Behind the term Black Butterfly: Two Baltimores: The White L vs. the Black Butterfly

The main argument of the video is that they are human beings who should be allowed to exist in their own right, outside of the mythologies propagated by polluting corporations and western countercultural movements. It is possible to deconstruct dehumanizing stereotypes while celebrating and advocating for the adoption of traditional ecological practices, but promoting these practices while conceptualizing indigenous people as supernatural fauna is big yuck.

The latter half of the video discusses how they were forced into the market economy to survive, how murderous westward expansion destroyed their cultures, with a major conclusion being:

The United States government is the most ecologically catastrophic force on planet Earth since the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

I live in a city, but I’ll share some programs that/organizers who may provide some inspiration:

BMORE Beautiful - provides trash picking kits and helps residents organize cleanups in their neighborhood. They were incredibly friendly, so might be worth reaching out on how to build a similar program in your area

Weed Warriors - trains participants to recognize and remove common invasive plants, provides training for participants on how to organize efforts in their communities

Community gardening - this video is from an animal liberation podcast, but the guest’s opening story of being completely ignorant about gardening but doing it anyway is inspiring. The remainder is about their work on food justice and grassroots organizing

Compost collective - this is the podcast of the guest in the previous video. They interview the founder of Baltimore Compost Collective who works with youth in the city

Guerrilla gardening - this is a classic TED Talk. The speaker discusses growing food in a public space and how they successfully fought their city to keep their garden. They also talk about their volunteer gardening group, planting food gardens at homeless shelters

Maryland Food & Abolition Project - may no longer be active, but an interesting idea nonetheless. Their mission was (is?) to partner community gardens with prisons to provide fresh produce

Echoing @poVoq, don’t discount seniors! I used to be a case manager for the elderly and many are more interested than people give them credit for.

Did you know they’re edible? I found out from this video last week, but it seems like a lot of work.

Awesome resource :) I’ve been looking into soft landings too! Nearby me, there’s a corp owned commercial lot that’s been vacant for years, bare-bones maintenance. The street trees out front are Callery pear, which I can’t do anything about, but the ground under them isn’t tended.

There’s also two very sad trees in the middle of the parking lot and one empty tree well (which recently inspired me to rewatch this video lol).

Your point at the end is crucial. I heard a local story about a bunch of people rolling up in a neighborhood, planting trees, never to be seen or heard from again :( Kinda gross and presumptive.

Mr. Trash Wheel is pretty cool:

https://www.mrtrashwheel.com/technology

I grew up on concrete with streets peppered by exotic callery pear and feral pigeons. It wasn’t until a friend moved to a neighborhood with big yards (for the city, anyway) that I saw cardinals, bluejays, cottontails, foxes, and nights lit up by fireflies.

I live close to that neighborhood now and the streets here are lined with willow oak, black cherry, and sycamore. So many woodland creatures and cool bugs, some of which are recorded on iNat.

But go a mile south to a redlined neighborhood and the canopy is sparse to none. The streets are lined with empty tree wells, usually sloppily paved over. Some years ago, the police installed bright white spotlights and surveillance cameras. Absolutely brutal stuff.

Closing a herbarium during the sixth mass extinction 🤡

When I was a kid, I was like the creator, what a cool sci-fi movie! As an adult, I realize Starship Troopers, along with Trading Places and Little Shop of Horrors, heavily shaped my politics 😂

I felt that too, especially the manner in which he poked fun at their contradictions. It comes off as dismissive, but I don’t think this is actually the case.

Based on an interview I watched of Citarella, he seeks to understand the teens and their motivations, telling their stories with compassion. Citarella also stated that the right is taking this phenomenon seriously (and using it as a pipeline), so the left should as well.

If nobody got me, I know Chesapeake Bay Watershed got me 🙏 Can I get an amen?

The above map doesn’t include fishing, it’s showing land use. This shows fishing:

Here is another one about land animals:

Interactive map