Interviewed by Ellie S. (11th Grade)
Meet an educator and apothecary, a native Californian Latina with a dual master’s in Education and English, she is a certified environmental educator uniquely equipped to translate the complexities of our bioregions into accessible, community-driven action. Lets hear California Herbology’s story.
How can we foster greater collaboration between public and private sectors, academia, and community stakeholders to achieve green energy?
California Herbology: Ecocriticism and Bioregionalism are essential philosophies for driving green energy best practices. It is important to also understand that the arts and sciences are interconnected, as are all things in our observable universe real or imagined. I am a big proponent of STEAM education rather than STEM education and I try to create this type of community with my Outdoor Inclusive Book Club.
I try to focus on elevating California flora, fauna, and fungi by creating connections between our culture and the natural world we live in. Disabled people are the single underutilized resource for creating community, often we are seen as a liability and not an asset because of human nature’s need to homogenize into an eight hour workday. Just because they can’t be outside or in large groups of people all day, doesn’t mean they aren’t observing our universe in a perspective that can help us understand more about our nature and our world. This is, in my opinion, what the spirit of California is. People come here to reconnect with the land because of how beautiful it is, they come here to be inspired by the progress it brings. It’s tragic that we cannot guarantee that same Earth for our children’s children.
Forcing nature to bend to the wills of production is harmful to everyone. As we speak, we are seeing our water rights compromised because of climate change and technology progress. California is at the forefront of innovation and I see wonderful things going on with micro-organisms (whether bio-engineered or newly discovered through technological advances) that can change the future of green energy best practices; however, the focus has to be on sustainability and self-reliance within a localized community for renewable resources of goods and services.
Could You share a pivotal moment or experience that ignited your passion for climate advocacy and sustainability
California Herbology: I don’t think there was a singular moment, but rather a lifetime immersed in it from a very early age. I grew up moving a lot but my memories are of exploring outdoors in rural areas. I often connected to books and nature more than people. I remember the first time I grew a carrot. I was hooked on the anticipation of things growing unseen so I have always tried to grow things and deepen my understanding of life in general. During the pandemic, I started to get serious about growing my own food for survival and got certifications in both herbalism and trauma informed yoga. It became a part of my spirituality at that point. I then shifted from in-ground gardening, that is much more labor intensive, to grow pots when I got sick with an autoimmune disorder. Understanding micro-environments and companion planting were essential for me to get to the point that I am at today. No till gardens have accommodated me, and afforded me the ability to grow my own food free of preservatives and pesticides or labor intensive harvesting. I want to eat food grown with as many species in mind as possible that can benefit from the growing of that food before it gets to my table. I hope to grow and share that wisdom with my family, friends and colleagues.
When I learned the Monarch butterfly migration (a major symbol in California) was on the decline, I set out to understand why and to find out how to spread awareness on how we can all help. I decided to make that my project for an Environmental Educator certification I was working towards, I think it was tied to my own disability. I felt like it gave me a renewed sense of purpose to invest in a delicate species that was struggling from environmental factors out of their control. I’ve encountered so many barriers and so have the Monarch butterflies, they inspire me to be resilient and continue advocating for them, knowing I am also advocating for myself.
If you could implement one major policy or initiative or research to advance sustainability globally what would it be and why?
California Herbology: The book “The Great Work” by Thomas Berry and ,“Dwellers in the Land” by Kirk Patrick Sale are great reads that show Bioregionalism and environmentalism in practice and the understanding that we are a part of nature, so every hurt we impose on the Earth we are imposing on ourselves. Plants are alive, they just can’t move or speak to communicate with us but they have rights just like us, they just have a disability that their neighbor may not have and instead they rely on their community for their survival. Native Americans have understood this from time immemorial. I want to remind people they can contribute to saving the pollinators even with very little space or effort. I want to inspire environmentalists to include people with disabilities and inspire a love of the outdoors in my community, even for those who cannot physically participate. Studies show the values of reading and communing with nature is incredibly healing and rebuilds human-to-nature community connection that has been lost over the last couple of generations.
Technology allows us to bring these spaces to a diverse network and build community to build education about our specific region and culture. AI can help us bridge the communication gaps, but it is also very detrimental to the Earth. It goes without saying that we should reinstate native medicine practices instead of solely relying on pharmacy and colonized medicine. Going back to the wisdom of herbalism, apothecaries through nature is essentially trusting Indigenous medicine such as Ayurveda, Chinese Traditional Medicine, Japanese traditions in healing and Holistic Medicine and the Noble Eightfold Path are all a part of California’s history alongside of Native American Healers because of the unique blend of people who come here. We share many of these practices without realizing it. It is amazing to see how science just confirms our shared understanding that we are all beings of light and darkness, part and whole, in a delicate balance and shared space in which we all play a key role in maintaining.
California has such an amazing community of environmentalists and conservationists that also identify with and bring wisdom of these elements to our shared cultural experience which is key in order to become a more nature focused world. The healing powers of phages and biofilms are inspiring but all of that relates back to bioregionalism instead of a one-size-fits-all approach to resources and production. Even documentaries like “Peaks to Prairies: Using Mushrooms to Restore Agricultural Soils” are showing us innovative ways to use what we know about resources that can help us rebuild and restore the Earth while adapting to our warming climate. Every living organism on this planet needs to be considered as the whole organism of life. Our goal should be to provide a life for future generations of all living organisms to prosper.
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Check out @californiaherbology | threads | Youtube | https://www.californiaherbology.com and weekly book club meetings (links can be found on the IG profile)
