Ethics and Ecologies Reading Group
We read:
- non-fiction about Earth ecologies and the ways humans interact with them
- fiction about characters faced with questions of ethics and survival in shifting environments on this or other worlds
Everyone is welcome! We’re so open to ideas for future selections.
Note: Copyright law allows us to share excerpts of works, so some readings are posted as .pdfs. If you’d like readings in a different file format, or for more information in general, contact Kris at freeman.ks [at] gmail.com
Upcoming Readings & Meetings
Tuesday, November 28, 2023, 7 PM
Meeting:
- In Person in the St John United Lutheran conference room (first floor)
- Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83051131733?pwd=cKtgOCaorhAw2MNNYDgYxVmHG0Vkp6.1 (passcode: 245811)
Reading:
- Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake (Intro PDF)
- “Nuclear Waste and Relational Accountability in Indian Country” from The Promise of Multispecies Justice (PDF)
Past Readings: Ethics and Ecologies
Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 7 PM
- In Person in the St John United Lutheran conference room (first floor)
- Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89923500496?pwd=1EvqFEn39JZ9JhppTDe9H06oGHd3sM.1 (passcode, 245811)
The Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard (PDF Intro and Chap. 1)
- The Mother Tree Project Simard directs
- Ecologists researching the better ways to replant forests after fires, including inoculating the roots of seedlings with fungi Sierra, June 2023
- “Are Trees Talking Underground? For Scientists, Itʼs in Dispute.” (URL, PDF) Article in the New York Times with researchers debating the research on fungal networks described in Finding the Mother Tree
September 11, 2023, 7 PM
The Overstory by Richard Powers (PDF first two chapters)
June 5, 2023, 7 PM
Homewaters by local author David Williams , Chapters 7-10. Presentation by the author at the Museum of History and Industry.
Restoring Kelp and Seagrass
- “Restoring seagrass meadows is one tool that coastal communities can use to address climate change, both by capturing emissions and mitigating their effects” New York Times, May 24, 2023, URL, PDF
- “The Vanishing Forest” The Nature Conservancy, May 26, 2023, URL, PDF
May 8, 2023, 7 PM
Homewaters by local author David Williams , Chapters 1-6.( PDF of Preface and First Chapter)
Other Puget Sound Wonders:
April 10, 2023, 7 PM
Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Sections 4-5
- Braiding Sweetgrass
- Burning Sweetgrass
Interviews with Robin Kimmerer
- “You Don’t Have to Be Complicit in Our Culture of Destruction” New York Times interview with Robin Wall Kimmerer (PDF)
- “Speaking of Nature” by Robin Wall Kimmerer in Orion magazine. Expansion of issues discussed in “Learning the Grammar of Animacy” in Braiding Sweetgrass. (PDF)
February 27, 2023
Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Sections 1-3
- Planting Sweetgrass
- Tending Sweetgrass
- Picking Sweetgrass
January 23, 2023
Non-Fiction
Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer (PDF)
- Preface
- Skywoman Falling
- The Council of Pecans
Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, by Suzanne Simard (PDF)
- Introduction: Connections
- Ghosts in the Forest
- Hand Fallers
“Are Trees Talking Underground? For Scientists, Itʼs in Dispute.” (PDF) Article in the New York Times with researchers debating the research on fungal networks described in Finding the Mother Tree and The Hidden Lives of Trees.
Fiction
- “Yggdrasil and the Nine Worlds“, from Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman (PDF)
- “You’ll Never Believe What Happened is Always a Good Way to Start” from The Truth About Stories by Thomas King (PDF)
November 28, 2022
Short Stories
-
- “One Easy Trick” by Hiromi Goto from the anthology “Sun Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color”, edited by Nisi Shawl ( PDF)
- “Vaster than Empires and More Slow” by Ursula Le Guin ( PDF)
- “The Trees Between” by Karyn L. Stecyk from the anthology Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation, edited by Phoebe Wagner & Brontë Christopher Wieland ( PDF)
Non-Fiction
-
- The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How the Communicate by Peter Wohllebe
- Article about Seattle resident rescuing local trees from ivy: “This man has saved more than 2,000 Seattle trees from the clutches of ivy” ( PDF )
October 24, 2022
A Prayer for the Crown Shy [novel] by Becky Chambers
September 26, 2022
A Psalm for the Wild-Built Book [novel] by Becky Chambers
Past Readings: World Theologies and Alternative Universes
July 26, 2022
A Canticle for Leibowitz [novel] by Walter M. Miller Jr
February 7, 2022
Dune [novel] by Frank Herbert
November 9, 2021
The Parable of the Talents [novel] by Octavia Butler, sequel to The Parable of the Sower
October 12, 2021
Good Omens [novel] by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Good Omens has also been adapted in a mini-series, available on Amazon Prime and from the Seattle Public Library.
August 3 & September 14, 2021
The Parable of the Sower [novel] by Octavia Butler
July 6, 2021
Wild Seed [novel] by Octavia Butler
June 1, 2021
The Lathe of Heaven [novel] by Ursula LeGuin
May 4, 2021
The Sparrow [novel] by Maria Doria Russell–second half
April 6, 2021
The Sparrow [novel] by Maria Doria Russell–first half
March 2, 2021
- “The Nine Billion Names of God” [short story] by Arthur C. Clarke
https://urbigenous.net/library/nine_billion_names_of_god.html - “The Star” [short story] by Arthur C. Clarke.
https://sites.uni.edu/morgans/astro/course/TheStar.pdf - The Twilight Zone episode “Star” [14 min, filmed low-budget in 1985]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9ru_P5uIJc&feature=youtu.be
