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Guardians of the Trees: A Journey of Hope Through Healing the Planet: A Memoir
A "magnificent, empowering" (Bill McKibben) memoirabout a woman spearheading a global initiative to heal the world’s rainforestsand the communities who depend on them
When Kinari Webb first traveled to Indonesian Borneo at 21 to study orangutans, she was both awestruck by the beauty of her surroundings and heartbroken by the rainforest destruction she witnessed. As she got to know the local communities, she realized that their need to pay for expensive healthcare led directly to the rampant logging, which in turn imperiled their health and safety even further. Webb realized her true calling was at the intersection of medicine and conservation.
After graduating with honors from the Yale School ofMedicine, Webb returned to Borneo, listening to local communities about theirsolutions for how to both protect the rainforests and improve their lives. Foundingtwo non-profits, Health in Harmony in the U.S. and ASRI in Indonesia, Webb andher local and international teams partnered with rainforest communities,building a clinic, developing regenerative economies, providing educationalopportunities, and dramatically transforming the region. But just wheneverything was going right, Webb was stung by a deadly box jellyfish and wouldspend the next four years fighting for her life, a fight that would lead her torethink everything. Was she ready to expand her work to a global scale and takeclimate change head on?
Full of hope and optimism, Webb takes us on an exhilarating, galvanizing journey across the world, sharing her passion for the natural world and for humanity. In our current moment of crisis, Guardians of the Trees is an essential roadmap for moving forward and the inspiring story of one woman’s quest to heal the world.
When Kinari Webb first traveled to Indonesian Borneo at 21 to study orangutans, she was both awestruck by the beauty of her surroundings and heartbroken by the rainforest destruction she witnessed. As she got to know the local communities, she realized that their need to pay for expensive healthcare led directly to the rampant logging, which in turn imperiled their health and safety even further. Webb realized her true calling was at the intersection of medicine and conservation.
After graduating with honors from the Yale School ofMedicine, Webb returned to Borneo, listening to local communities about theirsolutions for how to both protect the rainforests and improve their lives. Foundingtwo non-profits, Health in Harmony in the U.S. and ASRI in Indonesia, Webb andher local and international teams partnered with rainforest communities,building a clinic, developing regenerative economies, providing educationalopportunities, and dramatically transforming the region. But just wheneverything was going right, Webb was stung by a deadly box jellyfish and wouldspend the next four years fighting for her life, a fight that would lead her torethink everything. Was she ready to expand her work to a global scale and takeclimate change head on?
Full of hope and optimism, Webb takes us on an exhilarating, galvanizing journey across the world, sharing her passion for the natural world and for humanity. In our current moment of crisis, Guardians of the Trees is an essential roadmap for moving forward and the inspiring story of one woman’s quest to heal the world.
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Published September 28, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
December 31, 2021
My sister-in-law gave me this book for Christmas because she's friends with the author, and I became utterly absorbed in it on Christmas Day, reading it while Bruce and Freddie played Monopoly. This is the story of someone who found her life path founding a clinic and hospital in Borneo so people wouldn't have to log the forests to pay for medical care. This is the shocking real life story of a planetary hero and it brought tears to my eyes and made me excited for the future we can create together.
September 29, 2021
Do you worry about climate change but feel there's nothing you can do? Have you heard of rainforest destruction but think it's too far away to involve you? Do you feel despair about global inequality, healthcare access, or the extinction of wild species?
Most people I know would answer yes to some of these questions. To all of you, I highly recommend this book. It opens the mind to a new way of looking at these interconnected crises with a holistic solution, founded in listening to the experts: rainforest communities. For once, I can say I have hope.
Not to mention, it's a fantastic read that had me laughing out loud and tearing up in turn.
Most people I know would answer yes to some of these questions. To all of you, I highly recommend this book. It opens the mind to a new way of looking at these interconnected crises with a holistic solution, founded in listening to the experts: rainforest communities. For once, I can say I have hope.
Not to mention, it's a fantastic read that had me laughing out loud and tearing up in turn.
