[MCN] "I can't breathe" -- if ocean fish could speak- How Lance Olsen got it wrong

[Jeremy Drake]

When I saw that original post, Lance, I felt uneasy about it. This exchange
has given me the opportunity to look deeper into that unease and at what
the words “problematic" and "inappropriate” as used by Annie and Trevor
mean to me in this context.

I believe we are in an extended moment of reckoning where the fight for the
climate and the fight for BIPOC/human rights via BLM are both
manifestations of the battle against colonialism. As someone who considers
myself on the political left, which I assume is likely everyone on this
listserv, I have struggled to unpack my inherited colonialist worldview,
which is so pervasive and dominant particularly in the US, and very much in
the left, as to be a shadow over nearly every aspect of life from social
structures to media to language and all the rest of it.

A while back I used the term "pow wow" in the context of a group meeting. A
friend -- a good friend, as it turns out -- reached out later and helped me
understand that my use of that term was an aspect of my unconscious
colonialist training. White (supremecist) culture has oppressed
indigenous people through many means including co-opting bodies (slavery),
co-opting minds (education, religion), co-opting traditions (Festival of
the Dead), co-opting sacred language (pow wow, and the dying words of
murdered black men). In my experience it is much more insidious, nuanced,
and misunderstood than the obvious display of armed militant counter
protesters.

Recognizing white privilege and the heavy burden of the legacy of whiteness
(as well as other often related destructive paradigms), which is the legacy
of colonialism, is hard work that as a white, straight man I struggle with
and I believe all white people must struggle with if we want any kind of
healing whether it's between people of different races or of the planet
itself.

Lance, I appreciate the awareness you bring to the community through your
dedication to peer-reviewed research on the topic of climate change and
various intersecting themes. I also appreciate the opportunity this thread
has given me to become more clear on my own work around the issue of
decolonization, which I would argue is just as important as
decarbonization. Ultimately, I appreciate the opportunity to more fully
grasp how these issues are not mutually exclusive but are instead
intricately linked.

I believe we need more people who understand this, who are willing to be
accountable and to do the hard and important work of healing
ourselves, each other, and the planet.

So thank you, Lance, for your original post and thanks to the others for
stepping into the opportunity to meaningfully engage.

Jeremy

On Jun 18, 2020, at 8:40 AM, Lance Olsen via Missoula-Community-News <
missoula-community-news at bigskynet.org> wrote:

Hi Trevor

First, for a variety of reasons, I will be sharply reducing the number of
my posts to Missoula Community News

And I get what Annie said, and have no problem with Annie, and understand
why she — and you — are outraged by my post “I can’t breathe” — if ocean
fish could speak

I decided not to get into a debate about it on MCN, but I did tell Annie
that my post came from an old and well-known story about rising ocean heat.

I told her that, as the ocean warms up, fish need more of its oxygen.
Trouble is, as water warms, it loses oxygen.

The result, as a fisheries scientist put it some years ago, is suffocation.

I had that suffocation very much in mind when posting "I can't breathe" --
if ocean fish could speak. It seemed appropriate.

And I assumed it was an *everybody-knows-it* kind of thing

Annie had and has no way to know how much I share her outrage over the
entrenched, systematic racism behind the violence including police murder
of George Floyd and many others of many skin colors. But she can tell you
that I told her my opinion that the fossil fuel industry has its knees on
all our necks

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