Resources

"Being in nature - it's a luxury, right?" Paloma Cardoza, a child of immigrants, leveraged her educational background in habitat restoration to work with a major...

Growing food on your green schoolyard? Follow these protocols for safe and healthy harvest and food service.

A kindergarten-only school in Toronto, Canada, has teamed up with a local farming group to introduce little ones and their parents to nature through a community garden. At guided sessions, participants learn about growing carrots and the local ecosystem. The program brings nature’s benefits to residents and restores habitat in a dense urban neighborhood, while providing free organic produce to community members during a time when food can be increasingly hard to afford. CBC.

This guide provides information, examples and considerations for working with public agencies and developing partnerships with public schools to develop school gardens.

This Digest highlights research relating to inequities in opportunities for children’s engagement with nature. Included are studies that (1) raise awareness of inequities, (2) demonstrate the potential of increased nature engagement in narrowing disparities in health and well-being, and (3) provide examples of specific initiatives designed to address inequities in children’s access to nature.

In this three-part series, Rosalind Allen, Education and Families Development Officer for the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of...

At Kiddie Academy in Wilmington, North Carolina, children learn math by counting apples, conduct taste tests on herbs grown in their school garden, and enjoy lunches made of peppers that they harvested.

On April 23, 2015, a prestigious, international group of leading scientists – including a Nobel Prize winner and several nominees – issued the Helsinki Alert of...

The new nature movement comes in many forms. Courtney White is one of the leaders of the new agrarianism, which he says reflects the “growing interest in local, family-scale sustainable food, fiber,...

A few weeks ago, we marked the one year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccines and the arrival of spring bring hope, but the disparities in housing, food, education and employment that became glaringly apparent during the pandemic remain deeply entrenched.

Climate-related fires and floods are all too common these days for cities in the western United States. Unfortunately, this is precisely the story of Flagstaff, Arizona and for the...

“I’m a scientist!” the elementary school students exclaim, flanked by the greenery of the Blooming Classroom as they triumphantly wave their science worksheets above their heads. These students are...

“Bees are superorganisms. They all work together, and they can’t survive outside the hive,” explains Audrey McCollough. “It really surprised me that you treat a beehive like...

Students at Lovin Elementary School in Lawrenceville, Georgia, are leading by example through a student-run composting program. Known as “Food Waste Warriors,” the students collect fruit and vegetable scraps from their fellow students during lunchtime to compost. Under the guidance of their teacher, they weigh the food waste, practice math skills by adding up measurements, balance their compost ratios and turn the compost pile. The finished compost nourishes the school’s garden, and the students use other scraps to feed the chickens on campus — both of which produce food for students and staff to enjoy. Unopened food is placed on the school’s “Share Table” to combat food insecurity among students. ABC News.

re·sil·ience: noun, the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Resilience is now firmly woven into our everyday vernacular, in the contexts of climate change and Covid19. Nature’s role— particularly...

“Bees are a unique teaching tool,” says Tami Enright, Co-founder and Executive Director of nonprofit The Bee Cause Project. “They’re cute, they’re fuzzy… kids start caring for...

The Twin Cities Advisory Council has been integral to the planning and development of the 2025 Nature Everywhere Conference. Composed of twenty distinguished leaders...

From the bustling streets of urban centers to the serene landscapes of national parks, young activists are driving change and advocating for equitable access to nature across...

More cities are using Nature-Smart Libraries to connect children to nature. Here, Noah Lenstra traces the movement back to its origins.

Editor’s note: Thank you to Lisa Donahue, Nature Connection Network, for nominating Atiya Wells and for providing the content for this piece. BLISS Meadows founder Atiya Wells was named as...

Gardening can promote children’s physical, emotional, social, and academic development, as well as pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. Children of all ages and abilities can benefit from garden-related experiences.

What if high schools and colleges helped students create a nature-rich future and helped them become outdoor entrepreneurs? By that, I don’t mean careers devoted only to energy...

Dr. Hanaa Hamdi looked out at a sea of over 600 faces. The buzz from early-morning greetings and fresh cups of coffee had faded to a charged...

CJ Goulding is a nature leader, a community weaver and a storyteller. He believes deeply in the power of community connection and building mental models that drive...

Students from Bready Primary School in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, have buried a time capsule predicting future food trends, as part of the Acorn Farm Project, which focuses on sustainability and climate change. The students imagined future meals featuring 3D-printed food, lab-grown meat and insect protein — even predicting seaweed pizza! The Acorn Farm Project plans to develop a working urban farm, community education facility and sustainable food venue in Derry, and the time capsule project aims to teach students about the importance of sustainability. “The message we leave for future generations in our time capsule today is a hopeful one that demonstrates our commitment to changing things for the better,” said Derry and Strabane Mayor Lilian Seenoi-Barr. BBC.

Today and every day, we celebrate Black leaders in the children and nature movement. These changemakers are breaking down barriers to connect more communities to the benefits of nature and paving green career pathways for youth — driving a brighter future for all. Here are just a few of those leaders, whose work we have featured in the past year.

Summer mornings start peacefully at 21 Roots Farm. When the youth farmers arrive, it’s possible to hear their footsteps as they crunch their way up the gravel...

The studies in this Digest highlight the role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in restoring culture, enhancing connection to nature, addressing colonialist consciousness and improving health.

Peanut butter and jelly. French fries and ketchup. Batman and Robin. Campfires and sing-alongs. Some things are good, and when paired together, they become great. The...