Giving back

Regenerative Culture Spiritual Technology
#1

I couldn’t decide what section to put this in, so feel free to move it somewhere more appropriate!

As I’ve been out in the woods way more lately, harvesting plant foods and whatnot, I’ve started to worry about the whole Taker/Giver thing, and whether or not I’m taking more than I’m giving. But really, the only thing that I can think of to do is piss and shit in the woods, along with all the crappy eco-liberal petition signing kind of stuff.

So, the question is, what are you doing to give back to the land you’re taking sustenance from, or what are some things you would suggest I do?

#2

Always remember to say please and thankyou!
And throw the seeds of the plant who you gather from. They like that.

#3

I think one way of giving back is simply to be mindful of what you’re taking and how you’re taking it and what effect it is having on the land and the wildlife.

If you’re allowing it to flourish, or even helping it flourish in the way that you forage it, then you are giving back using your mind and using your understanding of your surroundings, instead of simply physically (pissing and shitting).

Not that I personally have an intense knowledge of botany or anything… (yet)

#4

In building my wigwam, I’ve been conscious to only cut saplings growing right near/under larger trees when I can. This way, I encourage the larger trees to grow even larger, while taking trees that would likely be choked out or blocked from sunlight by the larger trees in a few years. Years from now, when I have more old trees, this will help the forest as a whole by encouraging more animal life. Plus, I’m using black birch, which can be tapped for birch beer (yum!) when they grow large, so encouraging certain ones to grow big benefits me again!

Giving back often allows an ecosystems to give back to you in turn, like any healthy relationship.

#5

I’ve also been thinking about this alot (receiving from the world and giving back in return - the endless interconnected relationship we all should have with our larger communities). I really like how Derrick Jensen put it - that in taking from the world (consuming, which as animals we must do to survive), we enter into a “contract” to in turn preserve and promote the health of the community of whatever we are taking. So if we hunt a deer, for example, we should do so in a way (and live our lives in a way) to ensure the continuation, and the health, of other deer. If we eat salmon, we should act to remove dams and restore the salmon population.

I think that it IS possible to take what we need from nature in such a way as to make the natural world better off for it. Not to control nature, or impose a human “order” onto it, but to promote diversity and health of the ecosystem. And I think that requires understanding our relationships with all the other beings in our wider community - the mindfulness that Blue Heron was talking about.

I also totally agree with Incendiary_dan:

Giving back often allows an ecosystems to give back to you in turn, like any healthy relationship.

It is helpful for me to remember that giving back to the land in this way - by promoting healthy relationships with all members of our community - actually does benefit us in concrete ways. So it is actually in our self-interest to do so! We only hurt ourselves by turning our backs on these relationships.

#6

I know I say this a lot but the book “Tending the Wild” really shows how indigenous cultures gave back by what they took, how they took it, how often they took it and when they took it. I highly reccomend it!

read more about it

#7

I strongly and enthusiastically second the recommendation for [i]Tending the Wild. In fact, if someone asked me what one book rewilders should read, that would be it.

I think that it IS possible to take what we need from nature in such a way as to make the natural world better off for it. Not to control nature, or impose a human "order" onto it, but to promote diversity and health of the ecosystem. And I think that requires understanding our relationships with all the other beings in our wider community - the mindfulness that Blue Heron was talking about.

Not only possible, it used to be the human way of life. While TTW focuses on California, the way of life described is (with some Place-based differences in detail) the way that my ancestors in the Pacific Northwest and hunter/gatherers lived all over.

There is really not the sharp difference between foraging and horticulture that anthropologists have traditionally promoted (mainly because this Plant-based work was the work of women, and most anthropologists didn’t consider women’s work to be interesting enough to pay attention to). Humans can and have helped to improve the life-supporting ability of the land for all their relations.

Finisia is an example of living that way of life today.

#8

Yeah, sometimes when I’m talking with non-rewilders about “primitive” skills, indigenous people, primitivism, etc, I bring up that I still haven’t started a friction fire, but that’s only cause I know I can do it if I had to (even tho’ it would certainly take a lot of time & effort). On the other hand, understanding the ecology of the land we live in/on/with takes years (at least) of hands on experience, and the consequences of not having that understanding are far more dire than me struggling to start a fire and/or eating a cold meal, or even not eating, for a few days.

I’m not sure, but I think that might eventually sink in with some of them.

#9

One of the main things I took away from spending time with Finisia out in Idaho was to “complete my circles”. I’ve found that that way of thinking has really changed my perspective in a lot of ways, from how I interact with nature to how I interact with people.

I think that when you do your best with the knowledge you have to give back to whatever you take from, it’s always enough. Even simply being grateful. I have a tendency to talk to whatever I take from, thanking it and such. Especially the raccoon that I recently skinned (my first experience of that), or when I eat my meals. It’s always a good feeling to know you’re thankful for the things that give to you.

#10

This looks cool–these folks organize trips where volunteers tear down fences and reseed native plants and such like projects in Eastern Oregon.

Tearing down barbed wire! Woo Hoo! Salmon bake? Bluegrass Music? Hot Springs? Rafting? What?

Looks I found this a little late–we missed most of the 2008 action already. Maybe next year.

#11

Appreciation will change you.

No longer are actions ‘crappy’ or evaluated on effectiveness, all things are seen as part of a whole when appreciation overwhelms your intentions.

Appreciating each step you take on a leaf that accelerates it’s decomposition helps. Then signing a petition might seem huge.

We are all bundled with all kinds of neurotic behaviors of ‘not enough’ that keep the wheels of civilization greased with the sweat of our worrying brows.

Sometimes, appreciation of ‘the little things’ begins with appreciating ourselves.