I first came across Erin’s work at Terra Incognita Media a few years ago when I was doing research on National Parks and the influence of John Muir. I was on a learning journey that would lead me to a series of revelations about the history of environmentalism and the generational harm caused by John Muir and his ideas.
I had recently interviewed Mark David Spence, the author of “Dispossessing the Wilderness”, for an episode of Earth to Humans. Spence’s book exposes the deeply racist origins of the National Park system, as well as the role played by John Muir in advocating for the forced removal of indigenous people from what would become Yosemite National Park. After speaking with Mark and reading his book, my perspective on National Parks, and protected landscapes in general, made a dramatic shift. I was beginning to understand that these treasured “wilderness” landscapes were a fabrication of white supremacy. The land that makes up these protected parks was inhabited by Indigenous people, as it had been for thousands of years previous, and the establishment of National Parks provided the US government with a convenient excuse to forcibly remove these people from their homelands. These new National Parks were specifically designed, developed and established for wealthy, white visitors.
During the lead up to Yosemite receiving “protected” park status, there was a vigorous debate within the budding conservation community in California over whether the Indigenous community that called the Yosemite Valley home should be allowed to stay. John Muir was quite vocal in his opposition to allowing these Indigenous people to remain in the newly created park. He used his skill as a writer to bring others over to his side, and his success set a precedent for land protection that is maintained to this day. Indigenous people all around the globe have been, and continue to be, forcibly removed from their homelands in the name of conservation and land protection, as documented by journalist Mark Dowie in his book, “Conservation Refugees” (check out our interview with Mark Dowie here)
Erin’s article about John Muir referred to him as, “a toxic masculine, egocentric, eco-jock” and encouraged her readers to share posts tagged #FuckYouJohnMuir. I was eager for this message, and began to dig back through many of Erin’s previous posts on Terra Incognita’s website. What I found was an open dialogue about Erin’s path towards becoming a advocate for an anti-racist, anti-capitalist brand of environmentalism. Her willingness to talk about the missteps and mistakes that she made along the way made her perspective all the more appealing to me. I was on a similar learning journey, making my own embarrassing mistakes, and the insight provided by Erin’s writing was extremely helpful to me.
I hope that you gain the same level of insight and inspiration from Erin’s work as I have! I’m incredibly excited to share this interview with all of you!
-Matt Podolsky