Hello all, welcome to the final check in for this book. I first read this book slightly more than 2 years ago and it has entered my (not too) short list of 5 star reads since. Not only was the book beautifully written and had a profound change in my way of understanding human's impact on earth, but it also brought be out of a terrible eco-anxiety. So I hope you all have been liking it so far!

As the book weaves so much of the author's life and indigenous knowledge, I'd like to apologise in advance for the injustice these summaries do to it. As usual, questions in the comments!

Windigo Footprints

We are introduced to Windigo, the legendary monster of the Anishinaabe people while Kimmerer illustrates her joirney in and out of a blizzard. The Windigo is a huge stinky beast that used to be human but has now become a carnivore. Once a Windigo, the creature will never be sated and find peace, destined to wander as a monster. The word means “fat excess” or “thinking of oneself”.

The creation story of the Windigo is born out of humankind’s fears and failings. It’s the thing in us that cares more for survival than for anything else. In system science, it represents a positive feedback loop. While a negative feedback loop is required for a stable and balance system. The story helps recognise that this is in all of us and helps us understand why we should fight against it.

While the native habitat of the Windigo was the north woods but now the range has expanded due to a new breed of Windigo, born out of corporations.

As Kimmerer sits in a plane that flies over signs of mining on earth, she notes that these are destruction caused by Windigo. She reflects that it is us who have allowed this to happen, by prioritising consumption over the plane’s limits. She laments that the world has turned inside out and that now indulgence is celebrated and needless consumption is masked as improving quality of life. Despite all that has been said by experts, governments still hold on to the outdated system that threatens humanity.

The Sacred and the Superfund

Kimmerer reflects on the journey spring water take and their many variations as she takes a drink. We are introduced to the thanksgiving address by the Haudenosaunee, thanking the waters of the world, reminding us that we have a responsibility to sustain the world as water does.

She tells us a tale of the Haudenosaunee people. Long ago, the people became greedy and conflict, leading to suffering, was plentiful. But the Peacemaker was born, he spread the message of peace and gathered leaders from all five nations on Onondaga Lake, ending the conflict with an agreement to abide by the Great Law of Peace.

Now, the lake is home to nine superfund sites and what used to be one of the most sacred sites of America is now one of the most polluted lakes in the US. Caused by manufacturers dumping toxic industrial waste and sewage waste from a resulting growing city. The waste is known as Solvay waste, as it’s waste from the Solvay Process which produces soda ash from limestone. Rain water would seep through the waste and from leachate. The sacred lake is now hills of harmful waste.

Because of the waste causing high salinity of the water, aquatic plants cannot survive and many species of aquatic animals have lost their habitat. Algae blooms cover the surface then dies and decays, depleting oxygen beneath. High levels of mercury that was dumped means that anything caught in the lake cannot be eaten. Mud from Onondaga creek, caused by underground salt mining caused the streams flowing into the lake to turn muddy. What used to be a scenic and famous lakeshore has turned into wasteland.

Kimmerer talks about the Onondaga rights which was broken after the revolutionary war significantly reduced their population. The land that was guaranteed to them shrank, their language and traditions were banned. However, the people still continue the ceremonies that honour the land and kept the believe that they were stewards of it even if there isn’t much left to protect.

Some nations have negotiated for land claims through settlements for cash or casino deals. For the Onandaga Nation, they filed a complaint in federal court and it was ruled that the lands were wrongfully taken. They have taken a different approach from others by calling it a land rights action, wanting to gain a legal standing so they can start restoration of the land. The action concerns also the rights of the land, to be whole and healthy. Meaning, a full cleanup of the lake rather than the weak solution offered by Honeywell the successor to the polluting company, Allied Chemical. However, the case was dismissed in 2010. Revisiting it later, Kimmerer found the site to be a maze of tall, overgrown reeds for haunted rides during halloween.

It’s humans who allowed this to happen, from the people in those corporations who decided it was okay to people who did the work. We have long averted our eyes to these environmental problems.

These waste beds are not alone, every one of our homelands have something similar. As we hold them in our minds, Kimmerer asks the question “what do we do in response?”. It is not enough to grieve these lost landscapes but we have to give it as much as it gives us. We cannot give in to despair.

