Yosemite controversial video

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The clip is better-reasoned and less aggressive than I had expected. I wouldn't go as far as calling it a 'con', but the value of native tribes to the local environment is frequently underestimated, and I support the call to work with indigenous tribes to conserve the environment. I don't think the 'con' is as universal as she suggests, but any further specific accusations would need to be supported by strong evidence.

Before watching it I had thought this might be about funding, scams or illegal/unproductive practises. I'm very glad it isn't, but I feel a few charities and conservation movements worldwide may benefit from more independent regulatory input or reviews.
 
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Thanks devilfish! :)

Interesting comment, I found it quite biaised at first view, so it was good to get your alternative perspective.

I've just watched it again and actually I can see that she has a point.

It would be good to know the real extent that what happened in US national parks is still happening now. Is it as widespread as the video suggests?

I guess that's something we'll never know.
 
I watched the first two minutes of the three minute video (where it seemed like she had said everything). For those who don't want to watch she is a young (teenage?) white girl who says we need to stop making national parks and let the land revert to occupation by native tribes because they can care for it better.

Of course this harkens back to the larger historic problem of European imperialists taking over areas from natives, but that is a fact of history that cannot be reversed. Her thinking is woefully naïve. She mentions villages in India being translocated to form tiger parks. Does she really think the tigers were better off when villagers lived there? They were often the ones doing the poaching. Even here in the states I remember reading in Florida panther habitat one area that was owned by a native tribe and when a panther showed up they wanted to kill it and did not want it near their village. She is young and like many young people today may have been taught the politically correct notion that all white people were evil and all native peoples were pure.

I am not denying that before European settlement most native peoples in North America (and perhaps elsewhere) lived more harmoniously with the land, due largely to the absence of industrial advancements. But to think you can just move them back in the 21st century and have the parks magically revert to how they were in the 15th century is beyond absurd. I mean how many native Americans have you seen that don't own a pickup truck or a car? Does she think they are going to give up modern conveniences and go back to living in tepees and living off the land? Honestly what in the world is she thinking?
 
I agree. Lovely intentions but ignorant. She seems to focus her conservation energies on opposing creation of protected parks in favor of leaving the Noble Tribal People (just who are THEY???) to be their noble selves. How 18th century of her.

But history seems to show that left alone, any humans will develop their land and use the resources for their own good even as they kill tigers or elephants as threats to their families or businesses or as resources to harvest.

True, tribal people are still being attacked and pushed off land they have lived in for generations -- by poachers, miners, developers and governments, in India, the US, Australia and Asia. But it is not about conservation of Nature usually. Protecting these people from corporate and governmental abuse is vitally important, as is protecting the land. But they are not always the same thing.

Nevermind the question of WHY is she climbing El Capitan?
 
well, first so called tribal people do not need a good looking young white or pink girl to represent them. survival show let them speak for themselves.
however it is very true that many tribal and native peoples are going to international courts to regain their territorial rights and in many cases they are regaining their lands. even the united nations support this. it is important that conservationists support indigenous groups to help them use the land correctly when this occurs. it is hard work and requires great patience and knowledge. also various native and tribal groups may lay claim to the same territory. which group is the real occupant. i have encountered this problem in mexico and it can be very difficult to decide whose claim is more legitimate.
well the video does call attention to some problems that the so called tribal peoples face ,though in my opinion mining companies and dams are the real villains not parks, and it is still somewhat romantic.
 
The biggest myth in US history is that the Native Americans lived "in harmony" with the land like it was some wild state. The English arrived in North America to find it empty and wild only because the Native Americans they did find were survivors of an apocalypse. One caused by the earliest contacts with the Spanish and the diseases they brought.
 
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