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Watershed: Attending to Body and Earth in Distress
A personal health crisis, stories from environmental refugees, and our climate in danger prompt a meditation on intimate connections between the health of the body and the health of the ecosystem
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 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 earth breathes more freely as a result. In light of that lesson, Watershed helps us to consider our place and our part in the health and healing of the world around us.
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 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 earth breathes more freely as a result. In light of that lesson, Watershed helps us to consider our place and our part in the health and healing of the world around us.
200 pages, Paperback
Published May 11, 2021
6 people are currently reading
964 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 19, 2021
During the late nineties, I was a member of a small but intense writing group with author Ranae Hanson. Her work while there thrilled me. Her essays were lyric, powerful, personal, and revolved around her experience of growing up in a remote and beautiful area nourished by lakes and rivers. She showed no interest, however, in getting them published.
When I asked why, I recall she said that the places she wrote about were too sacred to share. They needed to be protected. They were vulnerable to man’s predation. Her response puzzled me. Shouldn’t we celebrate the beauties of this world? Share our love of this world with others? Reveal our perceptions?
At the time, I didn’t know how deeply she cared about the earth and the environmental crises it faced. I accepted that it was enough that she share her gifts by teaching immigrants and the underprivileged to write.
When she suddenly became deathly ill with severe Type I diabetes, she began to recognize how closely the planet’s struggle with climate change mirrored her struggle with diabetes. First symptoms: drought, and thirst. The melting of the glaciers and permafrost, her bodily cells malfunctioning. The rising sea and scarcity of potable water, her body overwhelmed by need and so on.
The book’s jacket can perhaps best explain how Hansen structured her memoir. Rich shades of green, black, and gold, capture a meandering river that weaves in a southerly direction through a densely wooded landscape.
The contents wander in much the same way. From childhood memories to climate refugees’ experiences. From the violent intersection of devastating personal illness with the trauma nature suffers from mankind’s ignorance and greed. The search to understand what’s happening and taking steps to undo or mitigate the damage. And peppered throughout, Hanson places meditative reflections and guides to ponder and use in our own journey through the watershed of our lives.
Watershed reminds me of the way sunlight can pierce the evening’s approaching darkness, shimmering through leaves and across pastures and farmland, lighting the joy in a child’s eyes, sharpening shadows, and softening night’s approach.
When I asked why, I recall she said that the places she wrote about were too sacred to share. They needed to be protected. They were vulnerable to man’s predation. Her response puzzled me. Shouldn’t we celebrate the beauties of this world? Share our love of this world with others? Reveal our perceptions?
At the time, I didn’t know how deeply she cared about the earth and the environmental crises it faced. I accepted that it was enough that she share her gifts by teaching immigrants and the underprivileged to write.
When she suddenly became deathly ill with severe Type I diabetes, she began to recognize how closely the planet’s struggle with climate change mirrored her struggle with diabetes. First symptoms: drought, and thirst. The melting of the glaciers and permafrost, her bodily cells malfunctioning. The rising sea and scarcity of potable water, her body overwhelmed by need and so on.
The book’s jacket can perhaps best explain how Hansen structured her memoir. Rich shades of green, black, and gold, capture a meandering river that weaves in a southerly direction through a densely wooded landscape.
The contents wander in much the same way. From childhood memories to climate refugees’ experiences. From the violent intersection of devastating personal illness with the trauma nature suffers from mankind’s ignorance and greed. The search to understand what’s happening and taking steps to undo or mitigate the damage. And peppered throughout, Hanson places meditative reflections and guides to ponder and use in our own journey through the watershed of our lives.
Watershed reminds me of the way sunlight can pierce the evening’s approaching darkness, shimmering through leaves and across pastures and farmland, lighting the joy in a child’s eyes, sharpening shadows, and softening night’s approach.
February 3, 2022
I believe I once met the author on Zoom through Minneapolis Friends Meeting. I happened upon this book and recognized the author's name.
I was utterly taken with her work and how she wove the memoir of her diabetes with her observations of climate change. The words flowed like water in a watershed.
Very effective writing that made me feel as much as it made me think.
I was utterly taken with her work and how she wove the memoir of her diabetes with her observations of climate change. The words flowed like water in a watershed.
Very effective writing that made me feel as much as it made me think.
May 14, 2021
Ranae Lenor Hanson is a climate activist and a retired educator with forty five years of experience with various organisations in the field of ecological and racial justice. This is her debut illness memoir cum ecological writing which mediates on the intimate connections between human health and the health of the ecosystem as whole.
It begins with her childhood memories among the miners town of Minnesota where she starts to connect to nature along the streams and tributaries that connect the land. She talks about the potential impact of sulphide mining over the Minnesotan ecosystem. There are snippets of her religious upbringing and her family’s background. The turning point of her life comes when she was diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes. The desperation of illness helps her to contemplate the surrounding natural word in distress and to reflect upon the ways to heal it through personal as well as global opportunities.
This book follows multiple arcs and it’s hard to follow a single line of thought. Most of the text the author quotes the stories of her students: about the onset of Somali crises through drought, efforts to save mangrove swamps in Saudi Arabia, of drought in Ethiopia etc. Even though the topics it raised are important and concerning, I couldn’t get along with the writing style. The writing is more like in the form of vignettes which don’t linger much in any topic discussed. I really liked the author’s attempt to inform about the day by day tribulations of a diabetic patient. There is certainly much more to it than I took from it. Read it and decide yourself.
