Restoration counteracts despair by restoring relational agency

Evidence

Despair is paralysis. It robs us of agency. It blinds us to our own power and the power of the earth. Environmental despair is a poison every bit as destructive as the methylated mercury in the bottom of Onondaga Lake. But how can we submit to despair while the land is saying “Help”? Restoration is a powerful antidote to despair. Restoration offers concrete means by which humans can once again enter into positive, creative relationship with the more-than-human world, meeting responsibilities that are simultaneously material and spiritual. It’s not enough to grieve. It’s not enough to just stop doing bad things. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1203

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Restoring a place requires healing acts beyond mere love of it. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1057; Restoration ecology grew from one man’s refusal of despair — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1210; Theory rooted in self-recovery dissolves the gap between thought and practice (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Restoration ecology grew from one man’s refusal of despair #exemplifies (0.95) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1210
• Theory rooted in self-recovery dissolves the gap between thought and practice #corroborates (0.70)