This is the Guardian.

In the Western world, science trumps all in the pursuit of knowledge.

For indigenous communities, it's the stories, songs and sayings passed down from generation to generation that contain the most valuable wisdom.

For a long time, they've been seen as totally separate ways of learning about the world.

But as we plunge the planet deeper into environmental crises, it's becoming clear that it's time to pay attention to both.

And my guest today has made it her life's work to weave them together.

A scientist, we have this incredible privilege to sit at the feet of the living world and learn from them and I think we also have a

deep responsibility to protect those living systems as well, not just to stand back in so-called objectivity.

Robin Wall Kimera is a botanist, distinguished professor in environmental biology,

member of the citizen Parawami Nation, and founder and director of the

Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.

But she's probably best known as the author of the hugely popular book, B raiding Sweetgrass.

In it, she argues that by combining indigenous and scientific knowledge, we can reframe how we see the world and our place in it,

and maybe even help life to flourish.

Pay attention to the fact that we would not be here without the gifts of other beings.

How does that not bring you into a state of profound gratitude?

It is a radical act to reclaim your own attention and turn it to the natural world.

So today I hear from Robin Wall Kimera about what we can learn from the most ancient plants on earth,

why we need to cultivate gratitude for the natural world and what Western science could learn

from indigenous knowledge.

From the Guardian, I'm Madeline Finley

and this is Science Weekly. I'm not going to be able to do

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