Life on Earth is not a zero-sum affair. Most plants only exist thanks to partnerships with fungal filaments in the soil which mobilise essential nutrients for them and receive sugars made from sunlight in exchange. Without those partnerships, humans and most other land animals which depend on plants either directly or at one or two removes would not exist. Cooperation gives rise to a living world that is vastly more complex, productive and beautiful than the sum of its parts.
An understanding of this reality is one of the key insights of an ecological worldview; and, argues Robin Wall Kimmerer in this short and charming book, it is of vital relevance when thinking about how human societies and individuals might organise, and think differently and more expansively about the future.
For Kimmerer, the serviceberry is an instance and object lesson. This tree (a North American cousin to the rowan that derives its name from Sorbus, the scientific name for the family of which both are members) provides food in superfluity to both humans and other animals. In spring it is a source of pollen for newly emerging insects. In autumn it produces delicious fruits. Bozakmin, the native American name, means ‘the best of berries’. ‘Imagine,’ writes Kimmerer, ‘a fruit that tastes like a blueberry crossed with the satisfying heft of an apple, a touch of rosewater, and a minuscule crunch of almond-flavoured seeds.’ The serviceberry thrives in a mutual relation with other life forms which spread its pollen and seeds as well as consume them.
A biographical note describes Kimmerer as a mother, a scientist (she is a botanist), a decorated professor and a member of the Potawatomi Nation, who are one of the Anishinaabe peoples of the Great Lakes region.
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