"In the Anishinaabe worldview, it's not just fruits that are understood as gifts, rather all of the sustenance that the land provides, from fish to firewood. Everything that makes our lives possible--the splints for baskets, roots for medicines, the trees whose bodies make our homes, and the pages of our books--is provided by the lives of more-than-human beings. This is always true whether it's harvested directly from the forest or whether it's mediated by commerce and harvested from the shelves of a store--it all comes from the Earth. When we speak of these not as things or natural resources or commodities, but as gifts, our whole relationship to the natural world changes." (pg. 8)
"The guidelines of the Honorable Harvest are not usually written down, they are reinforced in small acts of daily life. But if I were to list them they would look something like this:
Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you can take care of them.
Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for a life.
Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer.
Never take the first one. Never take the last.
Take only what you need.
Take only that which is given.
Never take more than half. Leave some for others.
Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken.
Share.
Give thanks for what you have been given.
Give a gift in reciprocity for what you have taken.
Sustain the ones who sustain you and the Earth will last forever."
"The average American can name over a hundred corporate logos and ten plants."
Braiding Sweetgrass by
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on "a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise" (Elizabeth Gilbert). 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. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.
Indigenous Peoples and the Collaborative Stewardship of Nature by
Involving Indigenous peoples and traditional knowledge into natural resource management produces more equitable and successful outcomes. Unfortunately, argue Anne Ross and co-authors, even many "progressive" methods fail to produce truly equal partnerships. This book offers a comprehensive and global overview of the theoretical, methodological, and practical dimensions of co-management. The authors critically evaluate the range of management options that claim to have integrated Indigenous peoples and knowledge, and then outline an innovative, alternative model of co-management, the Indigenous Stewardship Model. They provide detailed case studies and concrete details for application in a variety of contexts. Broad in coverage and uniting robust theoretical insights with applied detail, this book is ideal for scholars and students as well as for professionals in resource management and policy.
Living with Nature, Cherishing Language by
This open access book explores the deep connections between environment, language, and cultural integrity, with a focus on Indigenous peoples from early modern times to the present. It illustrates the close integration of nature and culture through historical processes of environmental change in North, Central, and South America and the nurturing of local knowledge through ancestral languages and oral traditions. This volume fills a unique space by bringing together the issues of environment, language and cultural integrity in Latin American historical and cultural spheres. It explores the reciprocal and necessary relations between language/culture and environment; how they can lead to sustainable practices; how environmental knowledge and sustainable practices toward the environment are reflected in local languages, local sources and local socio-cultural practices. The book combines interdisciplinary methods and initiates a dialogue among scientifically trained scholars and local communities to compare their perspectives on well-being in remote and recent historical periods and it will be of interest to students and scholars in fields including sociolinguistics, (ethno)history, linguistic anthropology, cultural studies and cultural anthropology, environmental studies and Indigenous/minority studies.
Loren Eiseley: Collected Essays on Evolution, Nature, and the Cosmos Vol. 1 (LOA #285) by 
Sacred Landscapes, Indigenous Knowledge, and Ethno-Culture in Natural Resource Management by
This book examines the relationship between sacred landscapes, indigenous knowledge, ethno-culture, and natural resource management. The volume contributes to the existing literature on landscape studies and cultural geography by examining local perceptions toward multiple aspects of sacred landscape and ethno-culture under changing social and economic contexts, with case studies from diverse cultural and geographical areas worldwide. The book is useful for undergraduate and graduate students, policymakers, planners, park managers, and government officials to understand the needs for and natural resources of an area as well as the effect of park policies on people to establish their mutually beneficial relationships. Readers learn how to integrate the concept of sacred landscapes, indigenous knowledge, ethno-culture, and natural resources management to improve human resilience to global environmental change, and to assess the proper development program in resource-deprived areas.
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