And then they met, the offspring of Skywoman and the children of Eve -- and the land around us bears the scars of that meeting, the echoes of our stories.
-- Robin Wall Kimmerer (Skywoman Falling)

Importance: Kimmerer's imagining of the meeting between Skywoman and Eve's descendants is poignant in that it reveals just how divergent the two worldviews are. She uses the word 'scars' to demonstrate the sheer violence of the way in which those differences were 'resolved,' with one worldview -- Eve's -- ultimately prevailing over the other. Violence too often comes hand in hand with the meeting of two opposing minds, Kimmerer seems to be saying.

What else can you offer the earth, which has everything? What else can you give but something of yourself?
-- Robin Wall Kimmerer (An Offering)

Importance: These two rhetorical questions emphasize Kimmerer's perspective that there is no need to feel daunted by the sheer plentitude of the earth in comparison with what we as...