Robin Wall Kimmerer on What Nature Teaches Us About Giving Back

What if healing the planet starts with changing the way we see it?

In this deeply thoughtful episode of The Big Question, Robin Wall Kimmerer, botanist, author of Braiding Sweetgrass and The Serviceberry, professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, joins Eva Cornman from the Museum of Science to explore the relationship between humans and the Earth. Together, in this full interview, they dive into Indigenous worldviews, the idea of the gift economy, and how honoring reciprocity with nature can guide us toward climate solutions rooted in gratitude, not domination.

Whether you're an environmentalist, student, educator, or simply someone searching for hope and reconnection, this video offers powerful insights from one of the most important ecological voices of our time.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction: Climate & Responsibility
01:00 - Are Humans Bad for the Earth?
02:15 - Robin's Childhood & Love for Plants
05:35 - Indigenous Science vs. Western Science
08:10 - What is the Gift Economy?
10:25 - The Serviceberry as a Symbol
13:10 - Lessons from Braiding Sweetgrass
16:05 - The Honorable Harvest Explained
20:10 - The Sweetgrass Experiment
24:30 - Indigenous Knowledge & Modern Science
29:10 - What Language Reveals About Values
32:00 - Reconnecting to Nature in Cities
35:15 - Storytelling, Healing & Collective Action
38:40 - Final Reflections: What We Owe the Earth

The Big Question playlist:    • The Big Question  

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, which has earned Kimmerer wide acclaim. Her first book, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing, and her other work has appeared in Orion, Whole Terrain, and numerous scientific journals. In 2022, Braiding Sweetgrass was adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith. This new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth’s oldest teachers: the plants around us.

Kimmerer is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, whose mission is to create programs which draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge for our shared goals of sustainability. In 2022 she was named a MacArthur Fellow. As a writer and a scientist, her interests in restoration include not only restoration of ecological communities, but restoration of our relationships to land. She holds a BS in Botany from SUNY ESF, an MS and PhD in Botany from the University of Wisconsin and is the author of numerous scientific papers on plant ecology, bryophyte ecology, traditional knowledge and restoration ecology. She lives on an old farm in upstate New York, tending gardens both cultivated and wild.

Eva Cornman is an Education Associate at the Museum of Science and a science writer. She recently completed her master’s degree in Science Writing at MIT, where she developed her expertise in translating complex research into clear, engaging narratives. Prior to that, she studied molecular and cellular biology and managed a human gut microbiome laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.


Among the world's largest science centers, the Museum of Science engages millions of people each year to the wonders of science and technology through interactive exhibitions, digital programs, giant screen productions, and preK – 12 EiE® STEM curricula through the William and Charlotte Bloomberg Science Education Center. Established in 1830, the Museum is home to such iconic experiences as the Theater of Electricity, the Charles Hayden Planetarium, and the Mugar Omni Theater. Around the world, the Museum is known for digital experiences such as Mission: Mars on Roblox, and traveling exhibitions such as the Science Behind Pixar. Learn more at https://www.mos.org/

Copyright © 2025. Museum of Science. All rights reserved. This video is owned by the Museum of Science and may not be reproduced, redistributed, or used in any manner without prior written permission from the Museum of Science.