November 8, 2022
I enjoyed the parts of the book about setting up the medical clinic and interacting with the indigenous people. It was great how she made the connection between healthy forests and healthy people. I also was drawn in initially by the jellyfish saga. But Kinari had some dark times in her life and I didn’t enjoy those parts. She got into spirituality, which I couldn’t appreciate. She got kind of selfish and split with her husband, which I also couldn’t sympathize with. It’s too bad she didn’t just write about the clinic, it would have been better.
September 28, 2021
A story of hope - beautifully written and inspiring. Highly recommend!
June 24, 2025
5 stars for the incredible work, 1 star for the author’s sense of self importance (particularly in the second half) - including constantly reminding us she made no salary and had multiple “prophetic dreams,” fanatic to an extent that she was called to only wear three colors of clothing(?!). Despite saying the opposite, the book had a touch too much white saviorism for me, made worse by the afterword. I wish the author had left out the attempts at memoir and just stuck to ethnographically telling the story of the clinic, because the approach is truly revolutionary.
August 7, 2022
This is an incredibly inspiring & thought provoking memoir about Dr. Kinari Webb and her journey of falling in the love with the Indonesian rainforest, becoming a doctor & founding non profits that have put radical listening at the center. Her story brings needed hope, a reminder of the interconnection of all beings, and how the health of the rainforest is deeply tied to giving communities access to healthcare. I highly recommend!
July 3, 2022
What a fascinating read! Kinari Webb's memoir is an engaging insight into how climate change and healthcare are interconnected. I have never really thought about this link before, but now that I've read Guardians of the Trees it seems so obvious. Of course, the welfare of people living near the world's largest forests impacts the forest as well! We as humans are not disconnected from nature, but one with it, and exploring such made for an inspiring and insightful read.
Webb also explored how colonisation and racism were connected to as well as caused climate change. After reading Climate Change is Racist by by Jeremy Williams earlier this year, I already understood this, but looking at this case study in such a detailed fashion expanded my understanding thoroughly, by providing concrete examples and evidence. I think that going forward in solving the climate crisis it's vital to understand these links so I deeply appreciated how Webb included this.
One part I found slightly disappointing was Webb's refusal to mention capitalism and how that has impacted climate change. She implied it, and how the system of capitalism drives the people of Indonesia to log their forests, but she never actually said it, and I wonder if even she consciously knows it. At the end of the day, Kinari Webb is still an American, who, like many others who live in the U.S., may blindly accept capitalism as the default. Maybe I'm being presumptuous and if I am, I apologise. However, whether or not Webb realises that capitalism is a major factor - or even the root - of climate change, it still would have been beneficial to mention such in her book. Doing so would provide an even more holistic view of climate change, which is in turn important in tackling the climate crisis. Overall, this absence felt like such an obvious gaping hole in her otherwise intersectional memoir, so it was such a shame for her not to mention capitalism and class.
Another smaller aspect that I didn't enjoy was Webb's spiritual journey and how she came to Indonesia and started the clinic because she felt it was her calling. Personally, I found this quite preachy and irrelevant to the broader narrative. I could also have done without such detailed descriptions of her dreams. This felt quite out of place for a book that otherwise heavily relied on science and statistics. However, as this is not a scientific book, but rather a memoir, I'll (mostly) let this slide. Let and let live and all that.
Yet despite these misgivings, overall I found this book very hopeful. Understanding on a more holistic level the causes of climate change mean we can better combat it, so of course, I felt more hopeful. I would definitely recommend this book as a vital part of understanding the climate crisis as well as a way to mitigate one's own fears of climate change.
Webb also explored how colonisation and racism were connected to as well as caused climate change. After reading Climate Change is Racist by by Jeremy Williams earlier this year, I already understood this, but looking at this case study in such a detailed fashion expanded my understanding thoroughly, by providing concrete examples and evidence. I think that going forward in solving the climate crisis it's vital to understand these links so I deeply appreciated how Webb included this.
