LAND BACK 🦬

main is @gaylienz | Oglala Lakota and of Irish descent| IndigeQueer. 1996. (they/them). celebrating my culture, getting angry about wasicu | a scholar of sociology, environmentalism and queer studies. No TERFs.

[olowan-waphiya]

🦬🦬🦬🦬LAND BACK🦬🦬🦬🦬

Main Blog- @gaylienz

Sister Blog- @wachinyeya

Good News • Community on Tumblr

156 members, 324 posts about #nature #climate hope #environmental justice • A place for hope; good news especially about the environment.

[jareckiworld]

aint on canvas, 1995]

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (1932–2002) — Women Walking to Mt Allan [synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 1995]

[valcaine]

had to draw a flying head, since DHS is trying to straight up disregard The Jay Treaty on my reserve and everywhere else for some reason

(for anyone that bothers):

The flying head is a beast of Haundenosaunee folklore, among other tribes around New York, as described, it is a malevolent and monstrous head that is known to fly and possess large claws to pick off people and tear through victims. Described as larger than the tallest man, unkempt long hair that trailed where it went, and long black wings. All while being able to breathe fire.

[what-even-is-thiss]

The amount of slavery in Ancient Rome was legitimately terrifying tbh

[what-even-is-thiss]

Y’all know that I’m into ancient Roman history and I do a lot of research on it but even though I should be used to it by now sometimes I read an anecdote about how an individual slave was treated and I’m hit with the realization that like a third of the population was living like that and I just need to put my head in my hands for a second

[what-even-is-thiss]

Emperor Hadrian randomly stabbed a slave in the eye in a fit of rage and he was supposedly unusually sympathetic to slaves.

There’s other instances of people randomly punching slaves that they didn’t even know because they got in their way or something. This was just normal behavior.

And slaves didn’t rebel en masse because if even one slave committed an act of violent rebellion it was common practice to kill every slave and former slave in the household.

People only took notice for posterity when these mass executions got into the hundreds of people. One of the few recorded for the history books is of over 400 people being killed because one guy stabbed his enslaver.

Like how many people throughout history were beaten to death because some rich asshole was angry and there was no legal or social consequences for doing so? We don’t know.

[what-even-is-thiss]

When you study ancient history you’re reminded that slavery has never once been kind or justified. It just takes on different forms of evil in every time and place that it infects.

[vet-and-wild]

you know the obsession with keeping cats indoors is a purely American view of the world? Most Europeans let their cats outdoors without any problems. Many Europeans even think it's cruel to keep them indoors all the time

No, it’s not. European cats aren’t magically smarter and less environmentally impactful than American cats, it’s just more socially acceptable to let them roam. Do you not have cars in Europe? Foxes? Raptors? Stray dogs? Rat poison? Parasites? Diseases? What about the Croydon Cat Killer in England, where the dismemberment of over 400 cats was being investigated, and it turned out that foxes were mutilating the bodies of cats that were killed by cars? Suddenly it’s all ok because it was only horrific death via automobile, instead of decapitation like they suspected? Totally acceptable to outdoor cat owners, who cares if your cat gets hit by a car and dies on the side of the road? There is real concern for the hybridization of wildcats in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but sure, it’s just a US problem. How about how outdoor cats are effectively reducing the protective area of a national park in Poland? How about the increased incidence of lungworms and GI parasites in European free roaming cats? How about this small study from Denmark where 90% of free roaming cats tested positive for GI parasites on necropsy (and the risk was higher in rural areas). Not Europe, but for the sake of completeness, free roaming cats kill ~377 MILLION birds per year in Australia, and 61 million of those kills are thought to be from owned cats. You can also talk to @drferox about how problematic outdoor cats are in Australia. Free roaming cats are bad for the environment, and are put in unnecessary danger. Why don’t you provide enrichment for your cat instead of letting them run around unsupervised where they will kill native wildlife and get sick or injured or die (or all of the above). Other resources from @catsindoors about the impact of domestic cats around the world. Snagged a lot of these links from their blog.

[prettyprettypretty-good-deactiv]

Humans would also be safer and the environment protected if we all just stayed indoors. No passing of parasites, bacteria, or viruses. No harm to other species. No cross breeding either (if that bothers you). Do you want to stay indoors?

