What generational and Indigenous thinking can bring to green chemistry

This work did not begin with a hypothesis, a framework, or even a clear sense of where it might end. It began with people gathering in a specific place, at a specific moment, to listen to one another. Over the course of a workshop, conversations unfolded slowly, shaped by stories, shared experiences, moments of discomfort, and moments of connection.

As a team of authors, we came together around a table at Algoma University in the Ontario, Canada, portion of Baawaating, some of us carrying knowledge on Indigenous ways of being, others on sustainability research. Together we explored the intersection, and interplay, of these two spaces. Together we started writing and published a piece to discuss our findings in ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering (2026, DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.5c12623). This work is the start of a journey, the kind we would like to share with all chemists.

Through our collaboration, what we’ve found is a way to approach problems in science and sustainability not just from a multidisciplinary perspective but from a point of view that incorporates considerations from both science and society.

Indigenous knowledge systems can offer powerful insights into sustainability precisely because they are grounded in long-standing relationships to land, water, and community. But engaging with these knowledge systems meaningfully is not only a matter of citation or inclusion. It asks something deeper of researchers: a willingness to slow down, to be explicit about intention, to practice reciprocity, and to recognize that knowledge is not abstract and is instead situated, relational, and carried by people.

Throughout our collaboration, we have recognized that intention should not be an afterthought or expressed as a statement added at the end of a paper. We must be explicit about why we do research in the first place, revisit our ideas throughout the work, and share them with others to confront other ways of thinking. What are we trying to change, and for whom? What relationships are we entering, and what responsibilities do they carry? These questions, while rarely part of traditional scientific training, are essential if sustainability is to move beyond incremental improvement toward meaningful transformation beyond the laboratory.

Our collaboration shows us that relationships matter for all life and across time. Relationships connect us, give us life, help us grow, and provide meaning. Neekokaabijigan is an Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwa) perspective on generational thinking. Neekokaabijigan refers to the “string” or bond that connects all living things across time—past, present, and future—and is in everything we do. We need to understand the past to navigate the present and inform our future; this understanding provides deep lessons guiding us through life and telling us what to do and not to do. Neekokaabijigan supports learning and honoring our legacy over several generations.

Chemists are trained to focus on outcomes that are immediate and measurable: yields, efficiencies, innovations. But neekokaabijigan invites a different kind of accounting. It asks us to consider what our work carries forward and what it repeats. Have we learned from past “cliffs” we have faced, whether environmental crises or global disruptions like the COVID-19 pandemic, or are we reproducing the same patterns in new forms? To take this perspective seriously is to recognize that our actions are not entirely our own. They belong, in part, to the lives that were and the ones that will follow.

This framework also asks us to consider what we may be leaving out. Which voices are absent from our research design? Which knowledge systems are treated as peripheral rather than foundational? And how might those omissions shape the solutions we propose? Expanding what counts as knowledge is not only an ethical consideration but a scientific one, especially when addressing complex, interconnected challenges.

This understanding did not emerge all at once. It was built slowly, through the way we chose to work together.

If there is a second lesson we hope to share, it is that process matters as much as product. The most meaningful aspect of this collaboration was not what we wrote but how we came to write it. Writing the paper took time. We didn’t rush to form consensus. We made space for different voices, different ways of knowing, and for uncertainty about where we were heading. It has been a journey of personal growth and resilience, with gratitude, hard work, and humility at the core.

In a research culture that often values speed and output, this approach can feel unfamiliar. And yet it was precisely this slower, relational process that made insights possible. Establishing strong relationships created the conditions for dialogue; the dialogue enabled the ideas. Along the way, the work asked something of each of us: humility, patience, and a willingness to grow. It also required an intentional choice to look for what is good and generative, even when the work felt difficult.

Practically, we made an effort to express this in small but meaningful ways: we made a call to take time to acknowledge the land and its history, to be transparent about the impacts of our research, or to build longer-term relationships rather than just project-based interactions. These actions may seem modest, but collectively they begin to reshape what responsible research looks like in practice.

Practicing research this way isn’t just the right thing to do. We need real breakthroughs in sustainability research to address current environmental challenges. We can’t do that without using holistic methods to think about complex systems. Indigenous ways of knowing are teaching us a way, one that is worth walking together.

Through our work, we hope to continue to influence others to adopt the same mindset and follow our hearts. We have to be the catalyst for change and model what is possible so others will engage in collaborative, inclusive Indigenous perspectives within their work. We hope to celebrate and continue to build our relationship and cocreate knowledge that will help us advance sustainability and regenerative approaches as collaborative communities.

Elizabeth Edgar-Webkamigad, an Ojibwa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, a speaker of Anishnaabemowin and lifelong learner, bridges Indigenous knowledge and Western education across health, education, and community development.

Dr. Jody-Lynn Rebek, a professor at Algoma University, leads a team of researchers in northern Canada studying intercultural relationships and well-being via the BRIDGE Lab. Her research focuses on transformative and contemplative leadership, Indigenous-led sustainability practices, community well-being, and social entrepreneurship.

Audrey Moores, a professor of biotechnology at McGill University, leads a research group dedicated to sustainable nanomaterials with a focus on waste biomass valorization and mechanochemistry.

Views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of C&EN or the American Chemical Society.