Benji Galindo

I’m a fourth-generation Chicano/Tejano from Fort Worth, TX. I studied Environmental Studies, Biology, and Feminist Studies and graduated from Southwestern University near Austin, TX. I currently work as a horticulturalist/gardener for my local botanical garden.

Professional:
I am gaining new horticultural and arborist skills working with desert adapted species from around the world. In addition to working with cacti and other succulents, I am assisting with cultivating culturally significant food/medicine crops that are closely tied to the Akimel O'odham and Western Apache peoples. On the side I am developing an outdoor education program and design service that focuses on outdoor learning spaces for children to build connections to the natural world even in an urban environment.

Personal:
I'm eager to learn more about the world through travel, networking, and mutual skill-sharing. I'm passionate about regenerative agriculture, natural building, decolonization, food sovereignty, bioregional resiliency, alternative economies, prison abolition, border and immigration work, environmental disaster relief, spiritual activism, and organizing political grassroots coalitions to disrupt/dismantle oppression and ecological destruction. 

I listen to all kinds of music but I'm usually listening to these artists: flying lotus, BBNG, milo, Thundercat, Philip Glass, Antibalas, Fela Kuti, Chicano Batman, Hiatus Kaiyote, Kendrick Lamar, and Femina. 

I prefer to read sci-fi, fantasy, other fiction and non-fiction written by authors like: Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, Junot Diaz, Gloria Anzaldua, James Baldwin, Starhawk, and Masanobu Fukuoka. 

HMU if you're interested in decolonizing/healing/transforming yourself and the world through food, art, word, and song.