[vet-and-wild]

I generally try to ignore responses like this, but I want to address this because I see this ridiculous argument a lot.

The reason that this comparison is inaccurate is because humans have the ability to use reason and make logical choices, but cats don’t. Humans see a car coming and wait until the street is clear to cross. Cats don’t. Humans know not to eat strange food on the ground. Cats don’t. Humans can look up which plants are toxic and avoid them. Cats can’t. Humans don’t eat raw rabbits and rodents that may carry disease. Cats do. Humans who hunt follow laws that prevent them from killing endangered species (besides shitty poachers). Cats don’t.

A far more accurate comparison would be a cat and a toddler. They lack the ability to recognize danger and don’t have the ability to reason that an adult does. I’m sure a toddler would have a great time roaming around the neighborhood, but no one is going to argue in favor of that. People can understand that doing that is irresponsible and dangerous. But no sane person is going to lock their toddler inside and provide them with nothing to do; no one is saying we should do that for cats either. Play with them. Provide cat trees. Rotate their toys. Give them puzzle feeders. And if you want them to go outside you can leash train them. Or build a catio. The options aren’t let them roam vs. never provide them with entertainment. If it is unbearable to entertain and care for a cat that is kept indoors, you probably shouldn’t own a cat.

Would you let your dog roam? Or your bird? How about your rabbit? I’m sure all of these animals would have a great time running (or flying) around the neighborhood, but we generally recognize that this is a bad idea. It’s no different for cats. We are caretakers for our animals, so it is up to us to use our big brains to make logical choices about what they should or shouldn’t do. We have the ability to understand the risks associated with free roaming. Cats don’t. We can weigh risks and benefits before making a decision. Cats can’t.

tldr: Humans have the ability to make logical decisions to keep themselves safe but cats do not.

[scienceshenanigans]

Outdoor cats are also more or less an invasive species. They are such good hunters, they are capable of permanently changing an ecosystem by killing native prey animals. 

Protect your kitty and local biodiversity–keep them inside!

[r33naytealeaves]

I just wanted to tack on that, there is no “more or less”, cats are an invasive species. Domesticated animals are invasive species and allowing them to interact with the local environment without monitoring will harm the local biodiversity. Cats especially. Domestic cats have a very high success rate for hunting. Historically, they have lead to multiple extinctions of animals because people brought cats along as pest control and pets.

[roseate-felidae]

I’m very pro indoor only cat. But sadly, this is not common in the UK, most people free roam their cats despite the dangers.

I’ve seen two cats who were roadkill, multiple poisoned rats that make easy prey, gardens full of poisonous (to cats) plants, and a cat at the vet who survived his arm being mauled by a fox through a catio. Yet people still do it. I’m in a small village, no idea how much worse in a bigger place it would be.

It is entirely cultural. Sadly, it also means people don’t tend to play with their pets and let them free roam as their only enrichment. So they baulk at how “bored” a cat would be indoors. Forgetting it’s not just kittens who need playtime. You are seen as a “weirdo” for harness/lead training a cat here, which I don’t agree with obviously.

Most rescues will not let you adopt a cat if you do not let it be indoor-outdoor. They will even check up on your garden to see it’s safety (like a cat can’t jump a fence lol). Charities do this, too.

I still keep my cat indoors only. My step mum thought I was being cruel until I explained to her the dangers of a cat outside.

I wish attitudes would change here. Please keep your cat indoors!

[robotslenderman]

It’s not even a fucking Yank thing. Here in Australia we do have people with outdoor cats, but most people see them as irresponsible wankers. People actively letting their cats outside are shrinking to the point that I saw an anti-missing poster outside of my doctor’s surgery one day telling people to stop calling them when their cat is outside, meaning that there’s now a lot of people who see an outdoor cat and assume it’s lost by default instead of the other way around.

Across the pond in New Zealand ONE SINGLE CAT drove an entire species to extinction. There are still arseholes over there but they’re generally even stricter than we are here in Oz.

Also it’s fucking weird that people say it’s understandable that we do it because of our ecosystem. Do Europeans not have ecosystems? Or are you just subscribing to the colonialist idea that your ecosystem is a boring default and only “exotic” ecosystems should be preserved?

