Robin Wall Kimmerer

Getting scientists to consider the validity of indigenous knowledge is like swimming upstream in cold, cold water. They’ve been so conditioned to be skeptical of even the hardest of hard data that bending their minds toward theories that are verified without the expected graphs or equations is tough. Couple that with the unblinking assumption that science has cornered the market on truth and there’s not much room for discussion.

I’ve heard it said that sometimes, in return for the gifts of the earth, gratitude is enough. It is our uniquely human gift to express thanks, because we have the awareness and the collective memory to remember that the world could well be otherwise, less generous than it is. But I think we are called to go beyond cultures of gratitude, to once again become cultures of reciprocity.

Experiments are not about discovery but about listening and translating the knowledge of other beings.

Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.

If we allow traditions to die, relationships to fade, the land will suffer.

Much of what fills our mouths is taken forcibly from the earth. That form of taking does no honor to the farmer, to the plants, or to the disappearing soil. It’s hard to recognize food that is mummified in plastic, bought and sold, as a gift anymore. Everybody knows you can't buy love. In a garden, food arises from partnership. If I don’t pick rocks and pull weeds, I'm not fulfilling my end of the bargain. I can do these things with my handy opposable thumb and capacity to use tools, to shovel manure. But I can no more create a tomato or embroider a trellis in beans than I can turn lead into gold. That is the plants' responsibility and their gift: animating the inanimate. Now there is a gift.

For me, writing is an act of reciprocity with the world; it is what I can give back in return for everything that has been given to me.

Through reciprocity the gift is replenished. All of our flourishing is mutual.

How do we show our children our love? Each in our own way by a shower of gifts and a heavy rain of lessons.

Respect one another, support one another, bring your gift to the world and receive the gifts of others, and there will be enough for all.

To become indigenous is to grow the circle of healing to include all of Creation.

We are all the product of our worldviews—even scientists who claim pure objectivity.