Paax

Anyone who tells you that "indigenous" ways of life are somehow better or nobler or more sustainable is just outing themselves as bigoted against the very people they claim to be advocating for. There was a significant amount of environmental degradation in pre-Columbian North America, including desertification, loss of habitats, and many megafauna that went extinct due to human intervention. It's not anyone's fault though, no one knew any better before the science of ecology developed in the 20th century.

But the idea that pre-agricultural or pre-industrial societies were more morally pure who "only take what they need from the land" persists among people who apparently do wish it were true, so they could put native people on some sort of pedestal that would make their victimization and mistreatment more tragic, but it has no basis whatsoever in reality.

idk there are definitely indigenous activists with specific and achievable goals related to "land back" but I guess you could call anything complicated and abstract "dead-end"

That second paragraph is like...mostly just horrifyingly wrong? If no one "knew any better" about ecology before the 20th century, uh. How do you think that humans survive in any environment for 200+ years? Luck?

Ecology is just, outside. Go out there and look at it. It's got fuck all to do with moral purity and everything to do with survival. I mean seriously—the "science" of ecology is woven into the cultural fabric that ensures survival in pre-industrial societies. It's not perfect, and humans had a significant impact on post-ice age extinctions, but generally people who are dependent on the natural resources immediately around them either learn to manage them sustainably, or they don't last long. We're plummeting toward option 2 right now.

Colonizers' destruction of natural environments was not because of plain scientific ignorance about how nature ~works~ (though that was present too, since they were invaders in a land they knew nothing about), it was because of a mad rush to exploit land of resources, intentional attempts at genocide, and ideological crap about "taming" nature and making everywhere Just Like Europe because Europe Is The Best, Obviously. I KNOW there's nuance here, but it isn't true that no one Knew Any Better. They knew, the colonizers just didn't care.

This last photo of mourning is on my own reservation.

These churches have absolutely no right to say anything. Their hands are dirty!

One does not have to be Gay to be Two Spirit.

Transsexual is not an interchangeable term with Two Spirit.

Two Spirit means one embodies both male and female whereas Transexual means "transitioning" (a sex has been chosen.)

Two Spirit is a Tribal Role.

Two Spirit is not the colonized version of "LGBTQ."

Being a Two Spirit is hard work. It's ceremony, knowledge, education of others, tradition.

Substantial amounts of knowledge have been lost due to colonization and the intended destruction of the knowledge keepers.

This is not to be romanticized, idealized, or fantasized.

Each tribe has a different name for what here is called "Two Spirit."

Two Spirit is not a Gender.

Two Spirit is not a Sexual Orientation.

You should approach Hindu and Buddhist divine beings with respect and with consideration for their cultures, histories, and native worshippers. You should not appropriate them out of their religious contexts and use them as however you see fit. But this applies to every religion.

It doesn't necessarily mean no one can practice it. Some religions simply require education and initiation.

Why is it that so many get upset when any religion that belongs to poc is closed?

You're aware that Catholicism is a closed religion right? I don't see anyone pitching a fit about that one.

So indigenous people or people of color won't share their religion with you?

Generally that's due to the fact the people who practiced them were persecuted, the practices made illegal, the people demonized as criminals or "less than."

That's not gatekeeping.

Obviously one can go sit in a church pew, pray to Mary, doesn't make them Catholic.

One can make a sweat lodge, go in and sweat, burn sweet grass and sage, doesn't make them Indigenous.

One can do yoga, read the Bhagavad Gita, and meditate, it doesn't make them Hindu.

In India in some places one must have the proper paperwork proving they are Hindu before being allowed in the temple. In some places one is allowed in to pray and meditate but this still does not mean one is Hindu.

To belong to a particular religion one needs to affirm certain beliefs, follow certain rituals, be initiated, and so on. For example, in Judaism and Islam, a male has to go through circumcision, in Christianity one has to be baptised, in Sikhism one needs to grow his hair.

A German who studied in India for many years, once approached his guru, and said ”People say that I am not a Hindu! Why would they say so?” “Because you are not!” replied his teacher, “Now get back to your meditation, and quit thinking about this nonsense.”

Glitter IS like herpes. It is very harmful to the environment we live in. It never goes away. Plastic has become an infestation even within the body's of newborn babes.

Cancer, birth defects, repro- ductive and developmental disorders, low sperm count, undescended testes, premature puberty, and liver dysfunction to name a few issues to human bodies due to microplastics.

Microplastics have been found in 80% of humans tested. In blood, umbilical cords, lung tissue (microplastics are now in the air.)

And plastic production is set to double by 2040.