plants as teachers

Introduction - i and We

My work sits at the intersection of ecological restoration, critical ecology, herbalism, and a love ethic that understands Land and more-than-human beings as relations and disrupts colonial conservation. When I use “we,” I speak from my positionality, multiple identities and communities of practice. That is how I imagine ways of caring for Land that support collective liberation in a warming world.

Why We are Here - Takeaways and Implications for Practice

Where I Am Coming From as an Ecological Restoration Practitioner

Gann, G. D., McDonald, T., Walder, B., Aronson, J., Nelson, C. R., Jonson, J., Hallett, J. G., Eisenberg, C., Guariguata, M. R., Liu, J., Hua, F., Echeverría, C., Gonzales, E., Shaw, N., Decleer, K., & Dixon, K. W. (2019). International principles and standards for the practice of ecological restoration (2nd ed.). Society for Ecological Restoration. Restoration Ecology, 27(S1), S1–S46. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13

The SER International Principles and Standards provide a globally accepted framework for ecological restoration. This talk focuses on and critiques the 1st four: principles: 1) engaging stakeholders, 2)  draws on many types of knowledge, 3) disrupting nostalgic native reference ecosystems, and 4) how to support ecosystem recovery in novel ecosystems. This document is one-of -a-kind, but relegates or neglects stewardship of urban ecosystems and environmental justice to less than optimal "ecosytem recovery."

Climate Impacts to Forests and Communities

Frontline Impacts: How Trees Experience Climate Disruption

Our Mental Health and Range of Climate Emotions

Pihkala, P. (2022). Toward a taxonomy of climate emotions. Frontiers in Climate, 3, Article 738154. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.738154 

We are exposed to a lot of "climate grief porn" in popular media. This this publication is incredible for exploring the wide range of emotions people feel in response to the climate crisis and how climate disruption stirs up "positive" emotions of /influence actions, resilience, and well-being. I think it is important to have an awareness of how emotional responses to habitat care (like feeling overwhelmed or inspired) are part of a larger pattern, and how naming and validating those feelings can support collective care. Also see episode all the feelings under the sun. 

Signals Plants Respond To

Novel Urban Ecosystems - Terrain Vague & "Abandoned" Places

See episodes justice in novel ecosystems and empty lots 

Critcal Ecology of Urban Ecosystems

Nelson, R. K., Winling, L., Connolly, N. D. B., Ayers, E. L., & Marciano, R. (Eds.). (n.d.). Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America. Digital Scholarship Lab, University of Richmond. Retrieved January 2026, from https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/

City of Tacoma. (n.d.). Urban Tree Canopy layer [GIS dataset]. Tacoma Open Data. Retrieved January 2026, from https://data.tacoma.gov/ (Urban tree canopy percentages, land cover analysis)

City of Tacoma. (2018). Urban Heat Island/UHI Index 2018 (Portland State University) [GIS Dataset]. Tacoma Open Data. Retrieved January 2026, from https://data.tacoma.gov/datasets/b8f00e7aa8cc453bbd56825af6c1afa1_0/explore?location=47.238907%2C-122.456224%2C11.70 

A critical ecology perspective who shaped that story, under what conditions, and who benefits from it. Examples draw on redlining (the practice of categorically denying access to mortgages not just to individuals but to whole neighborhoods) in the Seattle/Tacoma area. Intentional disinvestment in multicultural neighborhoods menas those places experience higher surface temperatures, demonstrating how racist policies created uneven tree canopy that subsequently produce persistent heat disparities within many metropolitan cities in the United States. Also see episode urban heat.

What I Mean by Climate Adaptation

Brown, A. M. (2021). Holding change: The way of emergent strategy facilitation and mediation. AK Press. Honestly, read everything from amb https://adriennemareebrown.net/ 

adrienne maree brown’s Holding Change explores how we relate well to change by attending to connection, conflict, and coordination with others as a dynamic and evolving process rather than a static endpoint. Her work emphasizes being in right relationship with change. This means engaging with uncertainty, embodiment, and mutual shaping, which resonates with how we might approach ecological change and habitat management as ongoing, relational work rather than something to be controlled.

