#67 Agrita Dandriyal on relational work in environmental science
“I think a lot of academics are afraid to acknowledge that environmental restoration and conservation has to do a lot with [tending to] the emotional and spiritual needs of beings. We are rebuilding our relationship to the land and you cannot approach restoration without acknowledging that this is relationship building.”
Why is it important that we integrate relational work in environmental conservation and restoration work to shift away from colonial and anthropocentric practices of managing the land to move to a more regenerative and caring paradigm which serve the emotional and spiritual needs of all? What power does decentering and deprivileging the human experience hold in building meaningful relationships with the more-than-human when the conservation community has internalised self-centrism and extractivism?
On today's episode, we reshare the conversation Agrita got to be a part of as a guest on the wonderful Ximena Garcia’s podcast Traditional Medicine with Shamaflora. In this episode, Ximena provides her the space to share her story and journey into grounding healing in her work within environmental science and policy and the ways in which embodied, lived experiences have guided her in creating space for deep healing work in social and environmental fields through the Mind Full of Everything podcast.
What will be explored:
How Agrita got into the podcasting space and how the experiences and relationships created in the space has helped her ground her work in environmental science and policy in healing and relational work
Importance of integrative and intersectional work in environmental policy, particularly for bringing local (human and more-than-human) communities to the centre of decision-making for their land
Addressing the issues around reproducing colonial conservation and management practices by neglecting relational work in healing our relationship with the land and the more-than-human
Decolonising mind, body and spirit as foundational work when tending to our relationships with the environment around us
Using Robin Wall Kimmerer’s beautiful conceptualisation of reciprocity and gift to ground relationship-building in environmental restoration and scientific experimentation
Importance of being intentional when connecting to the land and using its gifts - with an example of an intention story in Hinduism
Need for us to work on the body level to regenerate intimacy with one another and the land
