Nuna Teal, PhD

Nuna will join in implementing the strategic vision of One Earth through support of on-the-ground action. She grew up on a large, diverse organic farm in Vermont that was also the site of a project by her father to study, domesticate and protect muskoxen for the economic use of their fine wool by indigenous peoples of the Far North. Conceived on Spitsbergen, Nuna traveled with the Sami and their reindeer, then migrated between the farm and Arctic wilderness and communities with the muskox project. After traveling the world on her own, studying dance and completing graduate studies in ecological anthropology, she returned to the family farm to rediscover a love for agriculture and raise two daughters. During the UN Year of Soil, she joined the Jena & Michael King Foundation in Los Angeles and served as its Executive Director for 5 years. Focusing on regenerative agriculture, healthy soils and climate, and also the general health of all beings, biodiversity and living systems, the foundation gave special attention to the rising youth and indigenous movements. Nuna currently serves on the Board of the Mni Wiconi Health Clinic & Farm, a model for decolonized, Lakota designed care to be built at Standing Rock.