Braiding Sweetgrass
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 lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider 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 are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return.
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Community Reviews
I loved this book, The combined wisdom of western science and Indigenous Teachings was a gem to read and understand in a non-complicated and very beautiful way. This book was a warm and fuzzy (I hope this makes sense) read and I highly recommend it!
How do you give a review on a book that you feel has so fundamentally changed you as a person? This book is a gorgeous tapestry of both scientific information and spiritual knowledge gained from the wonderful life and stories of Robin. I listened to the audiobook and getting to hear these words in her voice sparked something in me. Each page is a warm hug and a love letter to Mother Earth. I guarantee you will come out of it having learned something new and with a greater appreciation for life on our planet.
This book changes your relationship with the world around you, even if you already have a pretty unconventional relationship with the earth. If Kimmerer's insight on how Indigenous people viewed the world as something we are part of (as opposed to something that is simply there for our use) leaves you untouched, then you have a cold, dead heart! She seamlessly weaves scientific info into indigenous wisdom, in turn proving that older generations were in tune to plant wisdom way before science was.
This lovely book reads like part free verse and part science for the layman. Kimmerer is a Potawatomi tribe member and a science researcher focusing on ecology. In this book, she shares many stories from Algonkian tribal heritage and makes connections to ecology practice and her own deep love for the land. She spends a lot of time with the concept of Honorable Harvest and tries to apply it to the modern world, encouraging us all to consider the impacts of what we buy and discard in this disposable society of ours. This sense of gratitude may prove to be the one tool we have to push away the Windigo of greed that lurks in our hearts. In Kimmerer's words:
'Gratitude for all the earth has given us lends us courage to turn and face the Windigo that stalks us, to refuse to participate in an economy that destroys the beloved earth to line the pockets of the greedy, to demand an economy that is aligned with life, not stacked against it. It's easy to write that, harder to do. (p. 377)'
'Gratitude for all the earth has given us lends us courage to turn and face the Windigo that stalks us, to refuse to participate in an economy that destroys the beloved earth to line the pockets of the greedy, to demand an economy that is aligned with life, not stacked against it. It's easy to write that, harder to do. (p. 377)'
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