Watershed: Attending to Body and Earth in Distress

The body of the earth is experiencing a climate in crisis, much like the human body experiences thirst. Ranae Lenor Hanson's memoir explores the possibility of tending to an ailing ecosystem, a reflection on the ways these come together in personal, local, and global opportunities for healing. It follows the streams and tributaries that connect us to our world and to each other, and encourages us to find our own way to discover how the health of our bodies and the health of the world they inhabit are inextricably linked.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 200 pages
\n Publication date: 25 May 2021
\n Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
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The body of the earth, beset by a climate in crisis, experiences drought much like the human body experiences thirst, as Ranae Lenor Hanson's body did as a warning sign of the disease that would change her life: Type 1 diabetes. What if we tended to an ailing ecosystem just as Hanson learned to care for herself in the throes of a chronic medical condition? This is the possibility explored in a work that is at once a memoir of illness and health, a contemplation of the surrounding natural world in distress, and a reflection on the ways these come together in personal, local, and global opportunities for healing.

Beginning with memories from a childhood nurtured among the waters of Minnesota, Watershed follows the streams and tributaries that connect us to our world and to each other, as revealed in the life stories of Hanson's students, Minnesotans driven from their faraway homelands by climate disruption. The book's currents carry us to threatened mangrove swamps in Saudi Arabia, to drought-stricken Ethiopia, to rocks bearing ancient messages above crooked rivers in northern Minnesota, to a diabetic crisis in an ICU bed at a St. Paul hospital. With the benefit of gentle insight and a broad worldview, Hanson encourages us at every turn to find our own way, to discover how the health of our bodies and the health of the world they inhabit are inextricably linked and how attending, and tending, to their shared distress can lead to a genuine, grounded wellbeing.

When, in the grip of a global pandemic, humans drastically change their behavior to preserve human life, we also see how the health of the earth is affected. The pandemic has caused a decrease in air pollution, which has led to a decrease in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This has led to a decrease in the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which has led to a decrease in the temperature of the earth. This has led to a decrease in the amount of sea level rise, which has led to a decrease in the amount of flooding in coastal areas. This has led to a decrease in the amount of damage to the environment caused by natural disasters.

In conclusion, the health of the earth is inextricably linked to the health of the human body. The pandemic has caused a decrease in air pollution, which has led to a decrease in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This has led to a decrease in the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which has led to a decrease in the temperature of the earth. This has led to a decrease in the amount of sea level rise, which has led to a decrease in the amount of flooding in coastal areas. This has led to a decrease in the amount of damage to the environment caused by natural disasters.

\n Weight: 260g\n
Dimension: 138 x 209 x 21 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781517910976\n \n