Photo by Devin Oktar Yalkin

 

Plants have several survival strategies, like going underground, or packing all they need to live into small buds or seeds, but animals are especially exposed, Dr. Kimmerer, the plant ecologist, said.

“If we die, we die. We don’t have buds and seeds,” she said. “There are beautiful metaphorical parallels, what can go on if we do die — to me I think about stories at that point. Stories and memory and spirit can go on.”

“The most important thing is to hold that tiny spark of life, if it is in a bud, in a seed, that is our work, to hold on to life, so when spring comes back, there can be growth. If you fail at that, spring doesn’t matter,” she said. “That seems like a Covid teaching to me.”

- Beautiful article in The New York Times by Elisabeth Diaz, 20th December 2020: "How We Survive Winter"