Jessica

Hernandez

Bestselling Author

Indigenous Scientist & Climate Justice Leader

Travels from: Seattle, WA

“In Fresh Banana Leaves, Jessica Hernandez weaves personal, historical, and environmental narratives to offer us a passionate and powerful call to increase our awareness and to take responsibility for caring for Mother Earth.” A must-read for anyone interested in Indigenous environmental perspectives.” — EMIL’ KEME (K’iche’Maya Nation), member of the Ixbalamke Junajpu Winaq’ Collective

Dr. Jessica Hernandez is a globally recognized Indigenous scientist, climate justice leader, and best-selling author whose groundbreaking work is redefining environmentalism through an Indigenous lens. Rooted in the Pacific Northwest, she bridges Indigenous science, traditional ecological knowledge, and Western frameworks to confront the most urgent environmental crises of our time.

She currently serves as the Director of Indigenous Science & Research at Earth Daughters, leading global research initiatives that center Indigenous knowledge systems to inform advocacy, guide policy, and advance climate justice and ecological sustainability.

Dr. Hernandez is also the acclaimed author of Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science (2022)—a bestselling, award-winning book shaping global policy, academia, and activism. Her second book, Growing Papaya Trees: Nurturing Indigenous Roots During Climate Displacement (2025), examines climate migration, colonialism, and Indigenous resilience in the face of forced displacement.

She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental and Forest Sciences, Master of Marine Affairs (MMA), and Master of Science (MS) in Environmental and Forest Sciences from the University of Washington. In recognition of her visionary leadership, Forbes named her one of the “100 Most Powerful and Influential Women in Central America.” Her thought leadership continues to shape global conversations on decolonizing environmentalism and Indigenous science, with her work featured by NPR, Vox, Teen Vogue, Latino USA, Science Friday, and UN News, among others.

Growing Papaya Trees: Nurturing Indigenous Roots During Climate Displacement

North Atlantic Books |

November 11, 2025

Climatology

Leading Binnizá and Maya Ch’orti’ scientist Jessica Hernandez, PhD, weaves together Indigenous knowledge, environmental science, and personal family stories in her highly anticipated follow-up to the LA Times best-seller Fresh Banana Leaves.

Not every environmental problem is a result of climate change, but every environmental and climate change problem is a result of colonialism.

Dr. Jessica Hernandez offers readers an Indigenous, Global-South lens on the climate crisis, delivering a compelling and urgent exploration of its causes—and its costs. She shares how the impacts of colonial climate catastrophe—from warming oceans to forced displacement of settler ontologies—can only be addressed at the root if we reorient toward Indigenous science and follow the lead of Indigenous peoples and communities.

Growing Papaya Trees explores:

Energy as a sociopolitical issue
The interconnectedness of natural disasters, sociopolitical turmoil, and forced migration
Our oceans, our forests, and our Indigenous futures
Moving Indigenous science from mere acknowledgement into real action
How to nourish Indigenous roots when displaced beyond borders

Dr. Hernandez asks: what does it mean to be Indigenous when we’re separated from our lands? How do we nurture future generations knowing they, too, will have to live away from their ancestral places? She illuminates that cultures are not lost, even amid genocide, turmoil, war, and climate displacement—and shows us how to be better kin to each other against the ecological violence, colonial oppression, and distorted status quo of the Global North.

Academics & Education, BIPOC Representation, Creative Nonfiction, Environmental Concerns, Family Narratives, Native American & Indigenous Heritage, Natural World, Nonfiction, Science & Technology

Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science

North Atlantic Books |

January 18, 2022

Environmentalism

A 2022 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist in Science & Technology

An Indigenous environmental scientist breaks down why western conservationism isn’t working–and offers Indigenous models informed by case studies, personal stories, and family histories that center the voices of Latin American women and land protectors.

Despite the undeniable fact that Indigenous communities are among the most affected by climate devastation, Indigenous science is nowhere to be found in mainstream environmental policy or discourse. And while holistic land, water, and forest management practices born from millennia of Indigenous knowledge systems have much to teach all of us, Indigenous science has long been ignored, otherized, or perceived as “soft”–the product of a systematic, centuries-long campaign of racism, colonialism, extractive capitalism, and delegitimization.

