A plant species persists where it is harvested respectfully and departs where ignored.

Evidence

“It’s our way,” she says, “to take only what we need. I’ve always been told that you never take more than half.” Sometimes she doesn’t take any at all, but just comes here to check on the meadow, to see how the plants are doing. “Our teachings,” she says, “are very strong. They wouldn’t get handed on if they weren’t useful. The most important thing to remember is what my grandmother always said: ‘If we use a plant respectfully it will stay with us and flourish. If we ignore it, it will go away. If you don’t give it respect it will leave us.’” The plants themselves have shown us this—mishkos kenomagwen. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 546

Categorization

• DEFINE: Mishkos kenomagwen — ‘the teachings of grass’ — is the chapter’s central name.
• QUESTION: Is the claim that respectful harvest keeps plants flourishing empirically true, or a moral teaching dressed as fact? The chapter seems set up to test exactly this.
• XREF: connects to: A tree grows equally well for good and bad stewards alike — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 36; Livestock overgrazing can silently convert vast rangeland to a new weed — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 548; Some plants now depend on specific human harvesting practices to survive — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the…, 499 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Sweetgrass flourishes when harvested and declines when left alone #exemplifies (0.95) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 570
• Sweetgrass persists only near Native communities that still harvest it #exemplifies (0.95) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 579
• Some plants now depend on specific human harvesting practices to survive #corroborates (0.90) — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 499
• Respect for a plant can be enacted through sustainable harvest itself #expands (0.90) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 582
• Sweetgrass has become dependent on human harvesting to flourish #corroborates (0.85) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 578
• Indigenous harvesting practices are environmental factors plants depend on for survival #expands (0.80) — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 499
• Sweetgrass renewal after harvest signals the plant’s mutual need for people #expands (0.75) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 585
• Indigenous plant knowledge holds that plants arrive where and when their gifts are needed #corroborates (0.75) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 419
• Habit leaves permanent traces even in plant life that lacks consciousness #expands (0.70)