Chaparral Wisdom
To celebrate the magic and beauty of Nature & the chaparral
Lots of Burning Grass, and the Redwoods are OK – countering the false narrative about California wildfires
Dryness and heat, facilitated by human-caused climate change, are responsible for the large wildfires we are currently experiencing in California. It’s not about mature, native habitat.
Unfortunately, in news stories about the fires, you’ve probably heard someone repeating the same misguided claim made during nearly every fire, as if it explains everything: “The area hasn’t burned in years!” Other than being usually incorrect, the claim supports the false narrative that if we could just get rid of all this “fuel,” via prescribed burns or other habitat removal methods, these fires wouldn’t happen.
In fact, NPR had a story yesterday that said exactly that. They unfortunately also engaged in cultural appropriation of Native Americans to do so. We doubt the reporter even looked at what was actually burning.
A more accurate perspective on the use of fire by Native Americans can be found here.
What’s Really Happening – A lot had burned in the past 10 years
Our colleague, Bryant Baker, did an excellent job investigating the issue of blaming-habitat-for-fire and has assembled the following facts.
For People, for Nature – Acknowledging the Racist Within
One of my greatest, personal challenges is to acknowledge and correct racial prejudice within.
It’s not like I put on a white hood and roam around fire bombing black churches. No, what I am talking about is an unconscious thing, and something more systemic, more enabling of the racism that contributed to George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis last week and Christian Cooper’s encounter with a white woman in Central Park that could have ended the same. It relates to the fundamental problem we face in America – believing the myth of equal opportunity.
As a tall, blonde, white guy, I wake up every morning, go out into the world and feel safe and validated, thinking that’s the way it is for everyone. Why would I think any differently?
I’m incapable of truly understanding what it means to leave my home each day and feel less than when:
a teacher skips over me, time and time again, picking other students to answer the questions;
I say I’m a scientist and people look incredulously, responding, “Wow! How did you end up doing that?”;
I get pulled over by a cop for looking like a suspect – as people of color experience over and over again;
being mistaken for the janitor.
It is inconceivable to me that I would ever be questioned for watching birds in a park, like Christian Cooper was by Amy Cooper. I can not imagine having a cop’s knee on my neck for nearly nine minutes. I can’t imagine being George Floyd.
Therein lies the problem, the racism. I will never truly understand what it means to be a person of color in a white world. I can imagine, but I will never really be able to feel it deeply. As a consequence, I will forever struggle with recognizing the pains of racism, and being aware of the privilege that allows me to go out into the world without feeling invalidated by countless daily facial shifts when people look at me, the condescending words. It is when I take for granted my privilege, fail to recognize and do what I can to heal the wounds people of color have reopened everyday, that I allow racism to influence my life.
Although racism is, by definition, having the power to actualize personal bias and bigotry against those of another race, as the police officer who killed George Floyd had, we enable that power by our silence.
Racism is similar to any addiction, in terms of its intractable presence in your life. You didn’t seek it out. It happened to you. But once it becomes part of your mind and body, by upbringing or societal conditioning, it’s always there. It requires constant vigilance to keep at bay. You have to admit you have a problem, recognize its triggers, and work at staying sober. Without doing so, the symptoms of the underlying disease will come back when you least expect it. When you let your guard down; that comment that slips out; that person you don’t invite; that vote you cast; that feeling you have when one of them shows up.
This is what the racist within looks like.
When was the last time you had a person of color at your home for dinner?