Braiding Sweetgrass

 

A contribute by Robinne Gray

 

When Erik asked me about potentially leading a book discussion, I told him there are two books that really rocked my world(view), one is Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass The other is Thomas Berry's The Great Work, which I'd love to revisit in 2021.

For those unfamiliar with this book and author, a little enticement: Robin Wall Kimmerer is a Potawatomi woman who is also a plant ecologist and professor in the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. So she is uniquely positioned to bring together two very different ways of engaging with the natural world in a way that (IMO) the world really needs. It helps that she's a wonderful writer, so her work is getting a lot of attention and inspiring many people. 

I'm a lifelong reader who hasn't participated in many book discussions because I'm stubborn and only want to read what I choose and when - and also because I don't always finish a given book in a timely way, and may be reading several books at once. An encouragement I offer is: Braiding Sweetgrass is a series of essays, so even if you make time to read one or two of them to get a taste, it would be wonderful to have you be part of our discussion of this rich work!  I've included a quote from the book below.

 Note: this text appeared in the discussion group "Gaian Conversations" kept by Erik Assadourian and is published here by kind permission of the author. If you are interested in joining the discussion group, write to Erik at info(thingything)gaianism.org