On this day it is good to remind ourselves of how truly special a home planet we live on, how totally and thoroughly we are dependent on Mother Earth who daily showers us with myriad gifts. When I saw our first pasqueflowers of the season only this past week, with the buds and flowers emerging straight out of the earth, I thought they were perfect metaphors for, and reminders of, some of those gifts.
To enlarge a photo, click on it. To read its caption, hover cursor over it.
Just as I did on last year’s Earth Day, I would, once again, like to reference the thoughtful, poignant words of Robin Wall Kimmerer, member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, biology professor, and profoundly inspiring author, whose bestselling book, Braiding Sweetgrass has at its heart our relationship with, and responsibility to, Mother Earth. She repeatedly reminds us of the importance of reciprocity. When we are given gifts, we typically express our gratitude by gifting something to the giver in return, and she encourages us to do the same to Mother Earth.
I don’t know about you, but I am very discouraged about our progress (or lack thereof) with regard to reaching climate goals. I also believe that our “western” world view is skewed because earth and everything it is made of is considered a commodity and because for millennia, we have acted as if we were the only species on this planet, as if there were no tomorrow, living with the attitude “après moi, le deluge.”
When I first read Braiding Sweetgrass a few years ago, it spoke to me on numerous levels and I loved learning about a worldview, shared by many Indigenous groups, that strives to exist better on this planet, the only habitable one in the universe, at least based on current knowledge. I would like to share more passages from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book and ask you to, please, bear with me, as I had trouble curtailing much of what she says at the end of the book, where she suggests how to live in a loving, respectful way that would represent a paradigm shift for many of us.
In her epilogue, she describes a treasured ritual practiced by the Potawatomi which also has deeper meaning:
. . . our traditional giveaway, the minidewak, [is] an old ceremony well loved by our people and a frequent feature of powwows. In the outside world, people who are celebrating life events can look forward to receiving presents in their honor. In the Potawatomi way, this expectation is turned upside down. It is the honored one who gives the gifts, who piles the blanket high to share good fortune with everyone in the circle.
. . . I don’t know the origin of the giveaway, but I think that we learned it from watching the plants, especially the berries who offer up their gifts all wrapped in red and blue. We may forget the teacher, but our language remembers: our word for the giveaway, minidewak, means “they give from the heart.” At the word’s center lives the word min. Min is a root word for gift, but it is also the word for berry. In the poetry of our language, might speaking of minidewak remind us to be as the berries?
The berries are always present at our ceremonies. They join us in a wooden bowl. One big bowl and one big spoon, which are passed around the circle, so that each person can taste the sweetness, remember the gifts, and say thank you. They carry the lesson, passed to us by our ancestors, that the generosity of the land comes to us as one bowl, one spoon. We are all fed from the same bowl that Mother Earth has filled for us. It’s not just about the berries, but also about the bowl. The gifts of the earth are to be shared, but gifts are not limitless. The generosity of the earth is not an invitation to take it all. Every bowl has a bottom. When it’s empty, it’s empty. And there is but one spoon, the same size for everyone.
How do we refill the empty bowl? Is gratitude alone enough? Berries teach us otherwise. When berries spread out their giveaway blanket, offering their sweetness to birds and bears and boys alike, the transaction does not end there. Something beyond gratitude is asked of us. The berries trust that we will uphold our end of the bargain and disperse their seeds to new places to grow, which is good for berries and good for boys. They remind us that all flourishing is mutual (my emphasis). We need the berries and the berries need us. Their gifts multiply by our care for them, and dwindle from our neglect. We are bound by a covenant of reciprocity, a pact of mutual responsibility to sustain those who sustain us. And so the empty bowl is filled.
Somewhere along the line, though, people have abandoned berry teachings. Instead of sowing richness, we diminish the possibilities for the future at every turn. But the uncertain path to the future could be illuminated by language. In Potawatomi, we speak of the land as emingoyak: that which has been given to us. In English, we speak of the land as “natural resources” or “ecosystem services,” as if the lives of other beings were our property. As if the earth were not a bowl of berries, but an open pit mine, and the spoon a gouging shovel.
