She defines the gift economy as, “wealth is understood as having enough to share, and the practice for dealing with abundance is to give it away. In fact, status is not determined by how much one accumulates, but by how much one gives away. The currency in a gift economy is relationship, which is expressed in gratitude, as interdependence and the ongoing cycles of reciprocity” (p32-33, Serviceberry). Continue reading
Tag Archives: nature
“Ocean” by David Attenborough: The Documentary and Book that Could Help Us Protect Our Oceans
I have always loved nature documentaries, ever since I was a child. I have been in awe of the natural world and have always felt a powerful urge to protect, learn from, and be in harmony with it. Wildlife and nature documentaries were the gateway drug, so to speak, for a little nature nerd like … Continue reading
Five Books to Help You Understand and Grapple with the Climate Crisis
I’m often thinking about human relationships with the environment – how we’ve used and abused the world around us collectively for such a long time. I’ve been grappling with how I have tried to push back on some of these things and how to make a practical and effective impact on what I do and … Continue reading
Book Review of “Wild Souls” by Emma Marris: Rethinking nature conservation and the wild
Emma Marris’ book Wild Souls was an easy read for me at the beginning of 2022. I saw it in the nonfiction section at my local book store and I was intrigued by the cover. I have been reading a lot of books about nature, the wild, conservation, and human relationships with the non-human world. … Continue reading
Climate Change Literature: A review of Richard Flanagan’s “The Living Sea of Waking Dreams”
Vanishing body parts, bush fires everywhere, and a dying mother. See what I thought of Richard Flanagan’s new novel “The Living Sea of Waking Dreams”. Continue reading
The Romanticisation of Bush Life: a review of Todd Alexander’s “Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and Pig Called Helga”
I picked up Todd Alexander’s memoir Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and A Pig Called Helga because, to put it simply, wine and pigs are a few of my favourite things. The memoir also takes place in cities and regions where I grew up, and I wanted to feel that nostalgia of having my hometown … Continue reading
John Lanchester’s “The Wall”: climate change, building walls, and the world’s future
“It’s guilt: mass guilt, generational guilt. The olds feel they irretrievably fucked up the world, then allowed us to be born in it. You know what? It’s true. That’s exactly what they did. They know it, we know it. Everybody knows it” (55). Continue reading
Nature and Healing: a review of Nikita Gill’s poetry collection “Your Heart Is the Sea”
Nikita Gill’s poetry collection Your Heart Is the Sea follows a contemporary trend that combines survivor poetics with self-love and self-help. It feels like the poetry collection you want to give your friend who is going through a hard time. Her style is raw and beautiful, but what truly makes it impactful is the accessibility … Continue reading
“The Drum that Beats Within Us”: a review of Mike Bond’s eco-critical poetry collection
Mike Bond’s eco-critical poetry collection The Drum that Beats Within Us is a collection of poetry that asks us to look at our environment through the eyes of animals and also asks us to take a close look at our relationship with nature and the city. Furthermore, Bond critiques the state of poetic production and … Continue reading