Good Nature Green Reader

Hi from Seattle Cascadia.welcome to Good Nature Publishing.

I've found these books to be bread crumbs on the path to an ecology of mind, an evolving gladness centered in the faith of us mortals to see we are interconnected, we belong to each other. And that humans are essentially constructive and trustworthy.

Meditation has done a lot to help me redirect suffering thoughts of helplessness and overwhelm in this moment. Limiting the attention I give to the machine and its endless desire for attention has been a daily practice.

The racialized class warfare we are seeing ICE and the fascists occupying Minneapolis is rooted in a false belief in kingdoms, in some people being better than others, and humans being better than plants and animals. The false gods are the same gods throughout history: greed, selfishness, violence in the form of poverty and theft from working people by the rich.

The billionaire child rapist hoarders get to their place of power by looking away at crimes committed in broad daylight. When women stand up courageously to tell the truth, believe women.

The war the rich are winning is rooted in simple distances we keep on a daily basis. You walk down a path in the woods and see trees but not how they are individuals desiring your attention or not. Start talking with trees, even though it appears mad in your social media profile. It is an actual antidote the class war? Why? Because it makes reconnections to the mystery of being alive, and is rooted in compassion and kindness to connect with our plant and animal cousins.

The direction these books pull should be soul food for a new world view that transforms the mundane into miracle, your boredom into the stardust golden nature you are at your core.

Mary Oliver

The Light Eaters about plants and the secret life they live we think nothing of... great way to give your scientific mindset permission to talk with plants and animals. 

The Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake about the magnificent ground of our being in the fungus among us. 

The Wild Trees by Richard Preston about old and giant trees, our grandparents 

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf who lives in Europe.  This book opens the door to all the others, providing context for discovery, colonialism and its dark shadows but also the rapid deployment of the scientific method. 

That's a good starter kit. 

Add Annie Dillard, Barry Lopez, Mary Oliver's Upstream, and a number of other writers and poets, including Wendell Berry, Terry Tempest Williams, Jane Hirshfield, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh. All of these people are rooted in peace movements and self determination for all beings.

As with all offerings of any value, think for yourself. Don't believe me. Test out the medicine that is offered here and see if it works to help correct the false sufferings in your mind that you are alone and an individual, separate from Mother Nature.

Organize a book group around any one of these books and become a teacher. Look around. The world needs good teachers.