Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of PlantsBy Robin Wall Kimmerer
Milkweed Editions, 2013. 382 pages. Nonfiction
Abstract: “As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In
Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise.
Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.”
With lyrical prose and extensive knowledge of plants, Kimmerer brings you into her present and teaches you the blessings of the earth and indigenous ways of knowing. This book opened my eyes to the world around me. I pay more attention to the plants along the road, the farms and mountains that form the landscape around my home. I care more about current environmental crisis such as global warming, the shrinking Salt Lake, and the disastrous plan to dredge and build residential and commercial islands on Utah Lake.
Braiding Sweetgrass teaches about reciprocity—not taking more than you give to the earth—and restraint. Kimmerer explains how to vote with your dollar by purchasing from earth-friendly companies instead of those whose production hurts the land. It has taught me to be grateful for the food and water I have readily available, but also made me curious about their source and production. Needless to say, this book has changed the way I live, eat, and interact with the world.
JJC
If you like Braiding Sweetgrass you might also like:
To Speak for the TreesBy Diana Beresford-Kroeger
Random House Canada, 2019. 295 pages. Nonfiction
Abstract: "Canadian botanist, biochemist, and visionary—Diana Beresford-Kroeger's startling insights into the hidden life of trees have already sparked a quiet revolution in how we understand our relationship to forests. Now, in a captivating account of how her life led her to these illuminating and crucial ideas, she shows us how forests can not only heal us but save the planet. This book is not only the story of a remarkable scientist and her ideas, it harvests all of her powerful knowledge about why trees matter, and why trees are a viable, achievable solution to climate change. Diana eloquently shows us that if we can understand the intricate ways in which the health and welfare of every living creature is connected to the global forest, and strengthen those connections, we will still have time to mend the self-destructive ways that are leading to drastic fires, droughts and floods.
Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided WorldBy Katharine Hayhoe
One Signal Publishers, 2021. 307 pages. Nonfiction
Abstract: Called "one of the nation's most effective communicators on climate change" by The New York Times, Katharine Hayhoe knows how to navigate all sides of the conversation on our changing planet. A Canadian climate scientist living in Texas, she negotiates distrust of data, indifference to imminent threats, and resistance to proposed solutions with ease. Over the past fifteen years, Hayhoe has found that the most important thing we can do to address climate change is talk about it—and she wants to teach you how. In
Saving Us, Hayhoe argues that when it comes to changing hearts and minds, facts are only one part of the equation. We need to find shared values in order to connect our unique identities to collective action. This is not another doomsday narrative about a planet on fire. It is a multilayered look at science, faith, and human psychology, from an icon in her field—recently named chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy. Drawing on interdisciplinary research and personal stories, Hayhoe shows that small conversations can have astonishing results.
Saving Us leaves us with the tools to open a dialogue with your loved ones about how we all can play a role in pushing forward for change.
Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of PlantsBy Jane Goodall
Grand Central Publishing, 2014. 420 pages. Nonfiction
Abstract: From world-renowned scientist Jane Goodall, as seen in the new National Geographic documentary Jane, comes a fascinating examination of the critical role that trees and plants play in our world.
Seeds of Hope takes us from Goodall's home in England to her home-away-from-home in Africa, deep inside the Gombe forest, where she and the chimpanzees are enchanted by the fig and plum trees they encounter. She introduces us to botanists around the world, as well as places where hope for plants can be found, such as The Millennium Seed Bank. She shows us the secret world of plants with all their mysteries and potential for healing our bodies as well as Planet Earth.
World of WondersBy Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Milkweed Editions, 2020. 165 pages. Nonfiction
Abstract: From beloved, award-winning poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil comes a debut work of nonfiction—a collection of essays about the natural world, and the way its inhabitants can teach, support, and inspire us.
As a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution, where her Filipina mother was a doctor; the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio. But no matter where she was transplanted—no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape—she was able to turn to our world’s fierce and funny creatures for guidance.
“What the peacock can do,” she tells us, “is remind you of a home you will run away from and run back to all your life.” The axolotl teaches us to smile, even in the face of unkindness; the touch-me-not plant shows us how to shake off unwanted advances; the narwhal demonstrates how to survive in hostile environments. Even in the strange and the unlovely, Nezhukumatathil finds beauty and kinship. For it is this way with wonder: it requires that we are curious enough to look past the distractions in order to fully appreciate the world’s gifts.
Warm, lyrical, and gorgeously illustrated by Fumi Nakamura,
World of Wonders is a book of sustenance and joy.
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