Damn the Grim Prognosis — Let's Keep Fighting for Mother Earth!

Wisdom from my friend, a wetland conservationist in Chile...

"From INVASION DEL GULUMAPU – august 2022 – author GUILLERMO PARVEX – a historical novel about the ‘pacification’ of the Indians of southern Chile, carried out by military units returning from their victorious war against Peru and Bolivia – La Guerra del Pacífico.

The main character, Pedro Borquez, consults his cherrufe, aligning this stone – with its magical attributes - with the brightest star and asking what awaits them. The stone replies:

Muchos de ustedes, incluido tú, caerán bajo el fuego que desparraman los hombres blancos. La lucha que van a comenzar será estéril, pero DEBEN HACERLA POR SU HONOR, como pueblo…”

Roughly translated, you are doomed to, so die with honour.

[Many, including you, will fall under the fire spread by the white men. Your struggle will be futile, but YOU MUST DO IT FOR YOUR HONOR, as a people.]

This is my vision for the future of the planet.

HOWEVER, applying (approximately) the advice of the cherrufe, I am dedicated to trying to SAVE the planet. Inconsistent? Certainly, but it gives me satisfaction, and with my dedicated children and professional team and plenty of volunteers, lo pasamos bien – un trabajo bien hecho! [We are doing good - job well done!]”

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Book overview at Barnes&Noble: “Pedro Bórquez has built a family and a life in Gulumapu. With wife, children and a good life, the Chilean entered Mapuche lands after an earthquake leveled the city of Concepción to the ground, to become the right hand man of Chief lonko Mañilwenu, and with him they consult the cherrufe, the magical stone that allows envisioning the future of the Indigenous people and the danger to their lands due to the threat of the Chileans.” (Translated by T. Povilitis.)

Black-crowned Night Heron. This bird can be sensitive to disturbance and harmed by a range of human impacts, yet is well established across the world and symbolizes resistance to civilization’s onslaught. (Photo by T. Povilitis.)