Eco-Healing with Youth
Inspiring Emotional Resilience through Wildfire Interpretation and Climate Action in the Wake of Boulder Fires
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In response to the Marshall Fire, which devastated the greater Boulder community in late December 2021, Growing Up Boulder (GUB) partnered with the City of Boulder, the University of Colorado (CU), and Whittier Elementary School to explore the concept of “eco-healing”, or the ways nature connection can foster emotional resilience for young people living in a wildfire prone community. More than 130 children and youth ages 6-22 participated, offering insights and preferences about the types of nature-based programs, media, and facilities they feel would most support their emotional wellbeing. This input then led to theoretical design interventions around the Marshall Fire site, conceived by students in an undergraduate studio as part of CU’s Program in Environmental Design (ENVD).
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The following objectives guided the project:
● Elevate young voices in understanding and interpreting the range of experiences and emotions stemming from the Marshall Fire and wildfire risk in general.
● Deepen conversations with young people about their feelings living in a wildfire-prone place, and how time outdoors can inspire their emotional resilience.
● Invite input from young people on future interpretive interventions that inspire hope about the future of nature.
Major findings demonstrate how, as a whole, the young people engaged in this project:
● Show great interest in outdoor art as a tool for eco-healing, both as an activity to participate in and as an object to observe, interact with, and learn from.
● Prefer interactive, outdoor exhibits that are open-ended and self-guided over adult-led programs or traditional educational signs.
● Find emotional benefits from spending free time outdoors either alone or with family and friends at both day and evening outdoor events.
● Exhibit different preferences depending on age and ability level.
Inspired by research by Louise Chawla on the ways nature connection enhances young people’s capacity to handle emotions around environmental loss and degradation, this project ran concurrently with another closely-related GUB project (Nature Connection, Action and Hope). Together, these two projects emphasize the importance of fostering young people’s agency in how they enjoy and protect nature.
● Elevate young voices in understanding and interpreting the range of experiences and emotions stemming from the Marshall Fire and wildfire risk in general.
● Deepen conversations with young people about their feelings living in a wildfire-prone place, and how time outdoors can inspire their emotional resilience.
● Invite input from young people on future interpretive interventions that inspire hope about the future of nature.
Major findings demonstrate how, as a whole, the young people engaged in this project:
● Show great interest in outdoor art as a tool for eco-healing, both as an activity to participate in and as an object to observe, interact with, and learn from.
● Prefer interactive, outdoor exhibits that are open-ended and self-guided over adult-led programs or traditional educational signs.
● Find emotional benefits from spending free time outdoors either alone or with family and friends at both day and evening outdoor events.
● Exhibit different preferences depending on age and ability level.
Inspired by research by Louise Chawla on the ways nature connection enhances young people’s capacity to handle emotions around environmental loss and degradation, this project ran concurrently with another closely-related GUB project (Nature Connection, Action and Hope). Together, these two projects emphasize the importance of fostering young people’s agency in how they enjoy and protect nature.
