Indigenous Sciences: A Live Conversation with Dr. Lyla June Johnston

"We were all born to be of service to the land. These big brains and opposable thumbs were never meant to enrich us — they were tools given to us to enrich the earth."

This is how Dr. Lyla June Johnston sees the world. And once you hear her say it, it's hard to unsee.

In August13th, 2026, we sat down with Lyla June on Instagram Live to talk about Indigenous Sciences — her second course in partnership with Gaia Education, built on years of doctoral research into the regenerative land management systems of Indigenous Nations worldwide.

The conversation moved through the personal and the academic, the historical and the urgently present. Lyla June brought her research to life — the chestnut groves managed for three thousand years along the Eastern United States, the clam gardens engineered on the ocean floor, the fire regimes that sustained entire prairie ecosystems — and spoke honestly about why most of us were never taught any of it.

She also spoke about hope. Not the easy kind, but the kind that comes from knowing what humans are actually capable of when we live in right relationship with the earth.

Watch the full conversation below.

Ready to Go Deeper?

Indigenous Sciences: Food Systems, Land Stewardship, and Sustainable Worldviews is a six-week online course led by Dr. Lyla June Johnston, with guest speaker Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining).

📅 Starts November 9th, 2026

ENROLL IN INDIGENOUS SCIENCES