While Westerners domesticated and eventually industrialized the animals we eat—and thus came to view them as dumb and inferior—Arctic cultures saw whale hunting as a match between equals.

Today, the way people think about the benefits of trees has changed. Sure, they still provide shelter, having been sawed and hammered into the boxy shapes of homes, furnished with wooden beds, desks, cabinets, and more. But their invisible advantages are starting to get more attention, from the health benefits of walking through the woods to their ability to absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas behind climate change. About 20 years ago or so, Watkins planted a small, three-acre woods. “Carbon sequestration was the last thing on my mind,” he said. “I wanted to grow trees for nature conservation, for beauty and whatever, but now 25 years on, I look at these trees and I think, ‘Wow, look at all that carbon that’s being sequestered!’”

I have Bruce King’s portrait of Skywoman, Moment in Flight, hanging in my lab. Floating to earth with her handful of seeds and flowers, she looks down on my microscopes and data loggers. It might seem an odd juxtaposition, but to me she belongs there. As a writer, a scientist, and a carrier of Skywoman’s story, I sit at the feet of my elder teachers listening for their songs.

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