May 5, 2015 | Essays, Mauna Kea
When people have asked me why I am going to Hawai’i to help protect Mauna Kea and my answer involves words like “sacredness” or “spiritual,” I am surprised whenever I see the grimaces. I often get an explanation like this, “I support indigenous people, of...
Apr 29, 2015 | Essays, Mauna Kea
In the first essay of my Protecting Mauna Kea series, I made a mistake. I wrongfully described the ongoing, illegal American occupation of Hawai’i as an “annexation.” Hawaiian friends of mine pointed this out to me and gave me a thorough history lesson. I was referred...
Apr 23, 2015 | Essays, Mauna Kea
I am preparing to leave for Hawai’i to offer myself in support of resistance to the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project that would place a large telescope and stadium-sized structure on the peak of native Hawaiians’ most sacred place – Mauna Kea. The project,...
Jan 22, 2015 | Essays, Unist'ot'en Camp
Friends and family tell me I too often focus on the negative. My doctors and therapists have told me me this, too. Diagnosed as I am with severe depression and surviving two suicide attempts, I used to believe them. Part of my recovery involved completing a cognitive...
Jan 17, 2015 | Essays, Unist'ot'en Camp
The snowstorm arrived at Unist’ot’en Camp a day before we did dropping over a foot of snow and stillness on the territory. The clouds cleared the second night we were there opening the skies to the silent music played by the twinkling of countless stars. While most of...
Oct 31, 2014 | Analysis, Essays
I recently attended another sustainability conference at a local university. The experts sat in a half-circle facing their audience in rank-and-file foldable chairs. I, like most of the audience, hoped to hear a brilliant solution to the ongoing destruction of the...