* 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧, 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙩𝙖 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙂𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙚-𝘼𝙧𝙘 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬.
It begins with her childhood memories among the miners town of Minnesota where she starts to connect to nature along the streams and tributaries that connect the land. She talks about the potential impact of sulphide mining over the Minnesotan ecosystem. There are snippets of her religious upbringing and her family’s background. The turning point of her life comes when she was diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes. The desperation of illness helps her to contemplate the surrounding natural word in distress and to reflect upon the ways to heal it through personal as well as global opportunities.
This book follows multiple arcs and it’s hard to follow a single line of thought. Most of the text the author quotes the stories of her students: about the onset of Somali crises through drought, efforts to save mangrove swamps in Saudi Arabia, of drought in Ethiopia etc. Even though the topics it raised are important and concerning, I couldn’t get along with the writing style. The writing is more like in the form of vignettes which don’t linger much in any topic discussed. I really liked the author’s attempt to inform about the day by day tribulations of a diabetic patient. There is certainly much more to it than I took from it. Read it and decide yourself.
* 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧, 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙩𝙖 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙂𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙚-𝘼𝙧𝙘 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬.
October 24, 2023
I have to say that the first chapter didn't entice me. It's about the author's childhood and it seemed like a summary rather than a story. I was initially surprised that the U of Minnesota had published it. But then! The sections about her diabetes are memorable. I never realized how difficult living with diabetes could be. Hanson does a great job linking her illness (on a small scale) with climate change/earth issues on a large scale. She tells stories of her students who have come from areas where trees have been cut and water is now scarce or nonexistent. It's a heavy topic, but she also includes reminders on how to live with uncertainly and fear. Recommended.
November 2, 2022
Watershed, by Ranae Lenor Hanson gives you the inside of the author’s struggle managing a difficult disease as Diabetes 1 and she gives a powerful spin on the relation with our climate change. The stories of her students mainly immigrants’ refugees of climate. Why? She explains how the cut of trees in Somalia has brought the drought and how water has been the reason for many wars in different places of the world. The analogies she uses for health and climate is educational and credible. The strong connection to nature that she has made me as a reader thirsty of feeling it too.
Read
June 23, 2021A timely meditation and analysis of Earth and people in crisis. Our distress comes from high anxiety "breaking news" on NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox. In this summer of 2021, extreme drought and record setting heat from the Arctic Ocean to the western half of North America has us in a dust-bowl like we haven't seen since the 1930's.
October 3, 2021
I read this book in advance of an author talk next week. I really enjoyed the connections the author makes between caring for ourselves and caring for the earth. It may have resonated well because I'm realizing that I haven't been taking care of myself and/or because of the MN connections I was familiar with - I'm really glad to have read the book!
November 9, 2021
I really enjoyed this memoir by Ranae. She connects what is happening to her body, to our bodies and compares it to what is happening to the earth. The writing is beautiful and thoughtful and it gives me a way to do better and be better when making changes in my life to affect climate change. I will reread this book. I anticipate turning to it again and again when I need it.
November 7, 2021
Personal, whimsical, climate, diabetes-off kilter
December 13, 2023
One to savor. Heartbreaking. And instructive.
January 16, 2026
Ultimately, it's a comparison between how climate change ravages the world and diabetes ravages the body. There's more to it, including a plenty of Minnesota north woods, but that's the gist.
September 3, 2025
Creative concept and compelling insights and quotes. Not exactly what I was thinking it would be.
February 27, 2023
My H-Net review of this book is now published! https://networks.h-net.org/node/15526...
A thought-provoking medical memoir that ties the body with the Earth both metaphorically and literally. I'm writing a fuller review of this book for H-Water, so I can't explain too much here. But Hanson does a marvelous job of showing her growth with a chronic illness diagnosis while despairing over the climate crisis.
If I have any real critique of the book, it lies in Hanson's vague methodology. She does not indicate how, or even if, she asked the students she names to be a part of her narrative, which strikes me as a violation of privacy if she did not ask them or change their names. Some areas also needed more self-reflection of her own position as a white woman speaking on and analysing non-white experiences, many of which were her students'. She thanks an amorphous mass of people in her acknowledgements, which leaves readers in the dark as to how she acquired and used this information with permission from its originators.
Overall, though, I quite enjoyed this book and found it intriguing to engage with in a time of growing climate crisis. Would especially recommend for anyone who's trying to come to terms with how to find hope in what seems like a hopeless situation.
A thought-provoking medical memoir that ties the body with the Earth both metaphorically and literally. I'm writing a fuller review of this book for H-Water, so I can't explain too much here. But Hanson does a marvelous job of showing her growth with a chronic illness diagnosis while despairing over the climate crisis.
If I have any real critique of the book, it lies in Hanson's vague methodology. She does not indicate how, or even if, she asked the students she names to be a part of her narrative, which strikes me as a violation of privacy if she did not ask them or change their names. Some areas also needed more self-reflection of her own position as a white woman speaking on and analysing non-white experiences, many of which were her students'. She thanks an amorphous mass of people in her acknowledgements, which leaves readers in the dark as to how she acquired and used this information with permission from its originators.
Overall, though, I quite enjoyed this book and found it intriguing to engage with in a time of growing climate crisis. Would especially recommend for anyone who's trying to come to terms with how to find hope in what seems like a hopeless situation.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews