Thoughts from Ash Meadows

Things can be repaired if enough people care. Damage can be undone. Lessons can be learned. Evolution continues, but extinction is forever.

The volunteer efforts here at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge are formidable. The visitor center is outstandingly beautiful and functional, the displays top-notch, the small gift-shop stocked with educational books, toys, games and souvenirs for all ages. We really enjoyed the strong presence of the Southern Paiute and TImbisha Shoshone people's art and worldviews in the interpretive displays. This place was here and enjoyed harmoniously for centuries by humans long before invaders and colonizers of different values disrupted the balance. 

But now the descendants of all those humans are working together to rehabilitate and restore what was broken. All colors and kinds of people removing invasive species (crawfish, bullfrogs, salt cedar), stewarding endemic natives (pupfish, flowers, insects), educating the public, interpreting the significance so we can understand why it matters.....

.....and yet, there are still people who want to do whatever it takes to make more money for them and theirs, fish and bugs be damned, and rivers dammed and righteously use the land! Conquer! Dominion! The Bible says the Earth is ours and believers will be Raptured up to a new Earth anyway so it's ok if we use this one up, because if you're not saved, you're a damn heathen and going to burn up too, so why cares about endangered fish? 

(Creator: You won't take care of each other or this planet, why should I let you have another? Feed the poor, Jeff. Feed the poor, Elon. Feed the poor, Richard. Then we'll talk about Mars.) 

That same Bible also says in many places it's gonna be damn near impossible for materially wealthy people to get in to that New World. So there's that. How to decide? People hear most clearly the ideas that they already agree with. Short term gains usually win. Comfort and joy, over restraint and wisdom. 

(Disclaimer: Not all Christians. I know this. But that popular, distinctively USA-flavored mega/MAGA-Christianity; by their fruits, you shall know them. Yes. Some people still follow the actual meaning and message of Jesus. Simplicity, healing, love, humility, charity, goodwill. But, not all Christians.)

The Dakota/Lakota People of the Plains call white people "wasichu"; fat-eaters, ones who take the best for themselves, greedy ones. The word didn't start that way, apparently, but developed from a word for a foreigner with special powers to ....something less flattering.

I am white, but I can strive to not be so wasichu. Learn from the land and the People who were there first, the Humans and the Rocks and Fish and Birds.  Because we ARE still wasichu - taking too much. Looking outside i see our big-ass Chevy Silverado truck.  I could wallow in guilt. I could buy an electric car, a bicycle, quit driving altogether. I could refuse to step foot into any powered vehicle. I could draw any sort of line in the internal sand and defend it mightily, including my right as a 'Murican to drive a big truck dammit, midcentury moderns KNOW that cars and the Interstate are from the Age of Greatness! We want to go there, and we want to go fast. In comfort.

Right now - i am wasichu; an American living on $10K a year, STILL in the global top 10%. No way around it. Rich human. Fat. 

The Timbisha Shoshone and Southern Paiute were very materially poor Nations, living in a harsh environment, moving with the seasons and the water. But they lived here thousands of years in balance with all the other life forms. It did not occur to them to think they owned it. They were part of it. Different cultural view. Richness is belonging.

Infant Nation USA is hurtling towards economic and climate disaster because of the enduring national wasichu mindset. But again; things can be repaired if enough people care. Damage can be undone. Lessons can be learned. And vividly, with tiny fish and so much more, Ash Meadows NWR is about that. 

 Sit with that for awhile.