Listening-to-the-Land

Perhaps you’ve heard of the false promise of Bright Green Technology? If you couple that with a strong dose of human-centrism, you might have something like Ecomodernism. That’s not a good thing. Deep Green Resistance co-founder Derrick Jensen explains. Remade by man: the Passenger Pigeon. Juvenile (left), male (center), and female (right), from ‘Birds of New York’ (University of the State of New York) 1910-1914. Illustration by Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1874-1927), Public Domain via Patrick Coin on Flickr. ...

What follows is an essay from a Deep Green Resistance member. Perhaps this Open Letter serves as an epitaph for the Castle Rock Prairie Dog community, as well as a call to act. We welcome all those who would stand up in defense of the living. Open Letter From an Exile: I wore this shirt, long-sleeved, multi-patterned, funky, well tailored hand-me-down for almost every day I worked on the prairie dog relocation at the “Promenade” site in Castle Rock Colorado. ...

“Bears are made of the same dust as we, and breathe the same winds and drink of the same waters. A bear’s days are warmed by the same sun, a bear’s dwellings are overdomed by the same blue sky, and a bear’s life turns and ebbs with heart-pulsings like ours and was poured from the same fountain.” —John Muir “Those who like to kill bears for fun claim that male bears kill cubs. It has been known to happen, but is very rare. Fact is that male bears rarely harm cubs. Why? Because they are not interested.” —The Bear With Us Sanctuary and Rehabilitation Centre for Bears, Ontario, Canada ...

It’s easy to disparage or destroy people, animals, plants or things when we know little about them. It’s a psychological thing. This phenomenon underlies lots of the more unpleasant activities in our world, like how we treat people who are ‘different’ than us, how we wage war on the living world in general, and the strategy many use in dealing with radicals; if we Demonize and Marginalize them, it’s easier to disparage and dismiss them, and to disrupt or destroy them. For example, we see this in how ranchers refer to Prairie Dogs as ‘pests’ - when Dogs are labelled as such, it’s easier to gas them, you know? After all, they destroy all that good ranch land, and dig holes that cattle and horses break their legs in, right? Right? ...

by Deanna Meyer Last spring as the grasses started greening up and springing across the landscape, I joyfully drove through one of the most magnificent prairie dog colonies left along Colorado’s Front Range. Almost two hundred acres were packed full of the cozy little families all basking in the sun, rolling on the burrows, kissing and playing. The happiness that coursed through me knowing that these beautiful creatures were alive, fat and happy ended abruptly with a knotted stomach when I knew they wouldn’t be here much longer. Every colony of prairie dogs, existing today in the small pockets of remaining prairies, is in danger. Every. Single. One. And why? Because of growth. Metastatic growth of our towns and profit lines. Because of the ranchers’ ability to dominate the land with livestock grazing. Because of the deep underlying ignorance of a population that has been fed so many myths that they have forgotten the truth hidden in reality while a false world of predation continually destroys the living systems that matter most to the continued cycle of life. ...

Readers of this site understand how precious our wildlife is, and how hard some of us are fighting to preserve the living world. Deep Green Resistance’s good friends at Wildlands Defense are fighting the good fight, but need your help to succeed. Check out the link below, and help as you can. Fund Wildlands Defense Wildlands Defense has worked tirelessly on the campaign to save the Castle Rock prairie dogs. We have made tremendous strides in effectuating long lasting changes in prairie dog policies. A safe and beautiful relocation site has been secured for the rescued prairie dogs and the hundreds more that still remain on the site. Our grassroots effort has suceeded in putting a referendum up for the citizens of Castle Rock that enables them to help decide on whether or not a 177 million dollar mall should be constructed. All of these sucesses have broke ground and opened up a path for effective policies that will ensure the survival of this keystone species. ...

Readers who have frequented this site no doubt have heard of the massacre of prairie dogs resulting from developers who want to build the Promenade Mall in Castle Rock. Deep Green Resistance is happy to publish a deeper background story on the massacre by freelance journalist Suzanne Grover. The Maul at Castle Rock by Suzanne Grover Empathy is not reserved for the odd few, it is a characteristic of the mighty, the wise, and the meek who shall inherit the Earth. ...

The Castle Rock Killing Field, aka “The Nation’s Biggest Mall”, continues to take deadly form on Colorado’s Front Range. Concerned individuals called the town last year to inquire about the construction they heard might take place at the expense of this colony, only to be told no work would begin until 2016. See the Prairie Dog colony? We don’t either, anymore. That, of course, was a convenient lie. In November 2014 a local newspaper ran a story describing the upcoming destruction: “Castle Rock is Getting One of the Nations Biggest Malls.” Surprise - the carpet was pulled out from under the activists. Alberta Development LLC continues with its plans for the construction of the mall and the annihilation of this prairie dog colony. ...

Sunday, several concerned activists visited the site of the proposed “Largest Mall in America”, also known as the planned killing field of thousands of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs and the destruction of their habitat. While we surveyed the site of further carnage, a friend dropped by. Prairie dogs give me life. They feed you too; you just don’t know it. ...

The ‘Nation’s Biggest Mall’, planned for Douglas County, Colorado, would kill one of the largest prairie dog colonies on Colorado’s Front Range. Currently, Alberta Development LLC is in charge of the construction and annihilation of this prairie dog colony, which is critical to the plains’ biodiversity and long-range health. Alberta Development is planning on eradicating 40 acres of the prairie dogs on or around the second week of February. We may not be able to halt construction, but we can at least relocate as many of the prairie dogs as possible. We need to find willing landowners to take on 100 acres of prairie dogs. ...