We are taken through Bill Jordan’s idea of ecological restoration. Laws and policy have thus evolved based on research like his. It now includes that restoration must have functional integrity. Taking the indigenous worldview, treating the land as subjects who will drive the restoration, we can see that it has already begun. The land is altered by plants that have taken root and organisms that help it. Humans can have a hand too, by stopping the dumping and redirecting the energies from mud boils, it has allowed the land to heal further. Partnership can form between the land and the people. We won’t be in control of this restoration but we can decide what we want our relationship to the earth to be. Restoration can be viewed as reciprocity. We restore the land and the land restores us. We can’t just restore the land, we must also restore the people’s relationship with it for it is that which will sustain the land.

Side note that the lake has now been cleaned up quite a bit since.

People of Corn, People of Light

We are introduced to the Mayan story of Creation where the divine beings tried creating humans. After failing with mud, wood and light, they finally settled on corn and thus born humanity. Why only corn succeeded? Because corn is the product of the physical world and people. Corn cannot exist without people to tend to it and thus it signifies people's relationship with the world.

Creation is still an ongoing story and perhaps we have not yet become the people of corn. But while indigenous stories are important to know, Kimmerer does not advocate for its appropriation. We may also write our own creation stories. It could be told using the story of photosynthesis, where carbon dioxide and water forms sugar and oxygen through light and chlorophyll and through humans, sugar and oxygen turns into carbon dioxide and water. Only when people understand this relationship that we have with plants then can we become people of corn.

While science allows scientists to view the world this way, it often does not translate well to the public. The scientific worldview is also often an enemy of ecological compassion, the dominent way it sees the world is destructive, separating knowledge and responsibility. Many scientists also lack humility, and don't learn from other species. In the indigenous view, humans are seens as lesser beings and must learn from our elders, the plants, who were here first. Humans are endowed with a gift, of words. And thus it is our responsibility to use it to remember old stories and tell new ones, bringing science and spirit back together.

Collateral Damage

Kimmerer sees a car and heads to the road, the driver drives past without stopping. The news reports bombs over Baghdad and the word "Collateral Damage" is uttered. Kimmerer feels that the words are just a mask for consequences, asking us to look away from man made damage.

Spring has come, marked by the flocks of geese heading to the breeding grounds. As warm rain pours over the forest, animals like the salamanders start moving through the night. However, a road blocks their way. They reach a road and see many animals making their journey across it. They help to stop and pick them up and transport them across. The pregnant females will make its way first.

We are introduced to the salamandar's unique wayfinding abilities, using chemicals, smells and magnetic signals. Kimmerer's daughter had begged her last year to follow them and they do, seeing them lay their eggs on the edge of a vernal pool and bearing witness to their amazing mating ritual.

She reflects that amphibians are one of the most vulnerable groups on the planet due to their habitat loss and toxins in the atmosphere. As a neighbour's truck drives by, Kimmerer likens the scene after to how it may seem in Baghdad, where there are broken bodies on the road. She thinks of how it is both connected to our appetite for oil, both the car and the war.

They encounter another group of people doing the same thing as them, students from a herpetology class at the college. They are supposed to study the effects of roads on amphibians so as to persuade the state to take action. To do so, they would have to count how many who made it across safely and how many haven't. No human intervention is allowed, a short term cost to a long term benefit. They note that their rescues tonight would have biased the study. Even though that is the case, Gibbs, the conservation biologist responsible for this study has done his own rescues.

At the end of this night of rescue, they drive back, hearing news of war on the radio. She reflects that people suffer from a species loneliness, estranged from the rest of creation. As she walks along the road, the loneliness dissolves for a moment. Each time a salamander is rescued, we attest to their right to live and be. Carrying salamanders helps them remember reciprocity. For that one night, it helps them clear their name as they grieve the breaking world.

Shkitagen: People of the Seventh Fire

Kimmerer reminisces when her father taught them how to build fire, from collecting the wood to making the fire and doing so in all seasons. It had helped her appreciate what the woods give us. The act of making a fire without matches requires balance and perfect reciprocity. Till now, her dad still teaches fire at the Native youth science camp.

We are brought to a scene where he teaches students about the kinds of fires. They talk about forest fires which actually can be beneficial to the land. For instance, birch trees only grow after forest fires. Fire can be a way to give back to the land as well.

