Braiding Sweetgrass Book Discussion

A book discussion of Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall-Kimmerer will start Wednesday, September 16 from 6:00-7:30 pm in the downtown Appleton Library Unconference Room, first floor, facilitated by Unity of Appleton EarthCare. This is the first of four sessions to be held monthly.

We will discuss the first 100 pages. As you read, please make notations of concepts which stand-out.

Here is a book review of Braiding Sweetgrass:

An inspired weaving of indigenous knowledge, plant science, and personal narrative from a distinguished professor of science and a Native American whose previous book, Gathering Moss, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing.

As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowing together to reveal what it means to see humans as "the younger brothers of creation.” As she explores these themes she circles toward a central argument: the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the world. Once we begin to listen for the languages of other beings, we can begin to understand the innumerable life-giving gifts the world provides us and learn to offer our thanks, our care, and our own gifts in return.