159. Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Manifesto for a Gift Economy

She’s a botanist, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and the author of the bestselling Braiding Sweetgrass. In her new book she criticizes the market economy — but she and Steve find a surprising amount of common ground.

• SOURCES:
  • Robin Wall Kimmerer, botanist and founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.

• RESOURCES:
  • The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2024).
  • Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2015).
  • Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2003).
  • "The Deadweight Loss of Christmas," by Joel Waldfogel (The American Economic Review, 1993).
  • "Reproductive Ecology of Tetraphis pellucida. I. Population Density and Reproductive Mode," by Robin Wall Kimmerer (The Bryologist, 1991).

• EXTRAS:
  • "The Deadliest Disease in Human History," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2025).
  • "How Smart Is a Forest?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
  • "Jane Goodall Changed the Way We See Animals. She’s Not Done." by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).