Here, Jessica Hernandez–Maya Ch’orti’ and Zapotec environmental scientist and founder of environmental agency Piña Soul–introduces and contextualizes Indigenous environmental knowledge and proposes a vision of land stewardship that heals rather than displaces, that generates rather than destroys. She breaks down the failures of western-defined conservatism and shares alternatives, citing the restoration work of urban Indigenous people in Seattle; her family’s fight against ecoterrorism in Latin America; and holistic land management approaches of Indigenous groups across the continent.

Through case studies, historical overviews, and stories that center the voices and lived experiences of Indigenous Latin American women and land protectors, Hernandez makes the case that if we’re to recover the health of our planet–for everyone–we need to stop the eco-colonialism ravaging Indigenous lands and restore our relationship with Earth to one of harmony and respect.

Academics & Education, BIPOC Representation, Creative Nonfiction, Environmental Concerns, Family Narratives, Latinx Heritage, Native American & Indigenous Heritage, Natural World, Nonfiction, Science & Technology

Coming Soon!

“A critical and timely contribution to the discourse on how Indigenous land-based knowledge, relationships, and stewardship can address climate displacement. Hernandez weaves together realities of Indigenous displacement, marginalization, and ongoing impacts of colonialism with stories and teachings rooted in Indigenous resilience and solidarity. Her deep connection to and love for ancestral homelands infuses the book with an intimacy that is rare and powerful. The teachings embedded in the book are not only important for other Indigenous people and scholars, but are also critical for everyone who cares about our shared histories and futures.” — Styawat / Dr. Leigh Joseph, author of Held by the Land

“With Growing Papaya Trees, Dr. Hernandez breaks open discussions of diasporic Indigenous identity, shared histories, and climate displacement. Drawing from personal narratives and compelling research, Hernandez has provided an urgent second book that calls for both a keen eye on the past and solidarity in the present.” — Kinsale Drake, author of The Sky Was Once a Dark Blanket

“Transported by stories that remind us that the Land remembers, Dr. Hernandez weaves tales that carry ancestral wisdom—guiding us toward collective survival, healing, and belonging. This book is a prayer, a balm, and a call to return to each other and to the Earth. At a time when our communities are rising against violence and erasure, these stories of migration, sacredness, and resistance are more vital than ever.” — Céline Semaan, author of A Woman Is a School

“Westerners, [Dr. Hernandez] writes, fall short on including Indigenous people in environmental dialogues and deny them the social and economic resources necessary to recover from ‘land theft, cultural loss, and genocide’ and to prepare for the future effects of climate change.” — Publishers Weekly

“A groundbreaking book that busts existing frameworks about how we think about Indigeneity, science, and environmental policy. A must-read for practitioners and theorists alike.” — Sandy Grande, professor of political science and Native American and Indigenous studies, University of Connecticut

“Inspiring and sobering, philosophically powerful and practically grounded, this book weaves together storytelling, razor sharp critiques of oppression, and liberatory pathways for how we can achieve transformation in solidarity. Dr. Hernandez offers the instructions so many environmental protectors and conservationists need to know.” — Kyle Whyte, George Willis Pack Professor, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan

“Dr. Hernandez offers many gifts for us to learn, grow, and heal. She shares many details of how settler colonialism has impacted Indigenous people, specifically people of Mexico and Central America. Fresh Banana Leaves is a true validation of the Indigenous knowledge of community.” — Dr. Michael Spencer, Presidential Term Professor of Social Work and director of Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Oceania Affairs at the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute (IWRI), University of Washington

Jessica’s Press/Media Page

Jessica’s Publications Page

Honors, Awards & Recognition

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist in Science & Technology
Bestselling Author
Director of Indigenous Science & Research
Ph.D. in Environmental and Forest Sciences
Master of Marine Affairs (MMA)
Master of Science (MS) in Environmental and Forest Sciences
Named one of the “100 Most Powerful and Influential Women in Central America” by Forbes
Literary Lion KCLS Foundation 2026
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology 2026 Science and Society Special Lecture
Literary Lion KCLS Foundation 2022
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist in Science & Technology
Bruce Piasecki and Andrea Masters Annual Award 2022
Forbes 100 Most Powerful & Influential Women from Central America