Wake Up the Snake! Collective wisdom brings nature back to balance

Mother Earth is a powerful living system with much to tell us, if we only look and listen.  

Traditional custodian Dr Anne Poelina speaks with passion about the heritage listed Fitzroy River in Western Australia’s West Kimberley region.  

Dr Poelina urges us to ‘wake up the snake’—to revive our collective consciousness and work with nature to restore balance and harmony.  

Earth-centred co-design solutions must embrace First Peoples’ sacred relationship with the natural world, accepting the gift of Indigenous wisdom on biodiversity.  

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx 

About the speaker 

Dr Anne Poelina is a Nyikina Warrwa Traditional Custodian, Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy (Health Science), Managing Director of Madjulla Inc., and Chair of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council. 

Dr Poelina is an active Indigenous community leader, and internationally respected human and earth justice rights advocate and filmmaker. Her current work explores climate, water and multi-species justice for Indigenous people of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River. 

Dr Poelina is a Peter Cullen Fellow (2011), Laureate Women’s World Summit Foundation (Geneva, 2017), Adjunct Professor and Senior Research Fellow of the University of Notre Dame (Nulungu Research Institute) and Visiting Research Fellow at the Australian National University, Water Justice Hub.