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When designer Gabriela Hearst and climate activist Nemonte Nenquimo first met in person at the Earth Awards, they felt an instant connection. Nenquimo’s book, We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People, is out today in the U.S., and the designer will be hosting an event at her New York store in celebration. In advance of the event, the two sat down with ELLE to discuss the climate crisis and what we can all learn from Indigenous approaches to environmental activism.
You two were aware of one another prior to meeting at the Earth Awards.
Gabriela: I knew about Nemonte’s work. Actually, she had DMed me on Instagram and we met up just before the event. Usually I’m not that nervous to speak at a public event, but I was very nervous because Nemonte was going to be there.
Nemonte’s work humbles me, because she was the only one of us who has knowledge that we don’t have anymore, in the sense of the ancestral knowledge that she has. It’s in her being, in her brain, in her vision. And she was, for me, the most important person there.
When they say climate change is changing our lives, [for her,] it is burning down her home directly, which is all of our home. If there’s no Amazon, there’s no life anywhere.
Nemonte: It was one of the first times I had received an award like that and I didn’t know what to expect. When I arrived at this gala, I didn’t really know anyone. And then I met Gabi, and she ended up dedicating part of her speech to my fight and my leadership. I felt a really profound and deep connection with her the first night we met. I believe that to change the world, there need to be more Gabis and there need to be more Nemontes.
What commonalities did you find in terms of your experiences and worldview?
Hearst: We have in common what a lot of mothers have in common. We provide for our children’s future, make sure that they have a home, they have food, they’re protected, and make sure there’s also joy.
Obviously, we have a culture that focuses on family and food and the union of that. I guess we both have high cheekbones. That’s another thing. [Laughs.] But I think that the most inspiring for me is the courage. If you learn about her work and the improbability of their victories, it’s the courage to be David against Goliath. Let’s be clear, she has to sometimes be living in another place to protect her life. I imagine myself having to leave New York City because my life would be in danger here. This is a really tough, difficult thing. And look at the smile that she has when she speaks about life, and how she’s not giving up.
Nenquimo, Hearst, and Xiye Bastida attend the 2024 Earth Awards.
The David and Goliath metaphor is apt because, Nemonte, you’ve taken on industries and governments. You grew up in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador and first visited a city at the age of 14. How did you get from that point to founding your organization, the Ceibo Alliance, and taking on these huge entities?
Nenquimo: It’s important to understand that I come from a culture that has lived in the rainforest for thousands of years. My ancestors have been passing down knowledge and stories that they’ve been learning from the forest for thousands of years.
What I realized very quickly growing up is that the people from the outside, whether they be the oil companies or the evangelicals that enter into our lands, they think, ‘Oh, these Indigenous peoples don’t understand anything. They’re ignorant. They don’t know what to do with the forest. We need to make it productive. We need to exploit it.’ And they’re wrong. They don’t understand us. And that’s what makes it so easy for them to try to destroy the forest, because they destroy what they don’t understand.
For me, and for my people, the forest is our mother. It gives us life. And because of that, we honor her. And that honor and that respect is part of the medicine, to create that spiritual connection with the land. And that’s something that Western civilization hasn’t understood, or has lost.
What I see is that in Indigenous communities in the Amazon and around the world, when outsiders and oil companies invade their lands, they destroy the life-giving force of mother. And that’s when poverty happens. The Indigenous peoples become poor, because before that, they’re rich. The outsiders who come to “save” us end up creating the poverty. I have noticed that around the world, there’s a kind of spiritual poverty and this desire to continue accumulating. If the cities and industries around the world continue to use plastics and fossil fuels, then what we’re going to do is destroy what’s giving us life. That’s why I exist as an activist, to protect my home. And ultimately, to protect all of our homes.
I would love both of your perspectives on the importance of learning from Indigenous communities and teachings when it comes to environmental activism. It’s no accident that we’ve seen so many climate activists come from this community, and specifically young women, like Xiye Bastida, who I know you’ve worked with as well, Gabriela.
Hearst: I actually said in the [Earth Awards] speech that, going back to what Nemonte was saying, richness is living within nature. There’s a saying that I like: “In the city you need a wallet, but in the jungle you need a machete.” And when I say that she carries an ancestral knowledge, she still knows what this plant is for, what this other plant is for.
I’m studying the work of Marija Gimbutas, who was an archaeologist and anthropologist. If you look at our ancient civilizations, women were the governors. So the reason that it’s [predominantly] female voices, is because within the communities that still have ancestral knowledge, there’s a respect for the female. There’s a correlation between respecting Mother Earth and respecting the female. So of course it’s going to be the women that are going to [get involved], especially from these communities, because they have the confidence given by the way that they grew up, that their voice matters and what they do matters.
Nenquimo at Gabriela Hearst’s event in London.
For over 2,000 years in this section of what Gimbutas called Old Europe, there were no forts, there were no weapons. They lived in peace. This is why women need to be in power. Because we know that a woman, be it someone as remarkable as Nemonte or someone in a small town working in a co-op, we’re always lifting others.
