Fran CummingsHow can we wrestle with our personal connection to our #ancestors’ roles in #colonial #genocide and #slavery in such a way as to contribute to our collective power to transform our economy & institutions away from exploitation and #Climate destruction — in time?
nathanpboston@Acton_climate I’m inspired by what I’ve read about the Navajo Nation deciding to end coal-fired electric generation and claiming rights and benefits of electric transmission crossing Navajo land, which can readily serve Navajo people and economic development. The opportunity to build a mix of utility scale and distributed solar energy, siting of which is determined by tribal members themselves, is great.
Rich Puchalsky 
Our ancestors didn't have the primary responsibility for climate destruction -- we do. More than half of greenhouse gas emissions have happened in the last 30 years.
@Acton_climate @RichPuchalsky yes, and, the seeds were sown for generations conceiving & building the extractive economy & appropriated the land, mineral, water & human resources that set the stage for the full blown exploitation today. Treaties were coerced & broken long ago and continue to be violated today. I believe people today are responsible to the extent we tolerate or promote a perpetuation of this status quo. The Navajo example shows what’s possible.
The Navajo example is a good one, but it's also a rare one. Whenever people start to look into the past to find reasons for climate emissions, I tend to think that a lot of it is about a perhaps unconscious interest in distracting themselves from their primary responsibility: what is happening right now. Oppression baked into societies is part of the reason for what's happening now, but casts the main antagonist as the vast majority of our history.