DeepSummary
The transcript discusses the limitations and critiques of the western concepts of conservation and biodiversity from an anti-oppression lens. Audra Mitchell argues that these concepts are rooted in colonialism, capitalism, and systems of oppression, aiming to homogenize and commodify difference rather than truly protect ecosystems. She proposes bioplurality as an alternative, recognizing the inseparability and co-constitution of difference within ecosystems.
Mitchell highlights how conservation efforts are often militarized, policing indigenous peoples' access to lands they have co-created, and how biodiversity discourse enables violence through practices like biodiversity banking and offsetting destruction in one area by preservation in another. She criticizes the 'half-earth' proposal to annex half the planet for conservation as a continuation of colonial land grabs.
Mitchell also discusses narratives around 'human extinction,' warning that they center a narrow, privileged notion of humanity and enable extreme measures like mass land annexation in the name of protecting this specific vision of humanity. Instead, she calls for an ethics of unconditional love - fighting violence to allow ecosystems to become what they will, without demanding conformity to oppressive norms.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Mainstream Western concepts of conservation and biodiversity are rooted in colonialism, capitalism and systems of oppression that aim to commodify and control difference.
- Practices like biodiversity offsetting, protected area policing, and proposals to annex half the planet for conservation enable ongoing violence and erasure of pluralistic ways of relating to ecosystems.
- The notion of 'human extinction' centers a narrow, privileged notion of humanity and enables extreme measures to 'protect' this vision at any cost to marginalized peoples and lifeways.
- Instead of such homogenizing approaches, we should embrace an ethics of 'bioplurality' and unconditional love - fighting violence to allow ecosystems to transform and become what they will, without conforming to oppressive norms.
- Critiques of oppressive structures within conservation must be paired with nurturing pluralistic community practices of ecosystem co-creation and care.
- Anti-oppression, disability justice, and indigenous wisdom offer vital perspectives to reimagine conservation beyond its colonial-capitalist lineages.
- While we cannot claim purity outside these dominant systems, we can open spaces for radical difference by protecting the plural becoming of life on this planet, not enforcing stasis.
- Cultivating skills for ethical coexistence and earth stewardship is crucial, not imposing rigid future visions or scenarios.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “To want to solidify things into nouns or into objects that can be, as I said, be made into commodities or made fungible or exploited in various ways.“ by Audra Mitchell
- “Everything that I'm doing is certainly I'm coming from this system of being a beneficiary of white supremacy, a beneficiary of settler colonialism. So I certainly can't claim any exemption from this.“ by Audra Mitchell
- “It's worth it to fight for a future, even if it doesn't include you, whoever the subject is. And I think that's the approach that has really come to me through all of this, is that it's worth it to fight for the survival of Earth's ecosystems, of Earth's beings, and to essentially love unconditionally what comes.“ by Audra Mitchell
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Episode Information
Green Dreamer: Seeding change towards collective healing, sustainability, regeneration
Kamea Chayne
2/23/24
What does it mean to recognize the limitations of “biodiversity” as a gauge of planetary wellbeing? How do we make sense of the heads of big corporations like Shell being major patrons of the largest conservation organizations? And how might a politics of disability justice shape diverse futures beyond an exclusive framework of Western-Scientific conservation?
In this episode, we converse with scholar and anti-oppression activist Audra Mitchell on how intersecting forms of systemic violence work to extract, eliminate, and conceal cultural and ecological plurality—and how the survival, preservation, and organization of oppressed and marginalized communities alone resist such violence.
Extended episode: patreon.com/greendreamer