Clearcutting a gift relationship breaks the plants’ trust that humans would protect them
Evidence
There are so many ways to harvest honorably, but he chose otherwise, leaving only diseased beech and a few old hemlocks, worthless to the mill. The trillium, bloodroot, hepatica, bellwort, trout lily, ginger, and wild leeks are all smiling their last into the spring sun, which will burn them out when summer comes to a forest without trees. They trusted that the maples would be there, but the maples are gone. And they trusted me. Next year this will all be brambles—garlic mustard and buckthorn, the invasive species that follow Windigo footprints. … I fear that a world made of gifts cannot coexist with a world made of commodities. I fear that I have no power to protect what I love against the Windigo. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1384
Categorization
- ADDENDUM: A strong on-the-ground case for the Grafting and Growth essay’s themes about human-tree relationship and forests as underestimated infrastructure.
- XREF: connects to: Garden food arises from human-plant partnership where each supplies what the other cannot — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 444; Harvesting ritual asks a plant’s consent and aims to bond children to place — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 623; Plants who take care of us provide models humans adopt for survival — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 823 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Trust grows out of the specific relationship between the parties
#expands(0.75) - Cooperative relationships require asymmetric giving at their outset
#expands(0.72) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 341