One part I found slightly disappointing was Webb's refusal to mention capitalism and how that has impacted climate change. She implied it, and how the system of capitalism drives the people of Indonesia to log their forests, but she never actually said it, and I wonder if even she consciously knows it. At the end of the day, Kinari Webb is still an American, who, like many others who live in the U.S., may blindly accept capitalism as the default. Maybe I'm being presumptuous and if I am, I apologise. However, whether or not Webb realises that capitalism is a major factor - or even the root - of climate change, it still would have been beneficial to mention such in her book. Doing so would provide an even more holistic view of climate change, which is in turn important in tackling the climate crisis. Overall, this absence felt like such an obvious gaping hole in her otherwise intersectional memoir, so it was such a shame for her not to mention capitalism and class.
Another smaller aspect that I didn't enjoy was Webb's spiritual journey and how she came to Indonesia and started the clinic because she felt it was her calling. Personally, I found this quite preachy and irrelevant to the broader narrative. I could also have done without such detailed descriptions of her dreams. This felt quite out of place for a book that otherwise heavily relied on science and statistics. However, as this is not a scientific book, but rather a memoir, I'll (mostly) let this slide. Let and let live and all that.
Yet despite these misgivings, overall I found this book very hopeful. Understanding on a more holistic level the causes of climate change mean we can better combat it, so of course, I felt more hopeful. I would definitely recommend this book as a vital part of understanding the climate crisis as well as a way to mitigate one's own fears of climate change.
February 9, 2022
I listened to the audio version of this book - brilliantly narrated by the author herself!
If you are looking for a book to inspire and give you reason for hope, then look no further! This was a really fascinating look at the career of a woman who followed her dream which led her to a path where she got to share her knowledge, along with the people she met along the way changing her outlook and sharing their own wisdom which she embraced
I think I was expecting more of a conservation book, but her story is one of conservation of nature and humans. While living in Indonesia where she moved to study orangutans, she found herself adopted by the locals and learnt so much from them, especially their attitude towards health and the wellbeing of the surroundings they were living in. Which was sometimes pushed to the limit with with so much logging going on in the area.
She fell ill while over there too, and that brush with death really seemed to switch on a different outlook on things for her and it was so extraordinary to hear her talk so freely and honestly about the good and bad points of her life there as she tried to make the decisions as to what she really wanted from life. It also clarified her mind and confront the reality of what humans were doing to the planet was unsustainable and that more needed to be done to bring awareness to this situation.
So while she treated people medically, she also appreciated a more holistic approach and that seemed to be her outlook on life in general, which she adopted for the conservation work she was involved in also.
The author is a wonderful storyteller and I could have happily listened to many more hours of her stories of life in the jungle and the dangers she faced, alongside the inspiring and illuminating moments that she got to experience. A truly engaging and reflective book - we need more inspiring women in the world like Kinari Webb!
If you are looking for a book to inspire and give you reason for hope, then look no further! This was a really fascinating look at the career of a woman who followed her dream which led her to a path where she got to share her knowledge, along with the people she met along the way changing her outlook and sharing their own wisdom which she embraced
I think I was expecting more of a conservation book, but her story is one of conservation of nature and humans. While living in Indonesia where she moved to study orangutans, she found herself adopted by the locals and learnt so much from them, especially their attitude towards health and the wellbeing of the surroundings they were living in. Which was sometimes pushed to the limit with with so much logging going on in the area.
She fell ill while over there too, and that brush with death really seemed to switch on a different outlook on things for her and it was so extraordinary to hear her talk so freely and honestly about the good and bad points of her life there as she tried to make the decisions as to what she really wanted from life. It also clarified her mind and confront the reality of what humans were doing to the planet was unsustainable and that more needed to be done to bring awareness to this situation.
So while she treated people medically, she also appreciated a more holistic approach and that seemed to be her outlook on life in general, which she adopted for the conservation work she was involved in also.
