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Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་)

@dchungyalpa.bsky.social

5K followers 650 following 480 posts

Env strategist, bridge builder, ecofeminist, Himalayan. Working on inner + community + planetary resilience w/ faith & Indigenous leaders on environmental & climate efforts at @LokaInitiative, UW-Madison. Personal account - views are my own. She/ her.

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Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · Jul 14

After 4 years of listening, dreaming, co-creating, and some more listening, we finally premiere the Sacred Wisdom Sacred Earth documentary this week on the Menominee reservation! (First premiere audiences are Native communities in Wisconsin, we will go national and worldwide in 2026!) All the feels.

The Loka Initiative @lokainitiative.bsky.social · Jul 14

Sacred Wisdom Sacred Earth unveils the deep connection of Wisconsin’s Native American tribes to the land and waters of the Great Lakes and how that seeds their efforts to restore spiritual, cultural, and environmental resilience. We premiere this Wednesday, July 16th at the Menominee Reservation!

A documentary poster titled "Sacred Wisdom Sacred Earth" followed b a tagline "Our Earth is sacred. She is alive." The image consists of a young Menominee man (Donavan Waupoose Jr.) resting on his knees respectfully facing two wild buffalo.

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Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 1h

this! we know where those football fields of servers are all going to go.

Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 15h

As ICE activity ramps up in Madison, I want to give a shout out to the Community Immigration Law Center: CILC, which provides free legal help to people facing deportation in Madison, WI. If you’re frustrated and looking for ways to help, I’m a proud supporter! www.cilcmadison.org!

A protest sign that says “No one is illegal on stolen land."

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Reposted by Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་)

Oakland Review of Books @oaklandreviewofbooks.org · 1d

Tommy Orange got a MacArthur! HELL YEAH!
www.macfound.org/fellows/clas...

Tommy Orange

Illuminating the richness and complexity of contemporary, urban Native Peoples’ lives.

www.macfound.org

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Reposted by Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་)

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 21h

Oh — new reporting on Pope Leo from El Paso Matters, citing footage they have of yesterday's meeting.

Sounds like the pope was even *more* forceful in urging U.S. bishops to speak out about immigration than first reported.

I mean, that's…not subtle. elpasomatters.org/2025/10/08/e...

“I was struck at the beginning (of the video), it talks about the feeling of powerlessness, which I think is so much. I think it’s so important that we as a church give a message of hope in the midst of these horrible struggles, what’s going on in so many cities in the United States right now. At least the church cannot be silent,” the pope told the El Pasoans, according to a video of the meeting provided to El Paso Matters by Hope Border Institute.

Seitz responded: “You’ve spoken very strongly. We’re trying to do the same in our country and yet not get into the political fray the best that we can.”

Pope Leo told Seitz that he’d like to see the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops become more vocal on immigration issues.

“I mean, even within the conference, there are challenges. That’s one place they should be … I wish they were stronger in their own voice,” Leo said, adding that Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the president of the conference, should speak out more on immigration.

“There’s been some good movement in that sense, but I certainly intend to continue to encourage” U.S. bishops to address immigration, Leo said.

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Reposted by Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་)

Clare Fieseler, PhD @fieseler.bsky.social · 1d

Not sure people realize how INSANELY DRAINING data centers will be on our planet.

If you imagine data centers as their own country, they'll rank fourth in global electricity use by 2035 — outranked only by China, India, and the U.S.

Read this in @bloomberg.com👇

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring

Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་)

Heartland Signal @heartlandsignal.bsky.social · 2d

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson:

"Private establishments can partner with us to make it clear that private property is private property and ICE cannot enter establishments without a valid warrant ... If Congress will not check this administration, then Chicago will."

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Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 2d

chickens coming home to roost.

Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 2d

As a just in case… My best friend got me hooked to the BBC Witch podcast which was eye opening — I did not know about the connection between the witch hunts and abortion providers! www.bbc.com/audio/brand/...

BBC Audio | Witch

Listen to the latest episodes of Witch on BBC Audio

www.bbc.com

Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 6d

In case you’re wondering, yes. It’s given me a lot of joy to throw myself into this kind of community building and re-determination of identity in these times...

Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 6d

Being(s) of the Land; Flowing of the Water(s); Thinking with Indigeneity in Tibet and South Asia! More here: southasiaconference.wisc.edu and www.lokainitiative.org/beingsofthel...!

