In “Speaking of Nature: Finding language that affirms our kinship with the natural world,” Kimmerer (2017) encourages us to foster a deeper connection with nature through language that recognizes personhood for all beings. The Potawatomi “grammar of animacy” uses personifying pronouns that instinctively create a relationship between humans and all living things. This is contrasted with western, colonial culture and language that is based on human exceptionality, which reserves personhood for a single species (Kimmerer, 2014). English speakers objectify nature by using the pronoun, “it” to refer to non-human living beings, resulting in an unconscious distance between humans and the environment. To bridge the language gap, Kimmerer crafts a new pronoun, “ki,” and it’s plural form, “kin” for use in the English language to represent “a being of the living earth” (Kimmerer, 2018, para. 20). The use of these pronouns can create a relationship between humans and non-humans, create a deeper understanding of climate change and ultimately lead to more heartfelt climate solutions.
Imagine if ki and kin pronouns were used in describing climate impacts. When looking at a songbird that may have died due to a heatwave, instead of saying, “it died,” we could contemplate how the intense heat would have affected ki. When discussing declining fish habitat, the comprehension would be around how kin are now homeless. A warming ocean could be conceptualized by feeling how ki is heating up, invoking an implicit feeling of heat in ourselves.
We can think of the climate crisis as a damaged relationship. We are in the stage of unravelling, where one or both partners have checked out. We must understand however, that this is a relationship that we simply cannot live without. We have to dig deep and take responsibility for our role in this relationship. We have to acknowledge where we went wrong, apologize and commit to do better, so we can heal. We need to revisit the past and remember what brought us together in the first place, rekindle the passion and move forward on trust and hope.
Ideally, our relationship-building process will mature to a steady state of harmony: an ongoing, committed exchange of energy, mutual respect and continuous learning. The climate change story would then move away from one of damage and control, to one of reciprocity and ceremony, fostering even deeper connections with relatives. Our solutions would be grounded in love.
This is a future I have been contemplating at my sit spot. I am learning that when I can connect with nature, I feel hope and gain understanding. When I am challenged by something that feels big, or I have questions about how to proceed, I take to the outdoors.
Today, a downy woodpecker surprised me as I stepped outside, flying in front of me and landing closeby. Ki held me in awe. I stared, frozen. I watched and listened and felt. We connected.
What would an ongoing, harmonious, mature relationship between humans and nature feel like? How can we move to a time of ongoing exchange, deep respect and commitment to all of our relatives, both human and non-human? Would we have to look backwards in time, or into the future?
A downy woodpecker.
Photo credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology
References
Cornell Lab of Ornithology (n.d.). All About Birds. Downy Woodpecker Identification. Retrieved from: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Downy_Woodpecker/id
Kimmerer, R. W. (2014). Returning the Gift. Minding Nature, 7(2),18-24. https://www.humansandnature.org/filebin/pdf/minding_nature/May2014_Returning_the_Gift.pdf
Kimmerer, R. W. (2017). Speaking of nature: Finding language that affirms our kinship with the natural world. Orion Magazine. https://orionmagazine.org/article/speaking-of-nature/
Hey Kerra,
Wonderful to read your thoughts and ideas. I really agree with you when you say we should rethink the climate crisis as a ‘damaged relationship’. I think that’s exactly what it is. The foundation of our bond with the natural world has cracked and we need to be the catalysts mending it. Harmony is the goal, indeed. But how do we get there? I always ask myself this question. Thanks for sharing.
Tony
Kerra, I really loved your description of our relationship “unraveling”. There is such devastation associated with that, but also much hope. It is a process that is messy, filled with sweet grief, and ripe for growth in a new direction. I wonder how we will look back at this time of unraveling and how our connection to nature will have shifted over time.
Hi Kerra! Like Tony and Leah, I resonated with your metaphor that climate change is a damaged relationship. Seeing ourselves as in relationship with the world – rather than fighting it – is an idea that has power. Like most relationships, we have our ups and downs, but it’s worth the effort. Your post reminds me of the reading from Week 10 by Heglar (2019): “Home is Always Worth It” (although interestingly the author uses the concept of “fighting”, as in: “Home is worth fighting for”). Even when talking about things we love it’s hard to get away from fighting/war metaphors!
Hi Kerra.
This is a really nice piece. My favorite line was: “Ideally, our relationship-building process will mature to a steady state of harmony: an ongoing, committed exchange of energy, mutual respect and continuous learning.” The words ‘ongoing’ and ‘continuous’ really struck me, as I think our work with climate change is going to be just that – ongoing and continuous. Instead of ‘solving climate change’ we will be adapting to it and working to minimize it for the rest of our lives (and then our children will be doing the same, and so on).
Lovely insights Kerra. I too have been captured in stillness by woodpeckers, but here it’s usually the Northern Flicker, who teaches me much about the rhythms of the world, and the means of communicating our place in and with the world!
Your framing of the crisis as an unravelling relationship calls to mind the work on the Great Turning by Joanna Macy, a Buddhist environmental activist. You might enjoy her work if you are not already familiar with it!
Thanks,
Shandell