Robin Wall Kimmerer: Weaving Science, Story, and Indigenous Wisdom

Robin Wall Kimmerer, born in 1953, is a Native American botanist, author, and professor who bridges scientific ecology and Indigenous ways of knowing. A member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Kimmerer is celebrated for her ability to unite Western science with traditional ecological knowledge, offering a vision of reciprocity between humans and the living world.

She earned her Ph.D. in botany from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and is now a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF). Her research focuses on moss ecology, forest restoration, and the philosophy of science from an Indigenous perspective.

Kimmerer gained international recognition with her 2013 book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Blending memoir, environmental science, and Indigenous storytelling, the book explores how gratitude, reciprocity, and stewardship form the foundation of a healthy relationship with the Earth. It became a New York Times bestseller and an essential text in environmental studies and ecological humanities programs worldwide.

Her earlier work, Gathering Moss (2003), received the John Burroughs Medal for nature writing and established her reputation as a lyrical scientist whose prose illuminates the spiritual dimensions of ecological study. Through her writing, she redefines science not as a conquest of nature but as a conversation with it.

Beyond her publications, Kimmerer is the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at SUNY-ESF, which promotes collaboration between Indigenous communities and scientific researchers to restore ecological balance and cultural vitality.

Her lectures and interviews emphasize that knowledge must be accompanied by responsibility — that caring for the Earth begins with gratitude and reciprocity. Through her storytelling, she invites audiences to see plants not as resources but as teachers and relatives.

Robin Wall Kimmerer’s work is a profound act of reconciliation — between science and spirituality, humans and nature, intellect and emotion. Her voice continues to inspire a generation to honor the Earth with humility, wonder, and care.