Asilomare State Beach, Pacific Grove, California
I ran into a book last year that I wish I’d read a decade ago, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It was first published in 2013 and has spread through word of mouth, readers giving away copies and telling friends, “I think you need to read this.” It has sold over 2 million copies and spent 3 years on The New York Times Bestseller list. Kimmerer holds a PhD in botany and is a professor of Environmental and Forest Biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She’s also a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and her writing reflects their worldviews, relationship to the Land, and storytelling traditions.
Ms. Kimmerer uses the analogy of Sweetgrass, which regenerates not by seed but by underground rhizomes, to convey her environmental message of reciprocity and the organic way it spreads. She weaves a story like a Sweetgrass basket, relating the stories of her family, the removal of Indigenous tribes from their ancestral lands, the Pecan tree with its nutritious nut, and the knowledge of her people.
Kimmerer writes of what biologists call “Plant Blindness,” the lack of public awareness of the importance of the Earth’s ecosystems and the government’s inability to enact protective policies. To notice the natural world, to see it and feel it, is the first step toward protecting it. Slowing down, listening, and observing are not passive acts; they are forms of participation that restore our connection and responsibility.
Human well-being and ecological health are inseparable. Repairing the damage we caused to ecosystems and honoring nature’s rhythms will ease our troubled minds and open a path to the future for our children and grandchildren. Kimmerer’s call for reciprocity is a call to defend all that the Earth has given. Sustainability is more than minimizing harm; it’s about giving back. Care, restraint, and gratitude are essential acts of reciprocity.