Lynch, A. J., Thompson, L. M., Beever, E. A., Cole, D. N., Engman, A. C., Hawkins Hoffman, C., ... & Wilkening, J. L. (2021). Managing for RADical ecosystem change: applying the Resist‐Accept‐Direct (RAD) framework. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 19(8), 461-469.  https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2387  

The Resist–Accept–Direct (RAD) framework helps people caring for land decide whether to try to hold conditions where they are, allow changes that are already happening, or intentionally guide landscapes toward new possibilities as the climate shifts. This framing encourages honest choices about change while asking who is making those choices, whose values are centered, and how care for land and people can move together. 

Assumptions about Natural Regeneration

Moving Away from Vulnerability towards Adaptation

Species Selection for Changing Conditions

Seed Sourcing & Genetic Diversity

Resistance: Refugia and the Cool Places that Matter

Valuing the contributions of non-native species 

Sax, D. F., Schlaepfer, M. A., & Olden, J. D. (2022). Valuing the contributions of non-native species to people and nature. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 37(12), 1058–1066. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.08.005

This article argues that long-standing biases in ecological research have led to an overemphasis on the negative impacts of non-native species and obscured the many ways they contribute to human well-being, including through food, cultural identity, climate regulation, and mental health. I invite everyone to look beyond default “good/bad” language and instead consider the diverse roles that non-native and introduced species play in dynamic socio-ecological systems. Also see episode IPM & medicinal weeds.

Plant Monographs

A plant monograph is a focused profile of a single plant that brings together ecological, medicinal, cultural, and political knowledge. It describes who the plant is, which parts are used for medicine, and its herbal actions (how the plant works in the body) along with health benefits, cultural considerations, and how the plant is regulated, valued, or contested. Monographs help us move beyond seeing plants as problems and instead understand them as complex beings in relationship with people and place.

Medicinal & Functional Qualities of Plants

English Ivy Monograph & Example

See episode ivyland 

Bias Shapes How We Judge Species 

Bias shapes how we judge plants in the same way it shapes how we judge people. We may use shortcuts based on familiarity, fear, and dominant stories rather than context from our local situation. Naming these biases helps us slow down, question our assumptions, and make more thoughtful habitat decisions - especially as climate change pushes ecosystems beyond what we expect. So, let's stay in conversation even when it’s uncomfortable, invite minority/dissenting perspectives, slow dominant narratives, welcome uncertainty, and treat plants as teachers.

Just Language in Habitat Care in a Warming World

Just Language in Ecology Education begain during the era of the COVID pandemic. The group examines and attempts to shift the way people talk about ecology, especially language rooted in fear, war, or exclusion, so that ecological education and stewardship can be more inclusive, equitable, and culturally aware. The Conversation Guide helps people understand why ecological language matters, how traditional terms like “invasive” can carry violent or xenophobic connotations, and what questions to ask as you explore more intentional alternatives. The Language Guide offers suggested terminology alternatives and invites practitioners to consider how different words can foreground human involvement, ecological context, and relational understanding rather than fear or blame. Also see episode words about weeds. 

Why Language Matters

“Most Wanted” posters for so-called invasive species borrow directly from law-enforcement and propaganda traditions, framing unwanted plants, insects, and fungi as criminals to be hunted, controlled, or eradicated. This trope echoes the violent history of Wanted posters - from enslaved people who liberated themselves to wartime enemies - and turns ecology and conservation into a policing narrative that encourages fear, exclusion, and even vigilante harm rather than understanding, care, or responsibility. Also see episode invasive resistance and the Just Language blog post.

Many Types of Knowledge

Rayne, A., Tadaki, M., Crowley, S. L., Farr, A., Gibbs, L., Kitson, J. C., Rodgers, R. P., & Reo, N. J. (2025). Renegotiating species belonging in a changing world. Progress in Environmental Geography, 4(4), 412–435. https://doi.org/10.1177/27539687251388150 

This article explores how debates about whether a species “belongs” in a place are shaped by different registers - such as nativeness, wildness, contributions, and right relations - and by the values and worldviews that underlie them. Incorporating this framework helps move beyond simplistic labels like “invasive” toward more nuanced, context-sensitive approaches to habitat management and climate adaptation, which aligns with today’s emphasis on listening to plant signals and centering relationships over rigid categories.

English holly (Ilex aquifolium)

Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima)

One-seed hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

Imagining Better Futures