Book Discussion

Braiding Sweetgrass

By: Robin Wall Kimmerer Category: Unkown category Year: 2013 ISBN: 9781571318718

Robin Wall Kimmerer embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. 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. 

Questions for Braiding Sweetgrass from  Longwood Gardens https://fdocuments.us/document/discussion-and-question-guide-braiding-sweetgrass.html

1- Can humans learn from plants and animals? Also Leopold talks of a land ethic, George Monbiot explains a vision of reinstating ecosystems in which man's power to dominate is consciously withheld. How do these environmental visions compare and differ from Robin Wall Kimmerer?

2- What is council  of pecans and what does it say of our relationship to the forest? Is there more to the forest than food- to being able to eat from the land without dominating it?

3- Why is reciprocity the essence of the gift economy and what does it say about our relationship to the land? How can we express our gratitude and responsibility for the gifts of the land? Should we and how? what happens if we don’t live up to our end of the relationship? Can the moral contract be political?

4- Is food a language that plants teach us? Can languages be lost and what is the effect of a lost language? What does each of The Three Sisters – corn, beans, and squash - bring to their reciprocal relationship? How can this partnership create a stronger community? Can you think of other examples of such win-win situations?

5- In ‘Putting Down Roots’ (pp. 254 – 267), Kimmerer states, “Losing a plant can threaten a culture in much the same way as losing a language.” (p. 261) On the basis of Kimmerer’s discussion in this chapter regarding sweetgrass’s decline, how can plants repeat the history of their people? (p. 262) What are some examples presented by Kimmerer that would support her statement, “Reciprocity is a key to success.”? (p. 262)  

6- The chapter, ‘Old-Growth Children’ (pp. 277 – 292), captures the essence of sustainability and how we can learn from an old-growth forest. What tools do forest ecosystems have for “dealing with massive disturbance …”? (p 283) What is the difference between industrial forestry and sustainable forestry? (p. 285) What can we learn from the extermination of old-growth ecosystems in the past and present? What can our role be in the regeneration of these ecosystems? (p. 284)  

7- Kimmerer states that “we seem to be living in an era of Windigo economics of fabricated demand and compulsive overconsumption” (p. 308) In addition, “Our leaders willfully ignore the wisdom and the models of every other species on the planet—except of course those that have gone extinct. Windigo thinking.” (p. 309) Can you provide examples of unnecessary overconsumption? What would we need to change in our society to stop these practices?  

8-  “The Onondaga people still live by the precepts of the Great Law and still believe that, in return for the gifts of Mother Earth, human people have responsibility for caring for the nonhuman people, for stewardship of the land.” (p. 319) What do you believe are the responsibilities of our government and our society in aiding the Onondaga Nation in its efforts to restore Onondaga Lake to a healthy state?   

9-  Reflect upon Kimmerer’s statement “environmentalism becomes synonymous with dire predictions and powerless feelings.” (p. 327) What action can you take within your community to bring about positive environmentalism and ecological restoration/preservation?   

10-  Based upon the central themes as presented by Dr. Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass, explain the differences between reciprocity and the current ecological movement known as sustainability

Discussion:

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