Oppression is Bad for the Environment
Nothing is settled with colonialism
You can feel the ground shake
Organisms need freedom of choice
To grow facing the sun
To know that if my roots are lacking nutrients, that your tree will send some to me because we are a stronger forest when we are healthy
Some people are nomadic and currently lack the ability to move across lands, to chase a warm wind, to follow the seeds of an apple tree
I also want to be where the land is best for me
Some birds are migratory and need to move where the sunlight is long, where the insects are plentiful where they can nest with less fear
Like birds, some people choose to stay
To know a place, to name a place
To stay alongside the same redwood, baobob, white oak, olive tree
To receive shade from the same banana leaves
To fight for their right to live and die on a land that knew their great grandparents hands
Before seeds were altered
And cash crops dictated want you could grow
Before organic needed to be
Before the quick introduction of multiple species
The way indigenous and local land knowledge was minimized, criminalized, and cast aside
Before pesticides would coat a strawberry patch
If fies die, what do flycatchers catch?
How does all this death impact what we consume?
There is nothing sustainable about imperialism, about capitalism
There is nothing sustainability about force labor
About the human cost of extracting cobalt from the land
About the blatant disregard of life
The starvation of populations
People are not collateral damage when you are intentionally murdering them
Birds decide when to fly and when to roost
At times all we need is a way to leave
To find a place of abundance
Other times we need to means to stay
To build a home and a community
With people who don’t debate your humanity
If I have to explain to you why my life is precious, you are already at a deficit
I shouldn’t have to prove that bombs are bad for the environment for you to care
Biological warfare is killing everything, everywhere
There is a greed overload not a food shortage
So let the beatles, butterflies, bees pollinate the trees
And fill the arbor lined streets with fruits and veggies
So both us and Cedar Waxwings can eat fresh berries
Like the Red-Tailed Hawk, a sturdy home is a must
Like the House Finch, may we strive wherever you've placed me us
Poem by Indigo Goodson-Fields