Indigenous Earth Community Podcast

Feeling overwhelmed by climate change and disconnected from nature? What if the solutions we need have been here all along, in the wisdom our ancestors knew, in the plants growing in our backyards?

Laylalanai Gocobachi, a Pascua Yaqui woman and Unity Earth Ambassador, learned this from her grandfather who sent her into the Arizona desert with grocery bags to "shop" for dinner. He taught her the desert is like our pantry, and that Native people were the first scientists.

Today, Laylalanai shows us how to bridge traditional wisdom and modern science. You'll learn how she combines climate data with elder observations about disappearing plants, and why the Earth is constantly speaking to us, through snakes climbing trees before floods, through plants receding, we just need to remember how to listen.

This is for anyone who's felt like one person can't make a difference, anyone searching for hope in these challenging times.

What You'll Discover:

How to start listening to what the Earth is trying to tell you (practical signs to observe)

Why "water doesn't separate us, it connects us"—and what that means for your work

The exact process for braiding Indigenous knowledge with Western science

How to overcome imposter syndrome when you're the only one in the room

Why showing up matters even when you doubt yourself

Simple ways to reconnect with nature and find knowledge keepers in your community

Resources:

Follow Laylalanai Gocobachi on LinkedIn and Instagram

Watch for her documentary on Planet Forward about traditional crops across the border

📚 Support This Podcast & Indigenous Youth Workshops: When you purchase books through our Indigenous Earth Bookshop, you directly support independent Indigenous booksellers AND fund our hands-on workshops for Native youth worldwide. Every book purchase helps preserve traditional ecological knowledge for the next generation. 🌱

Connect with Indigenous Earth:

Workshops: https://www.indigenousearth.org/p/indigenous-earth-workshops/

Newsletter: https://www.indigenousearth.org/newsletter/

Music Credit: "Pascola Dance - Mamna Cialim (Green Spinach)" performed by Musicians and Singers from Old Pascua Village, Tucson and Rio Yaqui, Sonora from the album Yaqui Ritual and Festive Music (Canyon Records, 2002). Published by DMG Arizona Music/Public Domain.

Topics: Traditional ecological knowledge, intergenerational learning, Yaqui culture, climate assessment, Indigenous youth leadership, desert wisdom, water sovereignty, environmental science, knowledge braiding, listening to Earth

Want a green career but worried you'll have to compromise your values? Andrea Everett from the Pueblo of Ysleta del Sur shows there's another way.

Andrea shares how she turned her midnight business decision into MatriARC PROJECTion LLC, a drone and GIS mapping company that serves communities instead of extracting from them. She reveals why she turns down high-paying work that doesn't align with her Pueblo values, and how that actually attracts better opportunities.

You'll also hear the inspiring story of how a group of Pueblo women came together after Feast Day to reclaim their traditional farming roles. They secured land, built two hoop houses, and are now growing ancestral seeds: Hopi corn for ceremonies, Pueblo chiles, tobacco, and marigolds for Day of the Dead. Healing in community while creating a foundation for the next generation.

What You'll Discover:

How to break into GIS and drone careers 

Why staying true to your values attracts the right work

Starting a business with just faith and a grant that showed up unexpectedly

How youth learned to fly drones while connecting with sacred sites and elders

Traditional farming techniques: three sisters planting, waffle gardens, soil preparation

Why healing happens in community, not isolation

The power of starting small, even a few plants in pots

Resources:

Books: Braiding Sweetgrass, Radical Cartographies, Muskogee Tools of Futurity

Video: Native Cartography - Challenging Western Notions of Place

Connect:

Andrea Everett Story Maps.

https://borderlore.org/a-sacred-rivers-sovereignty/

indigenousearth.org

Topics: Green careers, GIS mapping, drone jobs, Indigenous agriculture, seed sovereignty, rematriation, traditional farming, values-based business, career advice for Native youth

Environmentalist face devastating burnout rates - 96% experience high or very high exhaustion levels from working on environmental issues. BIPOC communities bear this burden even more heavily, standing on the frontlines of climate destruction.

For this Earth Warrior Challenge we are looking on how Indigenous wisdom offers a powerful antidote: connecting with your environmental ancestors.

What You'll Experience:

The exercise from Dr. Sue Bell Chiblow's Indigenous science class

Why connecting with environmental guardians in your lineage sustains planet work across generations

Why this practice transforms climate anxiety into ancestral strength

The Connection Process:

Identify family members who shaped your environmental calling - the bird watcher, the hiker, the gardener

Interview relatives who knew them if they've passed on

Learn their names and stories (names hold power)

Honor them through daily practices and sacred space

Spend time with them, experience nature together 

Resources Referenced:

NPR Article: "How to make an ancestral altar: A cross-cultural guide"

Climate Burnout Research Report (96% statistic)

Special Thanks:

Frank's mother for sharing the water diviner grandfather story

My awesome cousin Joenna for the English translation

Dr. Susan Bell Chiblow for the Indigenous wisdom classroom practice

Connect with Indigenous Earth:

Website: indigenousearth.org

Newsletter for more Earth Warrior Challenges

Topics: Climate burnout, ancestral connection, environmental activism sustainability, Indigenous wisdom practices, water divining, intergenerational environmental calling, BIPOC climate trauma, spiritual ecology, activist resilience

Join us as we return with Professor Susan (Sue) Chiblow, one of our most beloved guests whose wisdom bridges Indigenous science with academic research. As an Ojibwe professor and International Joint Commission commissioner, Sue reveals the right way to learn from Indigenous knowledge—without appropriation or harm.