[is-the-fox-video-cute]

Imagine being so braindead that you think the UK being one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world is a good thing 🤡

[the-perfect-wagnerite-again]

wtf are you talking about, they didn't "deplete" the nature of their country, they cultivated their wilderness over centuries into some of the most idyllic pastoral landscapes in the entire world. And they did such a good job of it that the phrase "English countryside" is now synonymous with beauty and serenity and peacefulness. They didn't destroy their country's nature, they became its caretaker, they're right to be proud of it. All you're doing is pretending that the only kind of nature that should count is whatever is completely untouched by human hands.

[is-the-fox-video-cute]

The UK is literally ranked in the bottom 10% of most nature-depleted countries in the world. The 2023 State of Nature report shows just how dire the situation is. A third of UK bird species have declined since the 1990s, 97% of the UK's wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s, raw sewage is constantly being pumped into our rivers and seas with agricultural slurry also causing massive damage to rivers, three quarters of Britain's hedgehogs have been lost in the past 20 years and UK butterfly numbers are at their lowest ever, a sign of impending ecosystem collapse. Plus people in Britain are the most disconnected from nature in Europe.

Not to mention over populated deer destroying what little is left due to a lack of predators, 60 million non-native birds released for sport shooting every year, plus huge amounts of wildlife crime, including large numbers of birds of prey being shot/poisoned.

There is nothing beautiful about a sterile, ecologically damaged landscape that contains nothing but sheep and deer. Don't comment on something you clearly know nothing about. I live in England. I can see first hand just how dire the situation is.

[decepticonsensual]

Yup - the depletion of the UK's biodiversity is a real problem! And not just for plants and animals. Those forests and swamps and moorlands that the Sam Bidwell tweets are so dismissive of? Turns out, they aren't just important habitats for wildlife - wild ecosystems like that are crucial for everything from cleaning the air/water/soil, to anchoring soil to stop it eroding away, to absorbing floodwater and acting as storm breaks, to soaking up carbon from the atmosphere.

I also bristle at the tone of the tweets - that sort of, "Ooooh, yes, 'taming' our wilderness was something everyone in England came together to accomplish," when the story of biodiversity loss in the UK contains, um. Kind of a lot. Of exploitation of most people by small, powerful groups of people. Whether it's aristocrats fencing off their own private hunting reserves and stuffing them with whatever prey they wanted (including non-native species as mentioned above), or corporations spewing out pollution with too few controls.

On the bright side, there is awesome work being done on rewilding in Britain. So. Y'know. Quite a few experts also see the problem! And there have been some cool successes! Red kites were reintroduced in the 90s and are flourishing today - the UK now has 7% of the red kites in the world. Hazel dormice are being reintroduced to British woodlands to try and make sure they don't go extinct. Beavers DID go extinct in the UK, and almost across Europe - now they've been brought back and are being protected. Wild oyster reefs are being built, which is not only good for wild oysters, but for the ocean overall: they help strip pollutants out of the water and oyster beds provide a safe place for fish to spawn. Is it still an urgent situation? Definitely, but there's also a lot to hope for.

[olowan-waphiya]

one of the reasons settlers left the UK to colonize other parts of the world was due to them utterly destroying it and making it unlivable and miserable to exist in. when people came to Turtle Island the were aghast and amazed at how beautiful everything was that they believed it was given to them by God, that God must have made it because it was too much like the garden of Eden. Never mind that just like they had spent centuries destroying their land Indigenous people had spent several millennia stewarding theirs.

[olowan-waphiya]

All bodies of water in England polluted with toxic chemicals, official data shows

Environment Agency assessments find just 14.3% of country’s surface waters in good ecological status

[assignedmale]

[fragrantblossoms]

Ella Maillart.  Nomade kirghize, Ouzbékistan, URSS, 1932.  