The author is a wonderful storyteller and I could have happily listened to many more hours of her stories of life in the jungle and the dangers she faced, alongside the inspiring and illuminating moments that she got to experience. A truly engaging and reflective book - we need more inspiring women in the world like Kinari Webb!
November 29, 2022
A thousand stars. A million stars. EVERY STAR IN THE SKY. This book gives me hope 😭.
December 5, 2022
Loved reading this ! Kinari Webb talks about environmental changes / climate change in the most real way I have come across so far. It’s both funny and serious at the same time, and she doesn’t bother hiding her ups and downs as a human. Which is what makes this all the more convincing.
One is the best books I have read in a bit.
One is the best books I have read in a bit.
January 22, 2023
Incredible book and an important read for EVERYONE.
October 14, 2023
A beautiful scientific and spiritual journey. An honest reflection on our relationship with the planet as well as with ourselves.
June 8, 2022
A hopeful book about planetary health
July 14, 2023
Tedious and a bit too preachy. I enjoyed the pragmatic problem-solving and would have liked more description of daily lives of the people where she was living, but the parts about her spiritual explorations were unnecessary to the story. And the sudden decision to wear only 3 colors? WTH. I only stuck with it because it was a book club selection.
March 4, 2023
This was a marvelous memoir and so well written and exe. I enjoyed the read and learned so much. But going along on Kinari’s adventure was such a privilege. I am excited to hear her speak this summer when she comes to
Lecture at our summer community. Such a good “Big Read” pick!
Lecture at our summer community. Such a good “Big Read” pick!
April 12, 2023
I loved being introduced to Harmony in Health and their approach to environmental stewardship and planetary health. I also appreciated learning Kinari’s intellectual, emotional, and spiritual journey and growth.
October 24, 2021
Both a memoir and a call to action, Guardians of the Trees recounts Webb’s time in Indonesia, first on research, and then founding a non-profit called @healthinharmonyngo . People living near the rainforests had to log to pay for expensive medical bills; even if they realized the rainforest’s importance and that it wouldn’t last forever, they often had no choice. Webb already strongly believed in protecting the rainforests, but seeing the logging and medical crises in Indonesia is what inspired her to start Health and Harmony, providing medical services and other services to rainforest communities to combat both climate change and poverty. In her mind, human and planetary health are inextricably linked.
~
I guess this is more like info on the organization than a true review, but I found HIH’s model so fascinating and want to see more organizations functioning like it. I don’t think I’ve highlighted/annotated a nonfiction book more than GOOT. The beautiful relationships in the rainforest communities and with nature itself really shine in this memoir. I rarely felt like I needed to “take a break” from Guardians of the Trees, either. My only qualm is that the spiritual aspect Webb’s life wasn’t as clear or fleshed out to me, despite it seemingly playing a big part in expanding her work to a more global scale and in her personal healing, too.
~
However, the spiritual aspect made me think of how the church could use a similar model more often. How can we as Christians both address spiritual and physical poverty/societal issues, with long-term impacts? To me, those aspects are as closely linked as planetary and personal health are to Webb. After all, the early church provided for the poor, widowed, orphaned, and suffering, and the biblical God is a God of justice and love. I would definitely say that GOOT had a big impact on my awareness and thinking. I haven’t had a ton of 5🌟 books this year, but GOOT is definitely one I recommend!
~
I guess this is more like info on the organization than a true review, but I found HIH’s model so fascinating and want to see more organizations functioning like it. I don’t think I’ve highlighted/annotated a nonfiction book more than GOOT. The beautiful relationships in the rainforest communities and with nature itself really shine in this memoir. I rarely felt like I needed to “take a break” from Guardians of the Trees, either. My only qualm is that the spiritual aspect Webb’s life wasn’t as clear or fleshed out to me, despite it seemingly playing a big part in expanding her work to a more global scale and in her personal healing, too.
~
However, the spiritual aspect made me think of how the church could use a similar model more often. How can we as Christians both address spiritual and physical poverty/societal issues, with long-term impacts? To me, those aspects are as closely linked as planetary and personal health are to Webb. After all, the early church provided for the poor, widowed, orphaned, and suffering, and the biblical God is a God of justice and love. I would definitely say that GOOT had a big impact on my awareness and thinking. I haven’t had a ton of 5🌟 books this year, but GOOT is definitely one I recommend!
March 2, 2022
The summer after graduating from college, Kinari Webb traveled to Indonesia Borneo to study orangutans but after witnessing the devastating effects of deforestation in the region, and realizing that it was negatively effecting the health of the community, she enrolled at Yale School of Medicine to become a doctor. Guardians of the Trees: A Journey of Hope Through Healing the Planet, is Webb's memoir about her efforts to mitigate climate change and provide affordable health care to the people of Indonesia Borneo.
Forming two nonprofits, Health in Harmony in the U.S. and ASRI in Indonesia, Webb worked with her team to establish a health care clinic to heal both the people and the planet. With the realization that the people of Borneo were harvesting trees to pay for expensive health care treatments, Webb opened a free clinic, but after a patient threw away his antibiotic outside their door because he said that if something was free, it probably wouldn't work, Webb and her team developed a barter system. Community members who needed health care could work in their organic farm or pay with vegetables for staff meals or seedlings to replant the rainforest. Partnership was integral to her approach -- calling together members of the community for listening sessions to brainstorm problems and solutions.
Webb lays bare some of her most intimate experiences in the process: her marriage to her husband, Cam, whom she met in Borneo, her early parentification by her divorced parents, and a devastating sting by a box jellyfish that derailed her plans for four years as she recovered. Guardians of the Trees is a moving account of one woman's drive to heal the planet and its people. I highly recommend it for readers interested in climate change, health care, and humanity.
Listen to my author interviews the fourth Thursday of every month on Superior Reads at 7:00 pm on WTIP Radio, Grand Marais, Minnesota, or stream them from the web at www.wtip.org.
Forming two nonprofits, Health in Harmony in the U.S. and ASRI in Indonesia, Webb worked with her team to establish a health care clinic to heal both the people and the planet. With the realization that the people of Borneo were harvesting trees to pay for expensive health care treatments, Webb opened a free clinic, but after a patient threw away his antibiotic outside their door because he said that if something was free, it probably wouldn't work, Webb and her team developed a barter system. Community members who needed health care could work in their organic farm or pay with vegetables for staff meals or seedlings to replant the rainforest. Partnership was integral to her approach -- calling together members of the community for listening sessions to brainstorm problems and solutions.
Webb lays bare some of her most intimate experiences in the process: her marriage to her husband, Cam, whom she met in Borneo, her early parentification by her divorced parents, and a devastating sting by a box jellyfish that derailed her plans for four years as she recovered. Guardians of the Trees is a moving account of one woman's drive to heal the planet and its people. I highly recommend it for readers interested in climate change, health care, and humanity.
Listen to my author interviews the fourth Thursday of every month on Superior Reads at 7:00 pm on WTIP Radio, Grand Marais, Minnesota, or stream them from the web at www.wtip.org.
November 6, 2021
Guardians of the Trees filled the spaces that were left empty when I read The Overstory by Richard Powers earlier this year. I did not care for The Overstory, but Guardians of the Trees is exactly what I want when it comes to memoirs about conservation: heartfelt, personal, and comes with a strong message.
Sometimes I struggle with memoirs when they bounce back and forth in time, but Kinari Webb was fairly linear in her writing and especially engaging. Though it makes sense that healthcare and conservation are both important, Webb backs it up with the statistics through her work.
My biggest issue with the book was that it included a bigger religious aspect than I expected. I am not favorable to reading about religion or religious experiences, but, luckily, Webb did not lean too hard into this. For those who do enjoy reading about religious experiences, I do think they would enjoy learning about Webb's path to realization. It's just not for me.
I really appreciated that additional information was included in the afterword, both to explain that Webb left certain aspects of her story in the book to show path to continuous learning and where readers can learn more about her work.