Discover how to respectfully access traditional wisdom, trace your own ancestral stories, and apply Indigenous practices to solve environmental problems in your own community.

What You'll Experience:

Sue's groundbreaking work fighting harmful herbicides like glyphosate in Canadian forests 🌲

Why Indigenous peoples aren't the only ones responsible for fixing environmental problems—it's all of us

The powerful classroom exercise that helps students understand their own displacement stories

How maple syrup, potatoes, and canoes are Indigenous innovations the world still uses today 🍁

Traditional water ceremonies that connect us to our universal origin story

The difference between saving the planet (impossible) and saving ourselves (essential)

Practical ways to honor the Indigenous peoples of the land you currently live on

Why trees teach us better coexistence than most humans ever manage

Essential Reading Mentioned:

"Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence" by Gregory Cajete

"Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer

"Traditional Ecological Knowledge" (multiple authors)

"Water Voices from Around the World" (2001)

📚 Support This Podcast & Indigenous Youth Workshops: When you purchase the books Sue recommends through our Indigenous Earth Bookshop, you directly support independent Indigenous booksellers AND fund our hands-on workshops for Native youth worldwide. Every book purchase helps preserve traditional ecological knowledge for the next generation. 🌱

🎬 Watch Recommended: "The Americas Before Christopher Columbus" series on APTN - 10 episodes showing the incredible innovations of Indigenous peoples across the continent

Connect with Indigenous Earth:

Workshops: https://www.indigenousearth.org/p/indigenous-earth-workshops/

Newsletter: https://www.indigenousearth.org/newsletter/

"We're not trying to save the planet—the earth will be fine. We're trying to save ourselves and learn to be better humans." - Sue

Topics: Water protection, Indigenous science, chemical contamination, glyphosate, traditional ecological knowledge, displacement trauma, academic-Indigenous knowledge bridge, Ojibwe wisdom, environmental justice, intergenerational healing

Join us as we journey to the Hawaiian Islands with Molly Mamaril, a powerful voice bridging Hawaiian wisdom with modern environmental and economic solutions. Born in Hawaii but raised in Minnesota's Hawaiian diaspora, Molly shares her transformative journey back to her ancestral home and reveals practical ways to apply the sacred values of aloha in your own life and community.

Discover how you can support local economies, restore damaged environments, and build stronger communities using time-tested Hawaiian principles of reciprocity and abundance. Learn why changing where you spend your money can be one of the most powerful actions you can take today.

What You'll Experience:

Simple daily practices inspired by aloha values that strengthen relationships and reduce stress

Molly's personal journey from the Midwest back to her Hawaiian roots through hula dance 💃

How one community removed 3 million pounds of invasive seaweed to restore an entire bay ecosystem 🌊

Why supporting local farmers and businesses creates lasting change in your community

Traditional Hawaiian economic models that prioritized abundance over scarcity

The profound difference between ancient and modern hula as cultural storytelling

Practical ways to honor your local environment and cultural heritage

🎧 Don't Miss Frank's Episode on Heartbeat Narratives!

Want to hear the other side of this incredible conversation? Frank was Molly's guest on Heartbeat Narratives where they dive deep into his passion for the sacred Ava drink, mind-bending sci-fi stories, the magic of his childhood nickname "The Storyteller," and so much more! It's a completely different conversation that reveals Frank's most personal stories and the experiences that shaped him into the storyteller he is today. Listen to Frank on Heartbeat Narratives - you'll discover sides of him you've never heard before!

Connect with Molly Mamaril:

Above the Sides Podcast: Stories of how we weave the values of aloha into our personal and professional lives - Listen Here

Heartbeat Narratives Podcast: Stories of joy about the people, places and passions we love - Listen Here

📚 Support This Podcast & Native Youth Workshops: When you purchase books on Indigenous wisdom, and environmental restoration through Bookshop.org, a portion of your purchase directly supports this podcast and our workshops for Native youth across the globe. Your book purchases help us continue sharing Indigenous stories and empowering the next generation of Indigenous leaders. 🌱

Stay Connected:

Newsletter: https://www.indigenousearth.org/newsletter/

"If we speak through our purchases, that is one really tangible thing that we can do to make a difference." - Molly Mamaril

Topics: Hawaiian culture, Indigenous reconnection, hula dance, ocean restoration, sustainable economics, aloha values, environmental conservation, cultural storytelling, diaspora experience, community resilience 🌺