Imagine that while our neighbors were holding a giveaway, someone broke into their home to take whatever they wanted. We would be outraged at the moral trespass. So it should be for the earth. The earth gives away for free the power of wind and sun and water, but instead we break open the earth to take fossil fuels. Had we taken only that which is given to us, had we reciprocated the gift, we would not have to fear our own atmosphere today (my emphasis).
We are all bound by a covenant of reciprocity: plant breath for animal breath, winter and summer, predator and prey, grass and fire, night and day, living and dying. Water knows this, clouds know this. Soil and rocks know they are dancing in a continuous giveaway of making, unmaking, and making again the earth.
Our elders say that ceremony is the way we can remember to remember. In the dance of the giveaway, remember that the earth is a gift that we must pass on, just as it came to us. When we forget, the dances we’ll need will be for mourning. For the passing of polar bears, the silence of cranes, for the death of rivers and the memory of snow.
The book could end on this heartbreaking note. Instead, the author shares another vision:
. . . I envision people recognizing, for perhaps the first time, the dazzling gifts of the world, seeing them with new eyes, just as they teeter on the cusp of undoing. Maybe just in time. Or maybe too late. Spread on the grass, green over brown, they will honor at last the giveaway from Mother Earth. Blankets of moss, robes of feathers, baskets of corn, and vials of healing herbs. Silver salmon, agate beaches, sand dunes. Thunderheads and snowdrifts, cords of wood and herds of elk. Tulips. Potatoes. Luna moths and snow geese. And berries. More than anything, I want to hear a great song of thanks rise on the wind. I think that song might save us.
The moral covenant of reciprocity calls us to honor our responsibility for all we have been given, for all that we have taken. It’s our turn now, long overdue. Let us hold a giveaway for Mother Earth, spread our blankets out for her and pile them high with gifts of our own making. Imagine the books, the paintings, the poems, the clever machines, the compassionate acts, the transcendent ideas, the perfect tools. The fierce defense of all that has been given. Gifts of mind, hands, heart, voice, and vision all offered up on behalf of the earth. Whatever our gift, we are called to give it and to dance for the renewal of the world.
In return for the privilege of breath.
🌍🌎🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍🌎🌏
Every day needs to be Earth Day.
tanja britton 
Well said. We are fully dependent on Mother Earth. The idea of receiving gifts and giving something back is to bear in mind.
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Thank you. The entire book is about living in a way that’s better for the world and all its denizens. It has moved me like no other book–ever.
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Oh , such a well expressed post. We have much to learn from native cultures.
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Thank you, Cathy. This is the most profound and meaningful book about life on this planet I have ever read.
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Whenever I hear about the search for habitable planets outside our solar system, it always seems that people are looking for places where life as we know it could exist. But why should we assume that life is restricted to forms that could survive on earth? Even here we have a huge range of life forms, including, for example, thermophile bacteria that “are capable of growing, carrying out metabolic processes, and reproducing at these extreme temperatures [of between 60°–80°C].” We can easily conceive of beings that exist in more extreme conditions than that, perhaps even as forms of energy devoid of bodies in the traditional sense. Whether any such forms of life actually exist, we don’t know.
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Whenever I hear about the search for habitable planets outside our solar system I’m appalled about the possibility that we will find one, as we likely would trash it just the way we have trashed earth. If we focused all the research and resources on making life more livable for everyone in the here and now, everybody would be better off.
This in no way belittles or discounts the possibility that other life forms exist on other planets. The more we learn about some of the extreme ones here, the more likely that seems.
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Pasque comes from the Old French word for Easter, which is now well past for this year. But tonight begins Passover, which in Hebrew is Pesach, the same word that passed from Hebrew through several languages on its way to becoming the pasque in pasque flower, so called because it usually blooms close to Easter (though this year the pre-Christian meaning ‘Passover’ reasserts itself).
I see from your captions that German refers to the pasque flower as a little rose, even if botanists classify it in the family Ranunculaceae. That family includes the genus Anemone, whose species often produce, as they go to seed, fuzzy strands, just as the pasque flower does. In fact Pulsatilla patens used to be Anemone patens. I also noticed that German ausgebreitet translates Latin patens.
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In one of my old plant identification guides, Pasque Flowers still are listed as Anemone patens. I hardly ever find this plant at the time Easter is celebrated, especially in years when it’s celebrated as early as this year, when the blooming does, indeed, coincide with Passover.