General 6 — Loka Initiative

www.lokainitiative.org

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Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 6d

Over 1.5 yrs ago, Pasang Yangjee Sherpa invited me to UBC, and Mabel Gergan, and Dolly Kikon, began talking about the question of Indigeneity and belonging in Nepal and Northeast India, and whether and how that frames our work. Fast forward 18 months and here we are! October 22nd, Madison, WI.

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Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 7d

If you’re having a hard day and need a boost, read this article about some of Loka's favorite collaborators and friends; the ecumenical Benedictine community of environmental sisters at Holy Wisdom! We love them! www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/c...

‘They’re Small but They’re Mighty.’ Meet the Wisconsin Sisters Healing the Land.

www.nytimes.com

Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 9d

I guess this a long way of saying that this is why I’m naturally resistant to the promise of AI. I know it might seem convenient to the users, it will certainly benefit the employers, but at what cost (besides the intellectual, social, environmental and climate costs) that we don’t see yet?!

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Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 9d

Do you know how that era ended? Senior management handed out blackberries to us and told us it was because we were very important people to the org. We all side-eyed to see who got them in the early days. It absolutely did help the mission and the work. We also never really had off hours after that.

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Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 9d

My 2nd most favorite thing about working in field conservation in the late 90s and early 2000s was that everyone expected a 2-week lag in email replies and communications. IT WAS UNDERSTOOD that you were in the forest no matter where you actually were. (Baby elephants were the 1st obviously.)

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Reposted by Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་)

Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 10d

It's undeniable that ICE is worse under the second Trump term than it was under Biden or Trump 1 or Obama or Bush but that ICE would be used in this way for these ends is as foreseeable a disaster as leaving a loaded gun on a table next to a case of whiteclaw. It's as much a failure of prevention.

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Reposted by Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་)

Madison365 @madison365.bsky.social · 14d

In a new column, Alder Sabrina Madison lifts the veil on how “progressive” politics in Madison often still perpetuate anti-Black dynamics, especially toward Black women leaders — even from those who claim solidarity. Read now:

Sabrina Madison: Protecting Black Women’s leadership in a city that calls itself progressive

Madison is often praised as one of the best places to live in America. But I call cap! That title doesn’t hold when you look at the lived experiences of Black people here — and especially not when…

buff.ly

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Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 14d

LOL no but maybe because our hearts are so aligned? I am wearing her earrings though! <3

Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 14d

Ecuador’s govt is auctioning of 1.17 million hectares of Indigenous territory for fossil fuel exploration in this exact moment. You can learn more here:

Amazon Frontlines - Defending indigenous rights to land, life and cultural survival in the Amazon rainforest.

amazonfrontlines.org

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Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 14d

The highlight of my #Climateweek was hanging out with neustras hermana más amada, Nemonte Nequimo, who has served tirelessly to defend Indigenous rights to land,
life and cultural survival in the Amazon rainforest. Please check out her and Mitch’s work here: amazonfrontlines.org! 🙏

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Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 14d

This is my main message here at #ClimateWeek. We are always creating this eco/ climate/ justice movement and this movement requires us to prioritize building our inner resilience alongside community and ecological resiliene. #deepresilience

Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 14d

I find balance in my spiritual practice, I allow my heart to break and heal, break and heal, until hopelessness turns into faith. You may find your balance elsewhere. But we all need it and we must create safe spaces for others to find theirs too.

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Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 14d

"You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it." (Pirkei Avot) We have to find balance between running ourselves ragged until we are burned out & dissociating and living in curated ignorance. How do we run a long marathon? We find balance in movement & rest.

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Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · 26d

Yep. The universe saw me posturing and laughed at my face. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ See you there (or even not)?

Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་) @dchungyalpa.bsky.social · Aug 29

The amount of pressure I get to be there at Climate Week (and oh lord, the COPs.) 🤨 Listen. We don’t ALL need to go and given that there’s only 24 hrs/day, that’s just not on my to-do list. Also, I trust my friends and colleagues who do go and who do organize in those spaces! They’ve got this.

Reposted by Dekila Chungyalpa (བདེ་དཀྱིལ་)

Evan Sutton @evansutton.bsky.social · 28d

The asymmetrical media response to political violence in America is, in itself, one of the most important contributing factors to how we arrived at this place of escalating political violence.

Headline from time with a photo of Charlie Kirk at the event where he was murdered, smiling and waving at the crowd. The preview time has shared indicates that this will be the cover story of the next magazine.

The headline reads

The Killing of Charlie Kirk and the Political Violence Haunting America

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