OK! I'm at ~13,000 words and I've got loads more to say about environmentalist themes in the #LordOfTheRings. I really think this could be a book!
Today I looked at building with living nature. Real world indigenous peoples such as the Khasis in India use living trees as bridges. The elves of Lothlorien live in a city in the branches in the trees. Nonfiction, fiction; these are both visions of a world in which we live more in harmony with the world.
Thinking about #conservation and the Elves in the #LordOfTheRings The elves want to preserve things as they were in the elder days. They don't really have a vision for future - some hope to use the power of the three to heal the world, but the wisest, like Galadriel, assume that their time is coming to an end even if Frodo succeeds in his quest.
In the real world, the environmental movement brings together people with many different motivations, and different degrees of hope for the future.
I went looking for a recent long-odds climate struggle and found the #StopLine3Pipeline protests.
I had forgotten Tim Walz was governor of Minnesota during the protests.
Have you heard of the Te Urewaera Act of 2014? It's a pretty cool law from the Māori that recognized a New Zealand forest as its own legal entity.
"The key principles of the new Act are:
- Te Urewera ceases to be a national park and is vested in itself as its own legal entity; and
- Te Urewera will own itself in perpetuity with the Board to speak as its voice to provide governance and management in accordance with the principles of the Act"
https://www.environmentguide.org.nz/regional/te-urewera-act/
I want to find a real-world equivalent to the Ents breaking Isengard.
I am tempted to draw parralels to incidents of eco-sabotage, but the comparison is imperfect. The ents are a nation, for one thing. The fight in Isengard is more of a seige of an army than an incident of monkey-wrenching.
@dynamic It's a good example, but the anology breaks down because the ents were violent and destroying infrastructure. It feels odd to make a 1:1 comparison for nonviolent protestors, or even for people who commit sabotage.
@dynamic Thanks for sharing! I'll take a look.
@dynamic
the Niger Delta Avengers are an interesting case. They attacked oil infrastructure. Interestingly, they wanted to have a greater portion of the wealth from oil platforms go to host communities. It was an economic issue (although obviously economics are relevant when you have oil facilities poisoning the local environment).
@dynamic In the case of some sabotage events I've found, the damage is temporary. The ents completed destroyed Isengard and returned it to forest.