Real news, real smiles

The same warped sense of reality—so many times proven wrong—that leads people to establish hierarchies of humankind also clings tightly to its strange belief that humans are the pinnacle of creation. This week’s good news, accordingly, is celebrated both from the perspective of ecological success and as a major win for human rights in the (not-so-) United States.

Many people, both living and ancestral, created and continue to defend laws to protect ecological integrity. Among those are keys like the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act, and the Clean Water Act. Disparate defenders immediately challenged the illegal establishment of an impromptu concentration camp in the wildlands of Florida’s Everglades. The powers-that-be thought a swampy “wasteland” surrounded by dangerous wildlife would heighten fear and deter critics. Shout out to Earthjustice, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Everglades and the Miccosukee Tribe for standing firm on behalf of our greater-than-human kin and the life processes that keep all of us alive.

Tribal Sovereignty matters

The callous disregard for this beloved place mirrored the abuses heaped upon people within the boundaries of this so-called Alligator Alcatraz. The Workers Circle, an organization of Jewish culture for a just world, persevered for month after month to keep these human atrocities within the public eye. They organized regular bus trips with elders in their 80s and 90s, children of Holocaust survivors, faith leaders, union members, and students to let detainees know they hadn’t been forgotten. Human rights activists maintain that the cruelty of the place was entirely the point, but sustained human contact countered that tool. And the resolve of humans to support the humanity of those labeled “other” created a political toxicity that now enters the calculations of would-be power brokers, alongside the financial costs cited for closure.

Woodland Stork

Friends of the Everglades, optimistic at closure reports but not stopping their legal efforts, compiled the evidence of damages at Big Cypress National Preserve. The rare and elusive Florida panthers know this place as home. In areas with musical names like Wakodahatchee Wetlands, visitors can sight up to 360 different bird species. Yes, indeed, this failed experiment for the federal government has yielded plenty of lessons, and for some, a deeper, more positive understanding of the lively entanglement of issues we solve better, together.