In her work Krimmerer shows the need for humans to advance their language and devise words that can show their gratitude for nature. Kimmerer argues that humans adopt different pronouns to refer to other species “ki” and “ki.” The ecological compassion that exists in people’s indigenous languages has also been termed as dangerous and can influence the way they interact with nature. Kimmerer focuses on the grammar of animacy saying that people use a language that makes it easier for them to kill animals and plants since they refer to them as “it.” Such a type of denomination implies that the creature is of less value. In essence, the author argues that humans should focus on the language they use when talking about flora and fauna.
Kimmerer says that people cannot understand the world as a gift unless someone shows them how to do it. She has demonstrated that nature is a gift by using the example of mosses. Even though these entities seem to be inanimate, they have endured even the harshest environmental conditions for over three hundred and fifty million years. Most human beings would not have survived such conditions as they are much more susceptible to unfavorable surroundings. Therefore, her sentiments can affect the way people relate to other species. Mosses are even able to photosynthesize as they make their food. As such, it will be wrong to classify these entities as inanimate since they live and survive by their means. Kimmerer states that “ecopsychologists suggested that our conceptions of self as inherently separate from the natural world have negative outcomes on the well-being of humans and ecosystems” (Kimmerer, par. 30). Thus, people should not distinguish themselves from the environment as it can enable them to learn about what nature provides. Language of animacy has been encouraged to help humans learn the prominence of viewing other species as living things. “If pronouns can kindle empathy, I want to shower the world with their sound” (Kimmerer). Consequently, Kimmerer’s passage has an impact on individuals since it encourages them to focus on the language they use when denoting nature.
People are encouraged to ensure that they focus on what nature offers to enable them to value other species. According to Kimmerer, most people do not understand their existence and what they offer to humans. Having understood these beautiful entities of nature as intelligent, she considered them as gifts. Kimmerer swore to make them visible to people and ensure that humans learn their value. She has explicitly used rhetorical phrases to express her views in the essay. When she says that most people do not see plants, she says this symbolically to insist on disregarding plants. People take plants to be inanimate things, but Kimmerer wants to change this concept and give the plants the respect they deserve.
People should contemplate nature as an elder relative and not just a resource. In most cases, people flout the need to conserve the environment until they face challenges requiring them to depend on nature. Referring to other things as less imperative has been discouraged by Kimmerer. If people change the way they act and react to other things, they can inspire others, and so the world will change. Kimmerer is veracious with her assertions that people are all entities of nature. It would be better for people to respect all other entities that make nature and not just take them as their resources.
Reference
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. “Speaking of Nature: Finding Language That Affirms Our Kinship with the Natural World.” Orion Magazine, 2017. Web.