By SAVANNAH BARR

s.barr@bradfordera.com

It was a packed house Tuesday night as students, faculty and locals came together to hear Dr.

Robin Wall Kimmerer discuss her book ‘Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants’ and her work as a biologist.

Kimmerer is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.

She is also a SUNY Distinguished Professor of Environmental Biology and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. Her work reflects the struggle to achieve balance between indigenous wisdom and scientific knowledge.

Her speech at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford was entitled ‘What does the Earth ask of us?’

She first discussed the Dish with One Spoon Treaty, an agreement between Anishinaabe, Mississaugas (of which Potawatomi are a part) and Haudenosaunee nations to live together and share land peacefully.

‘We agree between our nations that we will keep that bowl full and that spoon clean,’ said Kimmerer. ‘This is about justice, reciprocity, respect and care for one another.’

On the wampum belt treaty, a traditional birch bark feast dish represents the abundance of mother earth. At the center of the dish is one spoon, representing the need to share resources and care for them properly to ensure that they last.

‘This is the oldest susbelt tainability policy on the planet,’ said Kimmerer.

‘We need to be thinking about why this isn’t studied in schools.’

In the native view of life, Kimmerer explained, land is not a commodity but a sacred being that we have a moral responsibility to preserve. She discussed the concept of the land as a healer and pharmacy that heals us all.

‘Colonization has touched us all regardless of our race,’ said Kimmerer.

‘We must decolonize our minds both collectively and . . . . individual In the Potawatomi tradition sweetgrass is viewed as the hair of mother earth.

‘We braid sweetgrass for the same reason we braid each other’s hair,’ said Kimmerer. ‘It is a way of saying ‘I care about you; I want you to be at your best.” For Kimmerer, the three strands of the braid represent an important idea. How do we care for the world incorporating indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the wisdom of plants? ‘The relationship between those three ways of knowing has been a lifelong pursuit,’ said Kimmerer.

Sweetgrass… page A-8

Many people stood in a long line for a chance to have their copy of “Braiding Sweetgrass” signed by author Robin Wall Kimmerer. The New York Times bestselling writer visited the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford on Tuesday and, prior to the signing, shared a talk with a full house at Bromeley Family Theater.

Era photo by Wade Aiken

The wampum Dish with One Spoon Treaty.

r Facebook photo ^ „ The importance of understanding indigenous wisdom is highlighted by The Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The report highlights the decline in biodiversity our world is currently experiencing. Kimmerer noted one example; that 70 percent of all songbirds have disappeared in the last 50 years. Within this report there is a bright spot, Kimmerer explained. There are still places on the planet where biodiversity is not crashing, and they are indigenous homelands.

“Eighty percent of the world’s remaining biodiversity is in lands safeguarded by indigenous peoples,” said Kimmerer. “Engaging in indigenous knowledge is not a call to go backwards but a path to move forwards to discover what we must do to forestall the crash that is to come.”

Kimmerer asked the audience to think about what it truly means to be an educated person. When she asked that question to an elder in her tribe, she was taught an important lesson.

“An educated person knows their gifts and how to give them to the world,” said Kimmerer.

She encouraged the audience to consider what their gifts are and how they could share them.

“How do we reciprocate the gifts of the earth with our own gifts?” Kimmerer asked.

In addition to “Braiding Sweetgrass” Kimmerer also authored several other books. They are “The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World,” “Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses.” In 2022 “Braiding Sweetgrass” was adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith.

On Tuesday morning, she had received important news she shared with the audience.

“I have been asked by many parents and teachers if I would adapt ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ into a book targeted at the littlest learners,” said Kimmerer. “This morning, the final proofs of my children’s book were in my email.”

The fully illustrated children’s book is expected out in September.