Women of the Earth

The near extinction of buffalo across North America had devastating consequences—especially for Indigenous communities, for whom buffalo were a source of food, shelter, spiritual connection, and governance. Today, Lucille Contreras, founder of the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project, is leading a powerful effort to restore buffalo to their ancestral lands in Texas. Through this work, she is also reviving cultural traditions and creating a space for her Indigenous community to reconnect with the buffalo and the way of life they represent.

Oysters are powerful ecosystem engineers—they filter water, reduce ocean acidification, and build reefs that act as natural breakwaters, protecting our coasts. But the plastic gear used to farm them is doing irreversible harm to the very ecosystems oysters help restore.

Environmental scientist Danielle Stevenson is pioneering an alternative to the costly "dig-and-dump" approach that simply moves contaminated soil elsewhere. At fire sites across California, Danielle is harnessing fungi and native plants through a process called mycoremediation—using nature itself to break down pollutants, pull heavy metals from the ground, and help devastated landscapes heal.

In Montana, noxious weeds have become a widespread problem due to ecosystem disturbances and degraded landscapes. Over time, the dominant method of managing these weeds has been the use of herbicides. But herbicides leave behind toxic residues—harmful both to us and to the planet. Chia Thrane takes a different approach. Through rotational grazing, her herd of goats naturally manages noxious weeds.