Chaparral Wisdom
To celebrate the magic and beauty of Nature & the chaparral
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?
Create a Native Wildflower/Shrubland Ecosystem in Your Yard
Most people love the idea of creating a native wildflower meadow in their yard.
There’s one primary problem, however, that often defeats the process – non-native weeds and grasses.
The criminals? Some registered offenders include bur clover, with those nasty, little coiled balls; Bromus, with its foxtail-like stickers that find their way into your socks and dog’s ears; filaree, with corkscrew seeds that wind through clothing and into the fur of your pets. These invasive species are everywhere because they’ve adapted to soil disturbance and the semi-arid Mediterranean climate that characterizes California.
Clear an area, throw out native plant seeds, wait in anticipation, and before long, the entire area is filled with nasty things that seem to cover the ground over night.
Fortunately, there’s hope. And we think we have found a successful recipe, at least for our corner of the world in northern San Diego County. Patience and perseverance is required.
We have successfully restored about a quarter acre of suburban yardom to a fully functioning native habitat with nesting birds, native bees, harvester ants, and a new surprises discovered weekly. Here’s how we did it.
KEY POINTS
A. DO NOT DISTURB THE SOIL by turning it over, as is the usual agrarian approach to growing things. Keep the soil crust intact. If it’s loose, watering and walking on it a bit will help start the restoration process. You could also use one of those water filled rollers people employ to smooth the ground prior to planting a lawn.
B. DO NOT USE MULCH. Covering the soil with mulch will prevent a healthy soil crust from forming and can facilitate weed growth.
Protecting Nature from Cal Fire
An update on the lawsuit we filed in January against Cal Fire and the California Board of Forestry to stop the clearance of 250,000 acres of habitat per year.
Lawsuit
We have a pre-settlement hearing scheduled with the Board’s attorneys in about two weeks. It’s the first step in the legal process – to attempt to reach an agreement between parties prior to beginning the courtroom drama. At this point it is impossible to predict what will happen, but we remain hopeful as always. We have been joined by four wonderful co-litigants: Endangered Habitats League, Sequoia ForestKeeper, Los Angeles Audubon, and Friends of Harbors, Beaches, and Parks.
One fundamental issue is to get Cal Fire to apply what they acknowledged in the first half of their Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to the action portion of their program. Namely, that chaparral is threatened by too much fire.