Aric McBay Author, activist, farmer.

• Books
• Short Work
• Appearances and Talks
• Interviews

DGR and Transphobia

This is a note I sent to Decolonizing Yoga after their piece on DGR and transphobia was posted.

My name is Aric McBay. I'm the primary author of the book Deep Green Resistance and was (rather briefly) one of the original people behind the organization which Be Scofield writes about on your website.

You mention in your piece that I'm a founder, but what you probably don't know is that I left the organization at the beginning of 2012 after a trans inclusive policy was cancelled by Derrick Jensen and Lierre Keith. Many good people and good activists left the organization for that reason.

I find these transphobic attitudes to be disgusting and deeply troubling, and it bothers me a lot to have any past association with people promoting transphobia.

For me, trans rights and trans inclusion are fundamental to building effective movements and to building a world worth living in. Speaking as the main author of the book that inspired the organization in the first place: they are most definitely my core values.

And transphobia--like racism and sexism and classism and homophobia--is a poison that those in power use to destroy movements and ruin lives. When faced with such poisons, who needs COINTELPRO?

Solidarity between movements is the only hope we have. I would appreciate it if you would mention this as an addendum on your piece, because I want to make it clear to people that I, and the vast majority of radical environmentalists, fully support trans rights and trans inclusion. I don't want to allow a few outliers to drive wedges between movements that can and should support each other.

And you can quote me on that.

In solidarity,
Aric McBay

Certain Days Calendar 2012

The 2012 edition of the Certain Days freedom for political prisoners calendar is now available. It includes a piece from me on the Green Scare and COINTELPRO.

Proceeds go to support political prisoners.

Earth at Risk

I just got back from the great Earth at Risk event in Berkeley, California. Speakers included Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, Stephanie McMillan, Thomas Linzey, myself, Waziyatawin, and Arundhati Roy.

Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay at Earth at Risk (photo: Max Wilbert)

The 700 person venue was packed with a very enthusiastic audience and there were another 4000 people watching the livestream online. Audio from the event is available now.

Video is being prepared for distribution right now. I'll post when I know more.

Occupy Oakland addresses

This past weekend, Waziyatawin, Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and I addressed a crowd of a few hundred at Occupy Oakland. You can view video of the event online:

You can also read the original text of my talk (which differs slightly from the video) below the break.

In the Wake archive now online

Back by popular demand, I've posted the archive of my old In the Wake website to inthewake.mcbay.ca. The site is a collection of interviews, analysis, and how-tos about peak oil, climate change, collapse, and related subjects.

It hasn't been updated in a few years and no updates are planned, but people keep emailing to ask for it. So there you go.

If you want you can go straight to the Tools for Gridcrash booklet.