Webinar - Fresh Banana Leaves - Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science
February 1st, 2022 | 3 pm - 5:30 pm PST
(Pacific Time)
University of Victoria | Zoom
Dr. Heather Castleden, Impact Chair in Transforming Governance for Planetary Health, and CIRCLE are co-hosting a webinar (with possibility for in-person, to be determined based on COVID-19 restrictions at UVIC) with Dr Jessica Hernandez, (Maya Ch’orti’ & Binnizá), who is a transnational Indigenous scholar, scientist, and community advocate based in the Pacific Northwest.
Dr Hernandez has an interdisciplinary academic background ranging from marine sciences to forestry. Her work is grounded in her Indigenous cultures and ways of knowing. She advocates for climate, energy, and environmental justice through her scientific and community work and strongly believes that Indigenous sciences can heal our Indigenous lands. In 2020, she became the first alumni from her high school in South Central Los Angeles to receive a doctoral degree. She is the founder of Piña Soul, SPC, an environmental consulting & artesanias hybrid business that supports Black & Indigenous-led conservation and environmental projects through community mutual aids and micro-grants.
Dr Hernandez’s current research, as a postdoctoral research fellow funded by the National Science Foundation, is investigating the role energy plays in addressing climate change impacts, from an environmental physics lens. By formulating energy justice pillars and deriving solutions from case studies that focus on sustainable energy and mitigation strategies (primarily those implemented by Indigenous communities), this research will help physics education recognize the historic and present-day inequities in the energy industry. She currently holds appointments at Sustainable Seattle (Board Member), City of Seattle's Urban Forestry Commission, and the International Mayan League (Climate Justice Policy Strategist).
Dr Hernandez will be speaking about her new book, Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science, which is forthcoming this Spring '22!
To register for this virtual event: https://bit.ly/33rznhT