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I just finished reading “Braiding Sweetgrass” and I too was enchanted by the stories about how Indigenous people treat the earth and it’s gifts. I think reading it has deepened my commitment to do better for the environment and really think of the earth as as a mother. Happy Earth Day Tanja! You are right every day should be Earth day.❤️🐝🐦⬛🍓🌻
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Thank you, Julie. I’m glad you also enjoyed reading Braiding Sweetgrass. It totally swept me off my feet. It rings so true to me, more than anything else I have read about this earth and how we could exist in order to make it a better place for every living being. It’s amazing in scope, profound in its pronouncements, and so eloquently written. Every time I read it I discover something new.
I’m convinced that most of us need a new way to think about life, and this book gives us one.
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So true Tanja, I wish everyone could read this book!
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Es gibt sie noch, die Menschen, die Mutter Erde nicht ausnutzen.
Aber es sind zu wenige.
Ich wünsche Mutter Erde alles Gute zum Muttertag.
Mögen ihre Kinder begreifen, dass sie nur diese eine Mutter haben.
Liebe Grüße Brigitte
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Danke, liebe Brigitte. Wir sind alle mit verantwortlich durch unsere Existenz und Lebensweise, und es ist nicht einfach, plötzlich seinen Lebensstil zu ändern. Ich denke das passiert für die meisten Menschen erst dann, wenn es sein muß. Es ist total deprimierend, daß viele überhaupt keine Abstriche machen wollen. Ich hoffe, meine pessimistische Aussicht wird sich nicht bewahrheiten, und daß wir doch noch Lösungen finden, bevor dieser Planet unbewohnbar sein wird.
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Thank you. Happy Earth Day! 🌎
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Thank you for your comment, Cindy.
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I think of every day as Earth Day, my life truly centers around it!
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Thank you, Eliza, I feel exactly the same way.
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🙏🏼
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Sounds like a good read, Tanja.
I’ll add a quote that I found in the landscaping at Melbourne Zoo.
“The wildlife of today is not ours to dispose of as we please. We have it in trust, and must account for it to those who come after.”
King George VI of England (1895-1952)
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Thank you for your comment and for sharing the quote, Vicki. I agree with it, but I think humans have too often paid lip service to it, without really living up to it. That seems to be the story of humankind.
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Nice Tribute. I remember my first Earth Day in 6th grade (not going to say the year). Some good has come since then. However, too many lobbyists (and ignorance) have stymied the possibility of meaningful progress.
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Thank you for your comment, Brad. I agree that there has been some progress, but not enough, and not fast enough. For whatever reason, humankind is doomed to knowing what needs to be done, but isn’t doing it.
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It’s the old “someone should do something” mantra.
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Yes. We need to look in the mirror when we say it!
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Used to be part of my job for a major data center. Saved MWs on cooling, tons of water, and reduced office waste. Then a new manager arrived and it all stopped, or slowed.
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That makes no sense. 😦
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Earth Day is every day, when things can change thanks to messages like yours.
Thank you for this amazing post and for caring about our world!❣️
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Thank you for your kind comment, Luisa. And for also caring about our precious world.
Take care,
Tanja
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You’re most welcome 💐
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This is so beautiful Tanja. Such a lovely evocation for Earth Day. I will reflect on reciprocity.
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Thank you for your comment, Lisa. The entire book is full of similarly beautiful and profound thoughts and suggestions. Despite all the devastation it delves into, the tenor of the book is still hopeful, mostly, I think, because the author knows about the incredible resilience of Nature (to a point, of course).
I suspect that you are reciprocating in many ways by being such a wonderful gardener: by providing beauty, sustenance and habitat for pollinators, birds, and other beings, by recycling carbon and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere, and by treat your garden with respect and love. That’s more than many of us can claim.
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I immensely enjoyed reading your post on Mother Earth’s contribution to life, Tanja. I especially liked the quote: The earth gives away for free the power of wind and sun and water, but instead we break open the earth to take fossil fuels. Had we taken only that which is given to us, had we reciprocated the gift, we would not have to fear our own atmosphere today. I guess that the big corporations do not like nature’s free energy sources because there is not much money in them to satisfy the greed for higher and higher profits.
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Thank you, Peter. That passage you quoted also stopped me in my tracks. It’s the hard truth that nobody wants to hear. We are all complicit in the system, especially if we live in the western world, and it takes a very conscious decision and some effort to try to live differently.
