Community Dinner Featuring Dr. Sabine Thomas

Want to spend an evening in community with an interdisciplinary group of students, professionals, and retirees who are passionate about advancing health equity and access to nature? Want to enjoy a shared meal while learning about novel programs, policies, and research designed to get people outdoors and fully realizing the benefits of what nature has to offer? 

Spring 2026 Newsletter

May 20, 2026

Dear Nature and Health Community:
After spending the day with more than 100 members of the NW Nature & Health community at our 9th symposium, we’re feeling genuinely energized, hopeful, and inspired. 

Cities Are Investing Tax Dollars … On Trees. Here’s Why It Works

Caleigh Wells · May 19, 2026
Featuring Kathy Woldf, PhD, member of the Center’s Research Collaborative and Coalition

“If you wind all that up across a full population and entire city, then you start to see the benefit of these tree-planting programs,” said Kathleen Wolf, research social scientist at the University of Washington. 

Federal Scientists, a Great American Invention: A Letter to Our Federal Colleagues

Co-authored by Josh Lawler, PhD, co-director of the Center

A recent analysis by Science found that 10,109 PhDs in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and health fields in the US federal government voluntarily left or involuntarily lost (collectively hereafter, “departed from”) their jobs in 2025. 

2026 Northwest Nature and Health Symposium

On April 29, 2026, we came together with an extraordinary community of advocates, researchers, educators, students, practitioners, and partners during the annual NW Nature and Health Symposium. The experience left our team and the broader nature and health community feeling hopeful, energized, and deeply inspired about what’s possible when people unite around a shared vision for healthier, more equitable communities. 

Trump Canceled the National Nature Assessment. Scientists Will Publish It Anyway

Bellamy Pailthorp · April 22, 2026
Multiple members of the Center’s research collaborative are working on the assessment.

On Earth Day in 2022, President Joe Biden spoke in Seattle, announcing an executive order that created the first-ever national assessment of nature. 

5 Ways to Reap the Health Benefits of Gardening

McKenna Princing · April 15, 2026
Featuring Gregory Bratman, PhD and Kathy Wolf, PhD

Mental health benefits are among the more proven ways gardening — and other activities in nature — can contribute to your overall health and well-being. 

Why Nature Contact Is Good for Us

Michelle Ma · March 30, 2026
Featuring the Center’s Co-director, Gregory Bratman, PhD

Most people agree that time in nature is good for our mental and physical health. Whether it’s a remote wilderness backpacking trip or 15 minutes spent sitting on a park bench, people tend to feel better if they have some interactions with nature. 

Breathing Nature In: How Our Environments Shape The Nasal Microbiome and Human Well-Being

The benefits of nature exposure for human well-being are well-recognized, yet much remains to be understood about the underlying mechanisms as to how these effects occur. Research out of UW’s Environment & Well Being Lab led by SEFS’ graduate student Connor Lashus is helping us close the gap in understanding the role that microbes in the human nose might play in the relationship between nature exposure and well-being. 

Varanasi Endowed Undergraduate Nature & Health Fund

Drs. Usha and S. Rao Varanasi recognize the vital importance of the field of nature and health — both for the health and well-being of our communities and the planet itself.