One of my goals for the year is to do more reading. Which makes me feel a tad guilty because it doesn't feel like that is something that should ever get to the point of needing to be a resolution. But life is what it is and this kind of explains why I'm a good ways into April before finishing anything.
There is a list, of course, and the first one up was Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I'm not going to do a full review of the book (or any of them--you can look that stuff up yourself) but I will say it's a great read. An environmental book that is honest, but avoids veering into annoying fatalism. The storytelling method interspersed with scientific information helps explain the whys and hows of how different ecosystems work, but never gives you a bulleted list of no-fail steps.
Because there aren't any. Ultimately it's up to you to piece together what any of that means for you.
That's kind of a lot. Usually I can only think of smaller things. Growing up, we lived on a smallish plot that was long-forgotten about farm land. And said land was littered with remnants of the previous tenants. Well, littered is too strong of a word. Native or not, no one in their right mind would consider raspberries, mulberry, crocus, crabapple, or osage orange litter. But the outline of the previous owners were there, plain as day once you looked. For both better and worse. And it is worthwhile to stop and think about the land you live on. What it once was, what it is now, and what it could be in the future.
EDIT: This book is strongest when it uses concrete examples (be it natural or socioeconomic) and that's probably what the vast majority of people are looking for when they reach for this book. If we're going to try and repair the damage that's been done to the planet, we need plans. Not endless hand-wringing and doomerism.
Next book on the list is whiplash levels of tonal departure, but at least it fits the freakishly cold and rainy weather we've been getting lately.
