The thanksgiving roll call doubles as an ecological health assessment tool

Evidence

Thanksgiving also reminds us of how the world was meant to be in its original condition. We can compare the roll call of gifts bestowed on us with their current status. Are all the pieces of the ecosystem still here and doing their duty? Is the water still supporting life? Are all those birds still healthy? When we can no longer see the stars because of light pollution, the words of Thanksgiving should awaken us to our loss and spur us to restorative action. Like the stars themselves, the words can guide us back home. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 404

Categorization

• XREF: Directly useful hinge to reading-the-landscape and eco-justice courses: the Address as a monitoring protocol comparing original gifts to current ecological status.
• SEED: A content angle: using the Thanksgiving Address as an environmental baseline/audit — ‘are all the birds still healthy?’ as an indigenous sustainability indicator.