[sweatermuppet]

closing statement from an article about being intersex & the possible connection of gender expression and sexuality in intersex individuals, published in The Gay Liberator, 1970s

[tiredyke]

[ID: a picture of an article that says, “Hopefully gay liberation will continue to raise confusing issues until the world at large becomes so confused and befuddled about sex and gender and all that people can finally stop worrying if "it's a boy or a girl" and get around to being free to be and to love people.” /end ID]

[greenapplegirl90]

Autumn Hill Speaks from Jail After Being Sentenced to 50 Years and Labeled an ‘Antifa Terrorist’ by the White House [WATCH]

In her first video interview from Johnson County Jail, Hill says she is a “political prisoner” who has been unjustly locked up by the Trump

[eastern-bloc-party]

“My basic assumption was, you know, the judge had obviously made his mind up about our guilt before the trial even began, and so it didn’t take me by surprise at all when I actually was sentenced to 50 years in the Bureau of Prisons. I knew, like, this is about making an example, this is about creating a narrative that, you know, anyone who resists the Trump administration’s agenda of mass deportation, is going to be made an example of, is gonna be treated this way, that if you stand up, if you speak out, we will bury you. I knew that that was what this was about the entire time that we were going to trial, and it was why I said from the very beginning, “I’m not gonna plea to anything.” You know, like they offered us plea deals, you know, we could have signed to 15 years for material support for terrorism. And I took the risk that I took of, you know, going to trial because I was like, I’m not going to create evidence of this non-existent terrorist conspiracy. That goes against everything I believe in.” — Autumn Hill

[headspace-hotel]

Seems legit

[headspace-hotel]

we all hear about kudzu being introduced as "erosion control" in the South but I don't think contemporary people understand on a gut level what that means

these are images from a 1930s pamphlet that endorsed kudzu, entitled "stop gullies: save your farm"

It was Bad.

[headspace-hotel]

Invasive plants need to be understood as part of a much larger cycle of incredible violence against the land.

[peat-moss-and-starlight]

For context: erosion on that scale occurred as a result of our clear-cutting entire states. The land east of the Mississippi used to be covered in old-growth forest to an extent that we literally can’t imagine anymore, because most of us have never seen a forest over 100 years old. It turns out if you remove all vegetation from a landscape, you end up with a bunch of loose soil ready to move downstream. A fast-growing plant that covers everything in dense vegetation sounds like salvation when you’re surrounded by 40-foot deep gullies that get wider with every rainstorm.

[epicyurian]

A lot of the south too was covered in Canebreaks, basically bamboo forests like a lot of South Asia, I don't know the specifics of the ecology, but bamboo being a grass I assume is rhizomatic like other grasses and forms a big net of roots that prevent erosion. *I assume* (pleez ecologists weigh in)

[headspace-hotel]

Yes, the destruction of Canebrakes was a direct cause of this erosion we see here. Canebrakes were destroyed, using slave labor, to make room for cotton plantations. You can read about it here.

Canebrakes built up incredibly rich, fertile soil and are amazing at preventing erosion. They form incredibly strong mats of rhizomes. And their roots are known to go 10 feet deep into the soil.

The erosion we see in these pictures was a result, very much directly, of the Canebrakes being destroyed.

[headspace-hotel]

This is a case study in how violence against ecosystems goes so closely hand in hand with violence against people. The violence against the indigenous caretakers of the land, and the violence against the enslaved captives that were forced to clear the Rivercane and work the cotton fields that would degrade the soil into nothing.

[angel-oneiros]

Alexandre Hogue, Crucified Land, 1939

[headspace-hotel]

This painting was added in another reblog chain, it's good to have it on this thread

[olowan-waphiya]

got my flu shot—this is your reminder to check and see if your local pharmacy has the flu shot available so you can get yours too

[smsomah]

Ariene Jane Yazzie, Navajo. Scanned from the book Ray Manley's Portraits & Turquoise of Southwest Indians; 1975

[olowan-waphiya]

i believe that one day (if it doesnt already exist) there will be AI addiction groups and counseling

[fuckyeahanarchistposters]

"Cisgender Paranoia endangers all people"

Graphic by Sweater Muppets

[knownqueerbaiter]

idk who needs to hear this but it’s healthier for you to just accept that you’re gonna be kinda fat than it is to live the rest of your life miserably trying to monitor yourself to maintain a skinny weight your body doesn’t want to hold onto

[knownqueerbaiter]

“nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” what feels even better is living a life where your self-worth isn’t entirely dependent on your thinness and you don’t constantly monitor and shame yourself. attaching the tweet that was worth at least five hours of therapy for me

[smsomah]

Loloma jewelry. Cindy Torrez Cassaro, Hopi, models the master's designs. Scanned from the magazine Arizona Highways; April 1979