The American chestnut tree is coming back. Who is it for? | Hacker News Reader

The American chestnut tree is coming back. Who is it for?

grist.org

20 pointsgmays4 comments

The majority of this article is about a specific Native American group's opposition to the gene edited American chestnut that is in the process of being approved for planting.

It's an interesting article, but I just don't get the cognitive dissonance from the Native tribe; they say that they oppose the new chestnut because it runs counter to their belief that things should not be reverted because it takes away their philosophy of accepting the current situation and learning from it. But they demand rights that they lost in a similar way, which seems to be at odds with their stated belief.

My partner is native and I’m basically a hippie. But I don’t get the native food sovereignty movement at all. If we went back to farming and agriculture as it was practiced, the majority of us would starve.

What’s the point of bringing back chestnuts if we don’t bring back the way of life that they enabled 500 years ago? Give me a break.

I understand the resentment that native people have against the government, it was the harbinger of their apocalypse. But like most radical leftist groups the suggestions on how to reach the beautiful equitable future are few and far between.

Apart from that, this is not a domesticated plant. It's an wild tree that served a keystone ecological function, and a lot of other species have been harmed by its demise.

No group of humans should get to "own" an endangered species and forbid saving it from extinction. Other species do not exist to be exploited by humanity. This is such a horribly selfish, destructive way to see the natural world.

Well there we can agree to disagree. Native people did not see such a clear distinction between “domesticated” and “wild”. They did a lot of what could almost be called terraforming. The best example I know of is the maintenance of oak savannahs in Oregon—partial deforestation to allow for grasses and game to flourish and be easily foraged/hunted.

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