Colonialism’s goal of limitless enrichment exploited both human and ecological life. Environmental activist Elizabeth Yeampierre points to the simultaneous exploitation and destruction of natural resources, enslaved Black people, and Indigenous people under colonial rule. “With the arrival of slavery comes a repurposing of the land, chopping down of trees, disrupting water systems and other ecological systems that comes with supporting the effort to build a capitalist society and to provide resources for the privileged,” she says.