Medicine Wheel for the Planet: A Journey toward Personal and Ecological Healing

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • FINALIST FOR THE 2025 HUBERT EVANS PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION UNDER THE B.C. AND YUKON BOOK PRIZES • SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 KOBO EMERGING WRITER PRIZE

"This beautiful book can completely change how we approach science, using both Indigenous and Western perspectives, and how we can work collaboratively to help foster balance in nature." —Suzanne Simard, bestselling author of Finding the Mother Tree

For readers of Braiding Sweetgrass: Future-saving insights and approaches to science and ecology using both Indigenous and Western perspectives.

A farm kid at heart, and a Nlaka'pamux woman of mixed ancestry, Dr. Jennifer Grenz always felt a deep connection to the land. However, after nearly two decades of working as a restoration ecologist in the Pacific Northwest, she became frustrated that despite the best efforts of her colleagues and numerous volunteers, they weren't making the meaningful change needed for plant, animal and human communities to adapt to a warming climate. Restoration ecology is grounded in an idea that we must return the natural world to an untouched, pristine state, placing humans in a godlike role—a notion at odds with Indigenous histories of purposeful, reciprocal interaction with the environment. This disconnect sent Dr. Grenz on a personal journey of joining her head (Western science) and her heart (Indigenous worldview) to find a truer path toward ecological healing.

In Medicine Wheel for the Planet, building on sacred stories, field observations and her own journey, Dr. Grenz invites readers to share in the teachings of the four directions of the medicine wheel: the North, which draws upon the knowledge and wisdom of elders; the East, where we let go of colonial narratives and see with fresh eyes; the South, where we apply new-old worldviews to envision a way forward; and the West, where a relational approach to land reconciliation is realized. 

Eloquent, inspiring and disruptive, Medicine Wheel for the Planet circles toward an argument that we need more than a singular worldview to protect the planet and make the significant changes we are running out of time for.

DR. JENNIFER GRENZ is a Nlaka’pamux Indigenous ecologist and scholar with a PhD in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems from the University of British Columbia. In addition to her current position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Forest Resources Management at UBC, Dr. Grenz runs her own consulting and land-healing company, Greener This Side, conducting landscape-level invasive species management and environmental restoration activities for all levels of government and Indigenous communities within British Columbia. She has traveled extensively across North America presenting keynote lectures on invasive species management issues, environmental policy, and effective environmental communication strategies to different professional organizations and government agencies.

ISBN: 9781039006034
Format: Paperback
Pages: 280
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Published: May 27, 2025

FINALIST FOR THE 2025 HUBERT EVANS NON-FICTION PRIZE, PART OF THE BC AND YUKON BOOK PRIZES

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 KOBO EMERGING WRITER PRIZE

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 SCIENCE WRITERS AND COMMUNICATORS OF CANADA BOOK AWARD

"Grenz shares her ancestral Nlaka'pamux wisdom that respect, relationship and reciprocity with all life is essential in healing the land. In telling her stories, she demonstrates how these fundamental principles underlie the good work. She also teaches us that our ability to understand nature and our success at stewardship requires that we lead with our hearts and keep our beginner’s curiosity open. When we do this, we have unlimited capacity to heal. This beautiful book can completely change how we approach science, using both Indigenous and Western perspectives, and how we can work collaboratively to help foster balance in nature.” —Suzanne Simard, author of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest

“Rooted in both Indigenous and Western ways of understanding and doing science, Medicine Wheel for the Planet challenges the simplistic, dichotomous thinking that has led well-meaning environmentalists astray for too long. In a book that is part primer in ecology, part memoir, and part manifesto, Jennifer Grenz movingly shares her own process of learning and unlearning, of connecting with traditional knowledge and practices to help unearth future-saving insights and approaches—and by doing so, generously invites the reader to undertake a similar transformation. Wise, humble, provocative, brave, and beautifully written, this book is a triumph. Read it and let it alter and expand how you see the world and your place and role within it." —Astra Taylor, author of The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart