FOR THOSE WHO ARE deeply cynical—and anxious—about the state of the planet, Healing the Land Teaches Us Who We Are (North Atlantic Books) offers a rare thing: hope. Drawing from Indigenous knowledge, stories, and ecological projects around the globe, UNM professor Maceo Carrillo Martinet says community-based resistance is key to confronting environmental crises and connecting with the natural world—and each other. Organized around the four elements, the book moves from planting native seeds along Albuquerque’s bosque to learning to coexist with the African tsetse fly, exploring threats and holistic solutions along the way. “We need a new, but very old, language,” Martinet writes, “that sees water, fire, earth, and air not just as elements but as relatives.”