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So true everyday should be earth day. And the first world’s obsession over for oil etc has spread worldwide. We’re in El Salvador right now and they are addicted to environmentally unfriendly buses and cars that are spewing black exhaust not to mention the amount of single use plastic. We need to clean up our backyard, but also help the poorer countires to understand and manage the problem too. Great article. Maggie
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Thank you for your comment, Maggie, it’s much appreciated. Let’s hope we, as a world community, will get our act together so we can clean up our act!
Safe travels!
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This is so powerful. Thank you sharing more of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s wisdom – her insights should give us all cause for reflection. We can only hope that her message begins to find traction with the wider population, including those decision makers whose actions could make a big difference.
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Thank you for taking the time to read through this long post and for commenting. Braiding Sweetgrass is full of thoughtful and wise reflections and I wholeheartedly share your wish for her message to spread and be heeded more wildly.
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Dieses Buch muss jeden Menschen aufwecken, der nicht aufhört, diesen skrupellosen Raubbau an unserer schönen Erde zu treiben, sie zu verschmutzen, zu vermüllen und zu vergiften. Denn Raubbau, Erosion und Beton verwandeln immer mehr Erdboden in Ödland. Wieviel unserer schönen Erde ist schon verbaut, verwüstet und verloren! Es ist einfach nur unfassbar traurig.
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This book must wake up every person who will not stop this unscrupulous exploitation of our beautiful earth, polluting it, littering it and poisoning it. Because overexploitation, erosion and concrete are turning more and more soil into wasteland. How much of our beautiful earth has already been built up, devastated and lost! It’s just incredibly sad.
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Das sehe ich genauso, liebe Rosie, und ich danke Dir herzlich für Deinen leidenschaftlichen Kommentar in gleich zwei Sprachen!
I agree with you wholeheartedly and thank you for your impassioned comment in two languages!
Herzensgrüße von mir,
Tanja
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Your header image is arresting as is the strength and fragility in those flowers. The passage from “Braiding Sweetgrass” is very moving and profound. You alerted me to this book in previous posts and at last I have managed to find a copy, albeit an e-book on our local library system. I am looking forward to reading it – it seems to be so wise and lyrical, informative and motivating in these times when it is easy to despair. Thank you for this Earth Day post. What the book says should surely awaken us – so that we can see that the all-encompassing giveaways from Earth should inspire us to give back and not to steal and destroy.
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Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Carol. Your assessment of “Braiding Sweetgrass” is very apropos and I’m excited that you followed up and tried to get a copy. Too bad you couldn’t find a print copy, but maybe you don’t mind reading an e-book. I found myself copying many memorable passages from that book and each time I read it, I discover something new. This is not a fast read, but it’s well worth the time it takes to get through it.
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Thanks Tanja. I have started reading the book and am enjoying it. It is very engaging. This is the first e-book I have read! So far it is fine.
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You’re my inspiration in my content writing journey.
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Thank you!
Best wishes,
Tanja
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I read and was thoroughly impressed by ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ last year. I think it’s a book that everyone should read and that it ought to be on the curriculum in schools. Kimmerer has a huge amount to teach us about the necessity of respecting nature and how much we are ourselves part of it.
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Thank you for your comment, Ann. I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment. This book has touched me like few others. I’m so glad you decided to read it. I only wish I had known about it earlier in my life.
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Sounds like and interesting read. I think part of the problem with regards to planet awareness is due to the constant hypocrisy we are inundated with. I think a lot more people would have open ears if leadership was living by example. The private jets lined up at Davos is the prime example or Taylor Swift trying to tell people “they” are the problem. Time to lead by example and learn the powers of virtual meetings. In addition, I think it would be extremely helpful if we could get youth away from the TVs and smart phone video addictions and out in nature so they understand the value and beauty. I don’t have the answers, but clearly something has to change. Thanks for bringing more awareness.
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Thank you for your comment, Brian. I know there are no simple solutions to very serious and multilayered problems. I have come to the conclusion that our “western” approach to trying to solve them is incomplete and impossible because it’s based on such a human-centered, destructive way of viewing the world. Robin Wall Kimmerer shows a different way, one that is better not only for humans but for all the myriad other creatures with whom we share this planet.
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