Suehyla El-Attar is an excellent narrator and is quickly becoming one of my favorites (she also narrates P. Djèlí Clark's Dead Djinn Universe, which I highly recommend). She has an intimate quality to her voice that lends itself perfectly to this memoir.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.
Sometimes I struggle with memoirs when they bounce back and forth in time, but Kinari Webb was fairly linear in her writing and especially engaging. Though it makes sense that healthcare and conservation are both important, Webb backs it up with the statistics through her work.
My biggest issue with the book was that it included a bigger religious aspect than I expected. I am not favorable to reading about religion or religious experiences, but, luckily, Webb did not lean too hard into this. For those who do enjoy reading about religious experiences, I do think they would enjoy learning about Webb's path to realization. It's just not for me.
I really appreciated that additional information was included in the afterword, both to explain that Webb left certain aspects of her story in the book to show path to continuous learning and where readers can learn more about her work.
Suehyla El-Attar is an excellent narrator and is quickly becoming one of my favorites (she also narrates P. Djèlí Clark's Dead Djinn Universe, which I highly recommend). She has an intimate quality to her voice that lends itself perfectly to this memoir.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.
December 22, 2024
Kinari Webb's "Guardians of the Trees" is a powerful and inspiring memoir that chronicles her journey from a young woman fascinated by orangutans to a global leader in the fight to save rainforests and the communities that depend on them.
Webb's passion for the natural world is infectious, and her stories of her travels, her encounters with indigenous communities, and her work with the Guardians of the Trees initiative are both heartwarming and eye-opening.
Webb emphasized empowering local communities to become stewards of their forests. Recognizing the strong link between deforestation and community health, Webb's model integrates healthcare services. In exchange for medical care, community members commit to reforesting their lands. This incentivizes conservation while addressing critical health needs. Further, she stressed the importance of acknowledging and celebrating their contributions as essentially important for the world overall.
I initially felt a sense of awe towards Webb, viewing her as someone who could only be admired from afar. However, the book's candid accounts of her personal struggles humanized her and made her journey feel more accessible.
As someone with indigenous (Samoan) heritage who aspires to better understand and honor that heritage, I would love to learn more about how to craft programs such as those Webb and her teams developed.
Webb's passion for the natural world is infectious, and her stories of her travels, her encounters with indigenous communities, and her work with the Guardians of the Trees initiative are both heartwarming and eye-opening.
Webb emphasized empowering local communities to become stewards of their forests. Recognizing the strong link between deforestation and community health, Webb's model integrates healthcare services. In exchange for medical care, community members commit to reforesting their lands. This incentivizes conservation while addressing critical health needs. Further, she stressed the importance of acknowledging and celebrating their contributions as essentially important for the world overall.
I initially felt a sense of awe towards Webb, viewing her as someone who could only be admired from afar. However, the book's candid accounts of her personal struggles humanized her and made her journey feel more accessible.
As someone with indigenous (Samoan) heritage who aspires to better understand and honor that heritage, I would love to learn more about how to craft programs such as those Webb and her teams developed.
June 7, 2024
Maybe it’s because I identify so heavily with a lot of the ways this author thinks and lives her life, but I LOVED this book. Peering into the life of someone as adventurous, introspective, altruistic, and thoughtful as Kinari is truly fascinating and continued to keep me wanting to know what happens next. Kinari’s honesty as she retells her life is so in-depth that it really feels like it paints a complete picture of her in the moments that she retells, and it really allows you to fully experience each of those moments. I really enjoyed her writing style. This book is also filled with lots of interesting studies and references to back many of the claims made and I really appreciated the dedication to providing as much information as possible. Above all this book is extremely inspiring seeing the power of what one person can do when you provide power to communities from within. I think it’s incredibly important for people of the western world to understand the importance of putting the people first of the communities we visit, study, or view as “in need of change” and Kinari really emphasizes that throughout the entire book. That she has a vision for the world and the communities she works in but everything comes down to what the communities believe and think is best.
