Mobilizing Communities, Plant by Plant with Braiding Sweetgrass’ Robin Wall Kimmerer [episode cut]

Synopsis:  In conversation with Laura Flanders, ecologist and activist Professor Robin Wall Kimmerer discusses how embracing ecological grief can be a powerful catalyst for change in restoring balance between humans and the Earth they inhabit.

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Description:  When was the last time you listened to the plants? Plant ecologist Robin Wall Kimmerer, a self-proclaimed “student of the plants,” has dedicated her life to helping people of all ages understand the symbiotic relationship between humans and nature. Her latest initiative “Plant Baby Plant” does exactly that, by mobilizing communities to restore plants while building collective power for the Earth. Kimmerer is a distinguished professor, MacArthur Fellow, mother and an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Her 2013 book “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants” emerged as a surprise bestseller with almost three million copies sold across 20 languages. In this enlightening episode, Robin Wall Kimmerer and Laura Flanders explore how nature can inform our language, our economy, our movements and more. As you’ll hear, our survival depends on it. Plus, a commentary from Laura on what it took to separate people from nature. Hint: it wasn’t peaceful.

“I think it is so important that we embrace ecological grief rather than look away . . . When we recognize that pain we feel for our relationships with the natural world is also the measure of our love for the living world. It's that love which is mirrored in the grief that makes you get back up and say, ‘Not on my watch.’” - Robin Wall Kimmerer

“. . . We have to kind of decolonize our minds from this industrial revolution concept that the Earth belongs to us as a source of nothing more than belongings, natural resources that are our property . . . There is this notion in many Indigenous worldviews that human beings play a critical role in maintaining balance, that the way we take from the living world can actually be regenerative.” - Robin Wall Kimmerer

Guest:  Robin Wall Kimmerer: Plant Ecologist, Writer, Professor; Founder, Plant Baby Plant; Author, Braiding Sweetgrass

*Recommended book:

Bookshop: “The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World” by Robin Wall Kimmerer: Get the book*  And to accompany the book:

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Watch the episode released on YouTube; PBS World Channel Sundays at 11:30am and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast January 7th, 2026.

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

Related Podcast:  Full uncut conversation is available in the podcast feed.

Music Credit: “Ode to Nature” by Hover Fly from the Climate Soundtrack Compilation produced by DJ’s for Climate Action, "Steppin" by Podington Bear, and original sound design by Jeannie Hopper

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Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:

•  Survival Guide for Humans Learned from Marine Mammals with Alexis Pauline Gumbs:  Watch / Listen:  Episode Cut and Full Uncut Conversation

•  Ecology: The Infrastructure of the Future?: Watch / Listen:  Episode Cut

• Peter Linebaugh on International Workers' "May Day" Origins. Plus, Commentary: 19th Century Anarchist Lucy Parsons, Listen

•  Yellowstone at 150: Can Indigenous Stewardship Save Our Parks?:  Watch / Listen:  Episode Cut

Related Articles and Resources:

•  Speaking of Nature:  Finding language that affirms our kinship with the natural world, by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Orion Nature and Culture

•  Watch:  Gifts of the Land:  A Guided Nature Tour with Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Commons KU

• The Braiding Sweetgrass’ Author Wants Us to Give Thanks Everyday, by Alexander Alter, November 29, 2024, New York Times

•  Fishing in a superfund site:  Onondaga Lake’s road to recovery, by Bee Kavanaugh, SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry, January 2, 2025, Planet Forward

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