Nenquimo: Women care for our families, food, shelter, keep everyone healthy. We’re also the first to hear and perceive the changes that are happening to the land, to the ecosystem. And it affects us first.
That’s a powerful reason why Indigenous women are raising our voices and leading our peoples in activism to protect our forests and to protect our territories. The reason we are taking our message, our voices, our pain, our fights, global is because the threats are coming from the outside. The threats are not coming from inside our territory.
Nenquimo reading at the London event.
And as an Indigenous woman, I have a lot of pain. Because even when we protect our land and win a victory against the oil industry, years later, they want to try to auction off our lands again. We’re continually having to fight to protect the very homes that give us existence, that allow us to survive.
I’ve had people say to me, “Well, this isn’t the right way to be an activist,” whether it’s splashing soup on a canvas or blocking a highway, that it’s not the way to get the message out. I’m curious what you think about that; if you’ve encountered that mentality, and what you have said to people who’ve expressed that.
Hearst: I would just want to know how people would react if they’re poisoning their children, burning their house down. Nemonte said something very important at the beginning, which is something that I deeply believe: We’re all humans. We are all interconnected. Whatever is going to happen to Nemonte’s family is going to happen to us. Sooner or later, we’re all unsafe.
We are looking at the history of imperialism. The only difference since the Industrial Revolution is that imperialism affects nature in a way that it hasn’t before. We are looking at an archetype of dominion, of conquering women and land.
We have to say, Basta. There’s a way today in America that we can say Basta, and this is called an election on November 5. And so whoever cares about the climate needs to go and vote, because we don’t have any more chances. This is it. Bonus point: it will be a woman too.
Nenquimo: Colonization and conquest has created an imbalance. In my culture over hundreds and thousands of years, there was always gender equity. And over hundreds of years around the world, there’s been a huge imbalance where men have created violence and domination, and women have been the healers and philosophers, but have been marginalized and oppressed.
Where I live in the Ecuadorian Amazon, we’re facing another threat from an oil auction. I was just in a strategy meeting with all of the leaders of the different Indigenous nations, and my voice is strong as a woman coming from the Waorani people. I spoke about what we must do to protect our land. I spoke about grassroots organizing, legal strategies, international activism. And there was a group of Shuar—which is another Indigenous nation—men that spoke up in the meeting and said, “It’s true that the women in our communities are really the ones who, when it comes down to it, fight to protect the water source and put their lives on the line. But as men, we’re always keeping them down and they’re never elected as leaders. We see that you have women leaders of your nation,” and they reflected on that. For me, that was a sign of change and a sign that we need to continue to create equity in leadership.
We’re going to take extreme actions to stop the drilling rigs, to stop the invasions of our territories, physically. We’re going to protect our territories. But we also need to make sure that around the world people change their patterns of consumption and make lifestyle changes, otherwise there’s going to continue to be more and more consumption and more and more threats.
Gabriela, you held an event at your London store for the U.K. launch of the book. What was the response from the fashion community?
Hearst: First of all, the book is incredible. I had friends who finished it in three or four days because they couldn’t put it down. I already have so many people asking me, “If you know Mitch [Anderson, Nenquimo’s husband and co-author] and Nemonte, how can we go to the jungle with them?” I’m like, “Okay, I’ll talk to them.” We’re giving the book to guests at our [Paris Fashion Week] show. And Nemonte and Mitch are going to go to the Business of Fashion conference.
Anderson, Nenquimo, and Hearst at her London store event.
Nenquimo: I was drawn to this beautiful piece of Native American art hanging from the store wall. I was always going to that as a refuge and a place of strength. I felt that in the room, people really connected to my message and my story. A lot of the thoughtful people in the fashion industry that Gabi introduced me to have written about how it has moved them, how it brought them to tears. And ultimately that’s what this is about.
My people always say that the less you know about something, the easier it is to destroy it. And that’s why I’ve written my story, to give the world an opportunity to understand me, my people, our culture, and our forest. And what I’m hoping for now is for this book, for my story, for our people’s story, to go on a beautiful journey and touch people’s hearts and awaken their consciousness.
And what I believe must happen next is for us to weave between women and between people around the world ties and bonds of community and family. That’s what I see with Gabriela, is that we’re going to continue to weave these powerful connections together that are going to change the world. I’m looking forward to weaving with Gabi and creating space for spirituality, for radical ideas, and for change.
It’s such a powerful connection to be able to be joining forces with another Latina who sees me and understands my fight and our struggle. We’re going to build and create and dream together and create big things and impactful plans together. And one of the things that I can’t wait for, is to finally be able to see you again out in New York and laugh with you and give you a big hug.
Hearst: I can’t wait.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Véronique Hyland is ELLE’s Fashion Features Director and the author of the book Dress Code, which was selected as one of The New Yorker’s Best Books of the Year. Her writing has previously appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, W, New York magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, and Condé Nast Traveler.