Shelby Cole on Climate Grief and Indigenous Land and Water Stewardship

In this week’s episode, Kendra and Sachi discuss World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil and The Way Through the Woods by Litt Woon Long. They’re also joined by Shelby Cole, who recommends Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy and Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simrad.

From the episode:

Shelby: I was particularly excited to be able to talk about these books for the nature theme because I think it’s particularly hard to find space as an Indigenous person, a person with a marginalized identity in nature and then also in the writings of nature. A lot of times that space, I mean, we’ve seen it co-opted over and over again, and so I sometimes am a little hesitant to pick up nature writing for that reason, and that’s sad. I think these are some good alternatives. They take the care that nature deserves when writing about it. They use the respect and care that I feel like any Indigenous person would take in writing about nature. So if you read these books and are like, wow, we’re killing nature, there are some things you can do about it.

There are a ton of Indigenous activists that have been specifically protecting their treaty rights and protecting their drinking water for not just their communities but for all communities. And so I think it’s important to listen and support Indigenous activists where you can. Specifically, Stop Line 3 is happening. And that in particular is time sensitive. It’s about 80 percent done, and there’s now currently people being convicted for being on their land and trying to stop it, even though it’s their land.

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This episode is brought to you by the House of CHANEL, creator of the iconic J12 sports watch. Always in motion, the J12 travels through time without ever losing its identity.

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Shelby Cole is from Dodson, Montana, and is a disabled graduate student in the Cellular, Molecular, and Microbial Biology program at the University of Montana. Her degree emphasis is in Immunology and her research focuses on developing a universal influenza vaccine. She lives in Missoula with her dog Roxy. In her free time she enjoys hiking, beading, reading, and spending time with friends and family. She is an enrolled member of the Gros Ventre & Shell Chippewa. You can find her on Instagram. #Landback #stopline3