July 16, 2023
A necessary read that explains the idea that the health of humans and the health of ecosystems are interrelated. Although this seems obvious, it is so much deeper than we realize.
Radical listening is trusting indigenous communities, poverty stricken communities, uneducated communities, ALL communities, to know what’s best for their own community and people. Listening without bias or preconceived ideas is what’s necessary.
“In Dominance systems, the goal is to “win” which means power over….
collaborative systems … emphasize power with.” Women are more likely to be collaborative and also act pro- environmentally than men. Female leadership? p 258
One of many metaphors- p110
“ the polar caps are like two moons on the bottom and the top of the earth, which ought to be full moons of ice but were already waning to half moons; if all the rainforests of Indonesia got cut down, they might go to new moons.”
Bayview big read, with author visit, 2023.
Radical listening is trusting indigenous communities, poverty stricken communities, uneducated communities, ALL communities, to know what’s best for their own community and people. Listening without bias or preconceived ideas is what’s necessary.
“In Dominance systems, the goal is to “win” which means power over….
collaborative systems … emphasize power with.” Women are more likely to be collaborative and also act pro- environmentally than men. Female leadership? p 258
One of many metaphors- p110
“ the polar caps are like two moons on the bottom and the top of the earth, which ought to be full moons of ice but were already waning to half moons; if all the rainforests of Indonesia got cut down, they might go to new moons.”
Bayview big read, with author visit, 2023.
November 11, 2021
I wasn't expecting this to be the library book from my stack that pulled me in the fastest, but once I read a few chapters, I didn't want to put it down. The conditions of living in such a remote jungle seemed like fiction at times.
I most enjoyed reading about the organizations working with communities and Kinari's approach to listening to the locals and asking them for answers. The way ASRI offered the option of receiving healthcare by "paying" with other ways besides cash is amazing. I also loved how they position receiving thanks from the world for fostering the rain forest instead of positioning it as charity. I hope their ideas and work spread far and wide.
The parts I found most challenging were reading about her relationship with her husband. Since this is a memoir, it's hard to "rate" a real life. At the end of the book, she does acknowledge that she cringes at some of the things she said in her past. I found the way she talked about her husband to be a big negative and one-sided (even though she described him as negative). There was never acknowledgment of the toll it took on him to be her primary caregiver for two years when she was bed-ridden, and that feels like a big oversight.
I can't remember how I stumbled on this book, but I'm so glad I did. I knew trees were important to the environment and human life, but this book really helps spell it out and connect the dots.
I most enjoyed reading about the organizations working with communities and Kinari's approach to listening to the locals and asking them for answers. The way ASRI offered the option of receiving healthcare by "paying" with other ways besides cash is amazing. I also loved how they position receiving thanks from the world for fostering the rain forest instead of positioning it as charity. I hope their ideas and work spread far and wide.
The parts I found most challenging were reading about her relationship with her husband. Since this is a memoir, it's hard to "rate" a real life. At the end of the book, she does acknowledge that she cringes at some of the things she said in her past. I found the way she talked about her husband to be a big negative and one-sided (even though she described him as negative). There was never acknowledgment of the toll it took on him to be her primary caregiver for two years when she was bed-ridden, and that feels like a big oversight.
I can't remember how I stumbled on this book, but I'm so glad I did. I knew trees were important to the environment and human life, but this book really helps spell it out and connect the dots.
November 23, 2021
Interesting story of Dr. Kinari Webb who started Health in Harmony in Borneo, Indonesia.
Interesting concept of connecting the health of the environment with the health of the population. In this area, logging was destructive to the earth, but brought in money to pay for medical bills. Her clinic system allowed labor, food, livestock or saplings to be payment for medical care and helped restore the environment. The story outlines her struggles being an Ivy School (Yale) educated MD along with struggles in her marriage. Sometimes everyone had their own idea of what she should be doing with her education and privilege and it did not necessarily mesh with Kinari’s goals. One of the successful techniques she used was radical listening – sessions were held with the locals to learn what was important to them. A great idea!
