Restoring the human-land connection mutually benefits ecosystems and human communities. Our project will build on our established community land stewardship programs and initial programming with the local Indigenous community. Healing Landscapes centers local Indigenous youth in culturally specific frameworks. Goals: (1) Pilot programming that engages youth in transformative experiences that integrate healing mindfulness practices and land stewardship. Youth will reconnect to the land through meditations, mind-body-land awareness practices, the conversation of Indigenous ecological worldview, and reflective writing and art. (2) Generate program facilitation tools to guide future program development. We will conduct a program assessment and develop a set of best practices to decolonize approaches to land stewardship and nature therapy. (3) Establish deeper partnerships between Vesper Meadow Education Program, conservation partners, and the local native community. Through this project, and in relevance to Mind and Life Institute’s mission, we will be “inspiring action towards flourishing.”
Organization Implementing the Project
The Vesper Meadow Education Program is building a culture of land stewardship and nature connection. We are up-cycling a model for people-powered restoration with community involvement in scientific monitoring, native plant cultivation, experiential learning, and nature-inspired art. Our programs provide an integrated approach to cultivating and sustaining the human-nature connection.
Public workshops, K-12 Programming, Student internships, and all of our programming is enriched with biological observation, conservation science, art, ethnobotanical and cultural understandings.
