POST & Muwekma Ohlone Tribe Present ‘An Evening with Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer’

Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) and Muwekma Ohlone Tribe Present ‘An Evening with Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer’ on May 15, 2022

Live in-person and online event with author of best-selling Braiding Sweetgrass

Palo Alto, Calif. – March 29, 2022 – On Sunday, May 15, at 7 p.m. Pacific Time, the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) and the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area will present an evening with Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of the best-selling book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.

The event will take place in person at the California Theater in downtown San José, CA. Tickets range from $10 to $20 and include reserved seating. The event will also be available online for FREE, as a live simulcast and as a recording until June 4. Advance registration is required for access: register here.

Kimmerer’s talk will focus on themes featured in Braiding Sweetgrass, including the intersections of traditional ecological knowledge and science. These intersections, in turn, inform how native traditions and scientific disciplines provide different languages for interpreting the world and how the two can provide a roadmap for how people can come into a relationship with the land, while both honoring the past and planning for a more sustainable future.

Charlene Nijmeh, Chairwoman of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, will host the event. Nijmeh will also share details about the launch of the Muwekma Ohlone Preservation Foundation, a nonprofit land trust that will support the Muwekma Tribe’s goals related to the preservation and strengthening of the Tribe’s culture, identity and connection to its aboriginal homelands. In addition, Tribal Vice Chairwoman Monica Arellano will deliver a land acknowledgment and blessing, along with other Muwekma tribal members.

Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, which has earned Kimmerer wide acclaim. The book was listed as a bestseller by The New York Times, The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. Her first book, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing. Her other work has appeared in Orion, Whole Terrain and numerous scientific journals.

Lead sponsors for this event include The Bill & Jean Lane Endowment and Sand Hill Global Advisors, with additional sponsorship by Alex & Lily Wang, the Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati Foundation, IBM and Pie Ranch.

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About the Peninsula Open Space Trust

POST protects open space on the Peninsula and in the South Bay for the benefit of all. As a private nonprofit land trust, POST has been responsible for saving more than 80,000 acres since its founding in 1977. POST works with private landowners and public agencies to connect people and nature. Visit openspacetrust.org for more information.

About the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe & the Muwekma Ohlone Preservation Foundation

The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is comprised of the known surviving American Indian lineages aboriginal to the San Francisco Bay region who trace their ancestry through the Missions Dolores, Santa Clara and San Jose, and who were also members of the historic federally recognized Verona Band of Alameda County. The aboriginal homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe includes portions of San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda and Santa Cruz counties. The missionization policies deployed by the Catholic Church and militarily supported by the Spanish Empire brought many distantly related, intermarried tribal groups together at the missions. The Muwekma Ohlone Preservation Foundation was established in 2020 by a vote of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Council to create a nonprofit land trust to support the Tribe.