Stars: ★★★★★ (Study This Book)

Premise

Dr. Kimmerer walks through a variety of Indigenous stories, placing them in context of both the modern world and through her experience as a botanist and botany professor. She begins the book by asking a group of students if it is possible for humans and nature to coexist to the benefit of both. When they all respond that it is not, she begins the process of teaching the reader that it is indeed possible and in fact necessary. By returning to a process by which we care for the plants that care for us, we can create a system that ensures the survival of all persons – human and nonhuman. This process of reciprocity, where plants provide humans with necessities of life like food and shelter and humans provide plants with additional seeds and sustained habitats, allows all of life to work together, rather than one of them living in “species loneliness,” in isolation from the rest of Creation and to the detriment of it all.

Loved

1. Consumerism as Windigo
   The Windigo is a man, who during a season of hunger, ate other humans. His desire for more consumed him, and he became a monster who had no self-control but indulged himself on other people endlessly. There was no limit to what he could consume. This was a horror story told to children, in part to have them comply with commands but even more to warn them of the dangers of self-indulgence. We damage not only ourselves but also everyone around us when we become obsessed with having more, gaining more getting more.
   
   “Indulgent self-interest that our people once held to be monstrous is now celebrated as success.” The author details the tragedy of the Onondaga Lake as a superfund site, explaining how the desire to do more, create more, have more destroyed an entire ecosystem. The companies who pumped toxic sludge into the lake thought only of profits, the way the Windigo thinks only of its next meal, never satisfied and always looking for more. There is an entire industry for “decluttering,” which means we can pay for more goods and services to help us get cull the mass of possessions we already own. This is only one example of the ways in which our consumerism has poisoned our lives and homes.
   
2. The Honorable Harvest
   Dr. Kimmerer shares multiple Indigenous stories about taking only what you need. In doing so, humans help maintain the world around us as we get our needs met. The idea of an Honorable Harvest is beautiful because it demonstrates that this is not a choice between survival of humans and plants; it is a mutually beneficial relationship. She discusses the way the Three Sisters – corn, beans, and squash – work together to yield higher harvests per acre than planting them separately. Those three foods can sustain humans on their own when eaten together. But European colonists disparaged Indigenous people for not separating their crops properly, when there was abundant wisdom in the way it was done. And we can still learn from this wisdom today.
   
   The Dishonorable Harvest is all around us. It destroys meadows and forests for monoculture plantings and mass harvested lumber. She discussed the way that the trees will return to the forest relatively quickly, but the rest of the forest floor takes much longer to return if it ever does. While reading the book, this article came out that said the exact same thing. Another example, as she provides throughout the book, of science catching up to Indigenous knowledge. It is possible to take what we need without destroying the world around us, as long as we take only what we need rather than trying to take everything and the commodify it.
   
3. The Imperative of Slowing Down
   “Forest time is not the same as human time.” Throughout the book, Dr. Kimmerer emphasizes the necessity and beauty of slowing down. It takes a long time to grow food from a seed, much longer than purchasing it at the grocery store, but the process of growth teaches humans patience and allows us to give back to the Earth. It is a concrete example of the reciprocity that is necessary for us to live sustainably. In the Western world, we are taught that our value comes from our productivity, which in turn leads to busyness, disconnection, and burnout.
   
   She shares a story about cleaning a pond on her land when she first bought a farm. It was slow tedious work. It did not turn back the clock the way that she hoped it would, but it restored the beauty to the pond itself. If we can take the time to restore one piece of land, to walk through the forest without an agenda or a destination, to learn to identify some of the plants around us, we have opened a whole new world. In some ways this can be trendy (Google “forest bathing” for a quick glance at its popularity), but it can also be revolutionary. Setting boundaries that we will not be pushed into production mode but will acknowledge and enjoy the world we have, not wishing it was more or different or better.
   
4. The Native and the Naturalized
   Dr. Kimmerer explores the idea of people who are native to America and who are naturalized. This conversation was particularly interesting because no where in the book does she advocate for a recreation of Indigenous societies from hundreds of years ago, which are native to this land. Rather she discusses what a naturalized version of this wisdom would like. We live in modern times, which means our implementation of that wisdom will look differently than it did 300 years ago, but that does not make it irrelevant. This is a particularly hopeful message because it means that we can implement these lessons in our lives today, as naturalized citizens of this land who want it to succeed but bring a different perspective to how that can happen.

Didn’t Love

I truly loved this book, so there was nothing in there that stood out as something unlikable. It forced me to confront the ways in which our culture of consumerism has led directly to many of the ails of our current society. I cannot count how many times I have seen requests from women in online groups about trying to find support in all facets of life – birth, motherhood, friendship, homeschooling. It seems like everyone is trying to “find her tribe.” This is a direct result of us losing our tribes and destroying the support system that sustained both humans and the world around us.

Lessons Learned

• “I don’t have much patience with food proselytizers who refuse all but organic, free-range, fair-trade gerbil milk.” This line made me laugh aloud, and it gave me hope. The idea of all or nothing can make people give up because they will never be able to rid their lives of plastics or grow all of their own food. Dr. Kimmerer discusses how we each should do what we can. We should each make small choices within the context of our individual lives to respect the plants around us. Learn their names. Be aware of the places we can be less wasteful. Choose not to indulge the sense of Windigo that permeates our culture. The standard is not the lives of Indigenous people from the 1700’s, it is making more conscious choices that respect Creation around us.
  
• There are multiple discussions about gift economies contrasted to commodity economies. This concept was brand new to me, and I love studying various economies and the way that they function. Commodity economies are done at the end of the transaction. I don’t owe the cashiers at Target anything beyond paying for items. However, when someone gives you a gift, it creates a relationship and desire for reciprocity. If we saw our food or our shelter as a gift from a corn plant or an oak tree, how would that change our perspective on the way these plants should be treated? Instead, we feel like it is their job to produce because we have been raised in a commodity culture. (I want to get on my soapbox about gifts we choose to give in contrast to ones we feel forced to give, especially around modern celebrations of Christmas…but I will save that for another post.)
  
• It was important to sound out the Indigenous words. I tend to read very quickly, which for me means picking up the first letter of names, associating it with a picture in my mind, and moving on. After Dr. Kimmerer’s conversation about her language and the importance of her learning the words and using them, even if she sounded like a toddler, I slowed down. When they were too long to pronounce in my head, I would sound them out loud until I could get all the syllables out with a normal rhythm. It was worth the extra time to connect with the words she had lovingly sprinkled through the book.