Celebrate Native American Heritage Month

Despite the undeniable fact that Indigenous communities are among the most affected by climate devastation, Indigenous science is nowhere to be found in mainstream environmental policy or discourse. And while holistic land, water, and forest management practices born from millennia of Indigenous knowledge systems have much to teach all of us, Indigenous science has long been ignored, otherized, or perceived as “soft”— the product of a systematic, centuries-long campaign of racism, colonialism, extractive capitalism, and delegitimization. In this presentation, Dr. Hernandez will analyze why western structures such as conservation, restoration, etc., are not working and offer place-based frameworks of land stewardship informed by Indigenous science. Dr. Jessica Hernandez (Binnizá & Maya Ch’orti’) is a transnational Indigenous scholar, scientist, and community advocate based in the Pacific Northwest. She has an interdisciplinary academic background ranging from marine sciences to environmental physics. She is the author of Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science."