Shkitagen is fungus that grows on the bark of the paper and yellow birch. It has a cracked exterior, as though it has been burnt. Shkitagen is a firekeeper, helping fires stay burning and hold its heat. However, it's getting harder and harder to find due to fire suppression practices.

The sacred fire is a symbol of life and spirit, it's always a piece of us that we have to tend to. Like fire that can be used for good or destruction, your own sacred fire can do the same, so we have to be careful.

For the Anishinaabe people, 'fires' refer to places we have lived, events and teachings surrounding them. The narrative of the people is known as the Seventh Fire Prophecy. The Prophecy tells the story of the earth, from when the nations separated into three, came together, welcomed the white skinned people who destroyed the earth and took away their culture. Now, the people of the seventh fire will walk the paths of the ancestors, collect those pieces and rebuild the nation. These people are the youths of today. The Prophecy provides us with 3 paths forward, one that is soft and green, to be trodden barefoot; the other is pavement that later buckles with heat. Humans are not alone if we want to choose the right path, there are many who want to help.

Kimmerer recalls a night where she was a climate refugee, the fear and displacement she felt. She reflects that for many people, it lasts way more than a night. She prays that we will make the right choices. She then thinks about the act of making fire. Humans provide the work and knowledge, the earth provides the materials and then there's the spark that is unknown. We'll need to keep our eyes, minds and hearts open to seek the shkitagen of the forest as well as trust the generoisity of the earth.

Defeating Windigo

We start the chapter with a sad story about woods being cleared by loggers brought in by a neighbour. Leaving behind diseased beech and old hemlocks and smaller plants that will burn in the summer sun.

Kimmerer thinks about stories and legends of the past, of ways to banish and kill Windigo but it always comes back. Some people argue that climate change will defeat economies based on taking and not reciprocity. But Kimmerer argues that by then, Windigo will have taken too much.

In the stories, people called upon their champion, Nanabozho, who will fight against Windigo. Nanabozho hunts Windigo in the summer, the time of plenty. Abundance weakens the power of Windigo. In modern economies, the first principle is scarcity. Artificially created scarcity in the market blocks people from what they need. Kimmerer reflects that she does know know the answer to the alternative.

However, the teachings of "One Bowl and One Spoon" is shared with us. This is where one bowl which contains all the gifts of earth is shared from one spoon. Where essential resources are commonly held and not commodified.

Systemic changes are not enough, however, we must also change our mindset. We must cultivate gratitude so we can be released from Windigo psychosis. Gratitude celebrates cultures of regenerative reciprocity, wealth is understood to be enough to share, and relationships are mutually beneficial. It helps us refuse to participate in an economy that destroys earth and demand one for life. However, it is extremely hard to do.

We are brought to another story, where the protagonist laments that they have no weapons like Nanabozho. However, they don't feel alone, lying beside earth's gifts. They gather buckthorn, a plant that acts like a colonist and is poisonous. They make buckthorn tea, and when Windigo comes, they feed it the tea. The Windigo is poisoned from the buckthorn tea and lies in the snow. Then, the protagonist feeds it medicine, containing the gifts of the earth. Then, they tell Windigo the creation story.

Epilogue: Returning the Gift

We start with a depiction of the minidewak, a ceremony in the Potawatomi nation where everyone lines up to take presents made by everyone. Regardless of the gift, the sentiment is the same. Generosity. It is where the well-being of one is linked to the well-being of all. Wealth among them is measured by having enough to give away. Hoarding gifts makes us too heavy with possessions to join the dance.

Everyone who has received gifts will follow the circle of reciprocity and the next time they will give, and so on. The gift is different from something you buy, it is precious and cannot be dishonoured. Kimmerer reflects that it may stem from plants, who offer up gifts freely.

We're reminded of the one bowl, one spoon teaching, and that every bowl has a bottom. How do we refill the bowl when it's empty then? By using reciprocity, like spreading the seeds of berries.

Kimmerer likens fossil fuel extration to theft of the house while such a ceremony takes place. If we had just reciprocated the gifts and took what was given, we would not be in crisis. She hopes for the day that people will realise the gifts of the earth, give thanks and reciprocate. Give back in ways that will honour Mother Earth.