The Vision of Unconditional Solidarity: Earthkind

My office, living room, and bedroom for over two months

I just spent 9.5 weeks, camping with the Indigenous parrot conservationists in La Moskitia, Honduras. I did this for many reasons, but primarily to witness oppressions threatening the people and people there, and to practice Unconditional Solidarity.

Unconditional Solidarity (US) is inescapable: our well-being is deeply interconnected. We need one another, and none of us is free until all are free. But living and organizing society around this truth requires intention, practice, commitment, and kindness. Without that effort, we can be swept along by forces that harm rather than help.

We undertook this US campaign at this time because of the urgency of the parrot crisis in the world, and in La Moskitia, Honduras. Every year the international demand for parrots as pets increases, placing at risk the people of La Moskitia, their ecosystem, and their cultural and spiritual heritage that depends on a flourishing parrot population. Transformative conservation in this region has had success – there are more parrots flying free there than 20 years ago before the conservation project began, but the success is fragile, and at most like placing a bandage on a gaping wound. There is a much deeper problem. The increasing loss of the forest due to illegal land tenure, the increasing ferociousness of international buyers of the parrots, and decreasing availability of conservation funds now compels an urgency against forces that seem unstoppable.

US might not seem like a winning theory, especially as putting it into practice is challenging. I admit it is an imperfect solution to a nasty problem. However, like a favorite folk hero of many, Captain James T. Kirk of Star Trek, I do not believe in a no-win situation. Yes, we might not achieve the gains we desire and the world needs, such as saving a forest and stopping poaching, but we do not give up striving for a transformed world. Just engaging in this process is winning.

Although the campaign is less than 3 months old, there have already been wins. We have increased social capital, grown awareness, increased funding to the project (although far short of what is needed), and engaged and bonded other Honduran stakeholders so that they see La Moskitia as their people, their parrots, and their project. We grew our understanding of US, practiced it, and protected birds and one another with our physical presence.

We had a military escort during our activities due to personal threats to individuals, to the project, and to the parrot nests

The work of solidarity never ends and the campaign continues. You can be part of it.

You can join the various campaign communication channels (on social media and WhatsApp) and become part of the US community. You can spread the messages and updates about the campaign and the situation there.

These are organizations that have committed to be in solidarity with the project in La Moskitia

You can also practice solidarity in other ways, and I recommend the idea and practice of Earthkind. Think of our species as more than humankind: we are Earthkind, kin to all beings. Show kindness to the many fellow travelers who share this planet. Kindness rooted in solidarity can deepen positive emotion. Acts of kindness also produce measurable neurochemical changes in the brain, strengthening our connection to life.

It was a great kindness for the people of La Moskitia to accept me into their communities for such an extended period. And it was a kindness for the many who partook of this campaign and demonstrated acts of Solidarity.

Join us.

Join the Solidarity Campaign.

Join our conversations on Transformative Conservation and Tranformative Solidarity (to

begin in September - stay tuned).

Join our Parrot Pilgrimage.

Be part of and support the next Parrot Conservation Corps.

Let us make solidarity doable as we are kind to this Earth and to one another.