Archive for the ‘environment’ Tag
Throughout its 384 pages, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer has crafted an ode to the wonder of nature, all that it has to teach us and what is lost through neglect/apathy. If only, we were good students.
Kimmerer is a member of the Potawatomi Nation and an environmental biology professor. This combination lends itself to her role as an intermediary between the past lessons of First Nations people and current attitudes toward the world around us.
The author’s message is delivered in an engaging, almost conversational, manner as she shares personal experience, ancestral legends and perspectives from conservationists, family members and others.
In her preface, Kimmerer writes of the beauty of sweetgrass, which is often braided to honor the earth. In place of the physical grass, she “offers in its place, a braid of stories meant to heal our relationship with the world.” Like a tangible braid, it’s “woven from three strands: Indigenous ways of knowing, scientific knowledge, and the story of an Anishinabekwe scientist trying to bring them together in service to what matters most.”
For me, this was a slow read, but not because it slogged along. Rather, it seemed important to savor and consider the points made.
Braiding Sweetgrass
Four Bookmarks
Milkweed, 2013
384 pages, plus notes, sources and acknowledgements
Usually, I’m not a Margaret Atwood fan. She makes it so difficult, through depressing stories and odd characterizations, to appreciate her wit, imagery and intellect. Reluctantly, I read The Year of the Flood. It was the choice for my book group, and the All Pikes Peak Reads 2012 selection. As part of the APPR festivities, Atwood spoke about sustainability and survival: two prevalent themes in her works.
Surprisingly, once I started reading I was anxious to continue. Although Atwood dismisses claims The Year of the Flood is a post-apocalyptic tale, nothing better describes it. The story takes place in a time when mutations, genetic engineering and an order of fear prevail. The flood refers to an unknown deluge caused by man’s errors and destructive predispositions. It is not a natural phenomenon; it’s a “waterless flood.”
God’s Gardeners is a small cult with a foundation in Christianity that celebrates the lives of such people as Rachel Carson and Euell Gibbons, among others, for the contributions they made to saving the environment. The Gardeners strive to protect nature and prepare for (and later survive) the flood. Within the cult, Toby and Ren, represent maturity and youth, respectively. Their narratives move the story forward. Atwood said she purposely incorporates multiple voices in her works because “I don’t like everyone to sound the same.” Toby is represented in third person, while Ren offers a first person perspective. The sermons of Adam One, the Gardeners’ leader, begin each chapter using second person voice.
I’m glad I read this and even more pleased to have heard Atwood speak. It provided insight into her work, but mostly served to demonstrate her keen sense of humor, which fortunately surfaces in this novel. A novel, by the way, which has, as Atwood stated, “A ray of hope.”
The Year of the Flood
Four Bookmarks
Anchor Books, 2009
431 pages
The Blue Page Special 