“What does the Earth ask of us—not what more we can take, but what are we asked to give?” Robin Wall Kimmerer, botanist, bestselling author, and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, posed this question to a packed audience at All Flourishing is Mutual, a March 8 event at Wellesley emphasizing the role of responsibility, reciprocity, and Indigenous knowledge in addressing the climate crisis. She has received numerous honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship, for her work at the intersection of science, storytelling, and Indigenous philosophy.
In her lecture, hosted by Mass Audubon, the Paulson Ecology of Place Initiative, and Wellesley’s Native American and Indigenous Student Association (NAISA), Kimmerer drew on her acclaimed books, Braiding Sweetgrass and The Serviceberry.
The evening opened with remarks from Suzanne Langridge, director of the Paulson Initiative, and Nia Keith, Mass Audubon’s vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. Joining them on stage in the Diana Chapman Walsh Alumnae Hall auditorium were three serviceberry saplings that will be planted at Wellesley, Mass Audubon’s Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, and the P8guaso Land Rematriation project, which aims to return land to Indigenous stewardship through a process known as “rematriation.” Rematriation emphasizes restoring the earth to the care of its original peoples, thereby reconnecting cultural and ecological ties. Though the three trees will grow in different places, they share the same Massachusetts watershed and thus represent a shared ecological future.
Kimmerer first spoke in the Potawatomi language, then shifted to English, grounding the conversation in the traditions that shaped her understanding of the world. She asked the audience of members of the Wellesley and surrounding communities to think about all the ways Western frameworks control how Indigenous perspectives can exist. Rather than treating land as property or simply a natural resource, she said, “it’s a place where you accept moral reciprocity.”
Her personal stories from her own life described the challenges faced by Indigenous students in education and highlighted the ongoing erasure of history. During the afternoon prior to her lecture, Kimmerer spent time on campus with the NAISA students, talking about their experiences with nature at Wellesley. Simone Marshall-Chafee ’27, co-president of NAISA, reflected, “Through the Paulson Initiative, I have been able to engage with the campus itself as a living teacher rather than a textbook.” A goal of the Paulson Initiative is to turn the campus into a “living laboratory,” allowing students to engage academically, holistically, and critically in environmental studies enriched by community.
What does the Earth ask of us—not what more we can take, but what are we asked to give?
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Another element of Kimmerer’s work is “linguistic imperialism”—the role of language in shaping environmental relationships. The shift of replacing Indigenous languages and place names with colonial ones reflects deeper assumptions from humans about their dominance over nature.
“What does it mean when we call someone an ‘it’?” Kimmerer asked. She pointed out that in English, plants, animals, and landscapes are often referred to as “it” while humans are not. This is an example of the reduction of non-human beings to objects, which gives humans the feeling that they have the right to dominate and control nature.
To counteract this mindset, Kimmerer proposed that the audience consider an alternative pronoun stemming from Potawatomi grammar: ki (singular), kin (plural). This means an Earth being. This reminds one not of a single view of the world, but rather of the complex relationships among the many systems living in the world.
Marshall-Chafee said that what struck them most about Kimmerer “wasn’t her undeniable brilliance, but her way of being” and that “it becomes less about knowing and more about an invitation into the way of seeing.”
Kimmerer’s storytelling wove together lessons of hope, responsibility, and kinship with the Earth. She described storytelling as a gift and responsibility, her way of giving back to the Earth. She shared that “an educated person knows what their gifts are and how to give them in the world.” When we have the opportunity to engage a variety of knowledge, we have the responsibility to apply it in ways that respect the historical, modern, and ever-changing world; ultimately, by sharing these gifts with the world, and everything in between. Langridge reflected in an interview after the event that this kind of thinking is “a profound challenge to western notions of what education is for.” Every academic field engages with the world, and the world means the Earth and the grounds for nature.
She also circled back to a question she asked at the start of the evening: What does Mother nature ask of us? “The answer I want to give is plant, baby, plant.”
The event closed with a standing ovation and a renewed mindset for cultivating a symbiotic relationship with the land. Kimmerer’s message is clear: Successful ecological restoration and climate action depend on integrating Indigenous perspectives and new notions of hope. Langridge said, “Wellesley’s campus itself is an opportunity.’ Consider your relationship with the Earth, not as separate, but as part of the shared community.” She suggested, “going outside, finding a spot you can return to once a week, and getting to know the ‘kin’ at that spot, which will provide a deep entryway to this way of thinking.”
Kimmerer ended the presentation by recalling the words one of her students said to her when the two were talking about difficult state of the world: “When everything is on the brink, it matters where I stand.”
—
A recording of All Flourishing is Mutual is available on Wellesley’s YouTube page through April 11.