Interesting concept of connecting the health of the environment with the health of the population. In this area, logging was destructive to the earth, but brought in money to pay for medical bills. Her clinic system allowed labor, food, livestock or saplings to be payment for medical care and helped restore the environment. The story outlines her struggles being an Ivy School (Yale) educated MD along with struggles in her marriage. Sometimes everyone had their own idea of what she should be doing with her education and privilege and it did not necessarily mesh with Kinari’s goals. One of the successful techniques she used was radical listening – sessions were held with the locals to learn what was important to them. A great idea!
February 5, 2022
A successful solution to providing health care in the bush and saving the rainforest in an area of Indonesia implemented and supported by Health in Harmony (U.S.) and Alam Sehat Lester (ASRI) (Indonesia). Webb's solution began with "radical listening" to those in the communities surrounding a rainforest. Groups were asked what would make their lives better. If they had access to affordable healthcare nearby, they would not need to illegally log to pay medical bills for useless care far away. Kinari's clinic set up to do this on a barter system where the patients' options were to raise seedlings for the forest, plant them, or garden in the hospital's sustainable plot.
Additional activities followed from these. At the conclusion, she is still attempting to replicate this successful model in other locations.
Resisting racism and overcoming residual colonialism is also a challenge.
Additional activities followed from these. At the conclusion, she is still attempting to replicate this successful model in other locations.
Resisting racism and overcoming residual colonialism is also a challenge.
March 11, 2025
The memoir of Kinari Webb, MD - a journey of hope through healing the planet. This resonated with me in so many ways! She shows time and time again how providing access to affordable healthcare in old growth jungle forests like Indonesian Borneo can help stop logging. People log to get money to pay for healthcare if they have no other option. The results of better healthcare and less logging leads to more intact forests, healthier waterways, lower death rates, healthier populations - it all ties in together. This is timely as our US forests are in peril more than ever due to current political heads preferring money over health of the planet and the population of people (and flora and fauna) on it. We're past the tipping point - can enough people try to do their part to reverse what we've already done to the planet? A great read for any nature enthusiast or layperson.
February 3, 2022
Although this is a memoir, it is a page turner. At 270 pages, it is a quick read. The author's ideas are compelling and her way of explaining the links between medicine and environment is clear. She acts as though what she and her colleagues are doing are independent of Indigenous post-colonial movements and Community Based Participatory Research. Probably because she has not heard of these, which is part of White privilege. Nonetheless, the way she tells this story might bring readers unfamiliar with those other movements into the stream of action to work on respectful and inclusive ways to heal our planet.
August 2, 2022
I don't think I have ever been more changed by a book I've read. It's made me reevaluate my relationship to the environment and my role in climate change, and it's greatly increased my desire to actively contribute to healing the planet. However, not only did this book change my perspective, but I also really enjoyed reading it. When I first saw that it was my required reading for Wesleyan, I was annoyed because I thought it would be incredibly boring, but it wasn't at all! I genuinely looked forward to picking it up and always had trouble putting it down. Thank you Wesleyan, for making me read this. I recommend it to everyone.
May 6, 2023
A book about the author, how she ended up going to Indonesia at a young age to observe Orangutans there. She met her husband-to-be and truly explored her priorities and passions in life. After studying in the US, she ends up going back to where she knows she wants to and can make a difference to help bring communities together, listen to them, what they need and want to help them stop destroying the precious forests. A truly inspiring story of what one person can do with a lot of motivation and determination to improve the lives of the people who are essentially forced into causing damage to the nature.
January 4, 2025
It's rare that a book written about ecology and conservation leaves you with a sense of hope. Kinari Webb and her colleague Hotlin have done remarkable things not only to protect the Bornean forest where their organization is based, but have done it in collaboration with the people who live there. This is a beautiful illustration of how the wellbeing of the natural world is directly tied to social and economic justice, and when we listen and learn from indigenous communities the best outcomes are reached. The blend of science, spirituality and humility in this memoir is really quite unique and soul-filling.
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