Spring 2025 Distinguished Ethnobiology Speaker Jennifer Grenz

Who are the plant people today?: Strengthening human-plant relationships to build climate resiliency through ecological restoration research

In this talk, Dr. Grenz highlights the critical role of human-plant relationships in fostering ecological resilience. While Indigenous knowledge is increasingly integrated into ecological restoration, many approaches focus on mitigating symptoms rather than addressing the deeper issue of broken human-land connections.

Through her research alongside Indigenous communities on major climate event recovery (wildfire), Dr. Grenz’s lab applies a relational lens to assess environmental conditions as evidence of these disruptions. This perspective reveals often-overlooked root causes of climate vulnerability and underscores the urgent need to sustain and expand plant knowledge for future generations.