The Story Is in Our Bones - by Osprey Orielle Lake (Paperback)

About the Book

Braiding poetic storytelling, deep cultural and climate justice analyses, and knowledge of Earth-centered cultures, The Story is in Our Bones opens a portal to restoration and justice beyond the end of a world.

Book Synopsis

A dominant, human-centered worldview has brought us to the brink of social, ecological, and climate collapse. Braiding poetic storytelling, deep cultural and climate justice analyses, and knowledge of Earth-centered cultures, The Story is in Our Bones opens a portal to restoration and justice beyond the end of a world.

Review Quotes

"Highly recommended"
-Library Journal

"Filled with countless examples of women and Indigenous people reclaiming their power, The Story Is in Our Bones shares a hopeful, creative vision for Earth's future"
-Foreword Reviews

"These pages summon from our bones our commitment to defend this living Earth. I bow to Osprey in deepest respect and gratitude for her years of inspired activism and this brilliant book."
-Joanna Macy, environmental activist, scholar, Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology, author, Coming Back to Life and Active Hope, and featured, A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Time

"Osprey Orielle Lake has given us a magnificent book loaded with knowledge, wisdom, and fine story-telling. In it she lays out a tapestry of multiple pathways that unite to demand humility in our relationship with Mother Earth. The book exposes colonialism, imperialism, racism, capitalism, and patriarchal systems as the underlying factors that have fostered an extractivist, ecologically degrading mindset that drives the current polycrisis. With lavish examples of traditional ecological knowledge, reciprocal economic and governance frameworks, and new narratives, The Story is in Our Bones does not leave the reader exasperated and helpless-it is an empowering call for action."
-Nnimmo Bassey, author, To Cook a Continent: Destructive Extraction and the Climate Crisis in Africa, Right Livelihood Award winner

"As a young Indigenous woman, it is important to me that we consider all the complex intersections of colonialism, racism, patriarchy, capitalism, and ecocide while building a better world. This incredibly important and timely book includes the memory and knowledge of how we can live in balance with nature, which still lives on in Indigenous communities and is crucial to solving the multiple crises we are facing!"
-Helena Gualinga (Kichwa from Sarayaku), Indigenous youth climate leader, Ecuadorian Amazon

"The Story is in Our Bones is a remarkable achievement, a rich read, and one surely not to miss. For anyone who wonders-as I often do-how on Earth we're going to navigate the seemingly intractable confluence of crises, this extraordinary book offers a very potent recipe, spanning culture, global systemic change, sense-making, and remembrance of our Earth legacy. The book resonates from mind to belly to bones."
-Nina Simons, co-founder, chief relationship officer, Bioneers

"Osprey Orielle Lake guides us on a majestic journey of sense making for the 21st century as we attempt to emerge from emergency. She leads us through the importance of adopting a systems approach that fosters new economic models and the need to value nature and climate justice. The resounding message throughout this book is to act with urgency and purpose in these times of interlocking crises."
-Sandrine Dixson-Declève, co-president, The Club of Rome, co-author, Earth for All

"In this beautifully written book, The Story is in Our Bones offers a frank acknowledgment of the Anthropocene that serves as a vital, yet sober grounding in what we should already know but many are in denial to fully admit. At the same time, Osprey skillfully weaves history, mythology, anthropology, climate and earth science, sociology, and spirituality to illustrate the central message. Capitalism and colonialism have gotten us on this path of catastrophic climate change, but as she says, they can be transformed. Whether it is learning from ancestors from Ukraine, movements like Via Campesina, or women foresters from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the path to a Just Transition and healthy ways of living like Buen Vivir, are rooted in interconnection and in learn

About the Author

Osprey Orielle Lake is the founder and executive director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), where she works internationally with grassroots, BIPOC and Indigenous leaders, policymakers, and diverse coalitions to build climate justice, resilient communities, and a just transition to a decentralized, democratized clean-energy future. She sits on the executive committee for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and on the steering committee for the Fossil Free Non-Proliferation Treaty. Osprey's writing about climate justice, relationships with nature, women in leadership, and other topics has been featured in The Guardian, Common Dreams, Earth Island Journal, The Ecologist, and many other publications. She is the author of the award-winning book Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature. Osprey holds an MA in Culture and Environmental Studies from Holy Names University in Oakland and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area on Coast Miwok lands.