Planet: Critical There Are No Simple Solutions | Jessica Hernandez
Sep 25, 2025
Jessica Hernandez, an Indigenous climate scientist and author of "Growing Papaya Trees," delves into the connections between colonialism and the environmental crisis. She discusses the importance of indigenous stewardship and examines how displacement harms both ecosystems and communities. The conversation highlights the risks of a simplified global indigenous identity and critiques the idea of renewable energy as a universally clean solution. Jessica argues for accountability over blame, emphasizing the need for collective healing and a deeper understanding of our relationship with nature.
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Crisis From Lost Relationship With Nature
- Jessica Hernandez argues the world is in crisis because we've lost our relationship with nature through urbanization and consumerism.
- She links industrialization and modern mindsets to the breakdown of reciprocal human–land relationships.
Displacement Breaks Ecological Knowledge
- Growing Papaya Trees ties displacement and migration directly to environmental damage and cultural loss.
- Hernandez stresses displacement severs deep land-based knowledge that sustains ecosystems and languages.
Elders: Land Needs People
- Rachel describes elders in the Kimberley saying the land needs people to be well and that Indigenous stewardship protects biodiversity.
- Jessica agrees and highlights creation stories that frame humans as part of nature, not separate from it.
