being troublemakers; they’re standing up for the most important thing: the health of this land. Why are we not listening to them? Why are we even the ones calling the shots?
From what I can tell, we’re guests. Uninvited guests, and, honestly, I want to tread as such. When I’m a guest somewhere, I listen to and respect my host.
It would be damn rude not to.