An Anchor Through Shifting Tides: Community Dinners Foster Connection, Collaboration for Nature and Health
By: Tess Wrobleski, Project Specialist, EarthLab
What keeps a tradition alive? Is it the strength of an idea? The dedication of the people who uphold it?
For the Nature and Health community dinner, it’s both.
Fall 2025 Community Dinner
On October 14, 2025, 71 members of the Nature and Health community gathered at Fremont Brewing’s Urban Beer Garden for our fall community dinner. At this dinner, participants learned about programs, policies, and research that are advancing equitable engagement with nature around Puget Sound.
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Spring 2025 Nature and Health Community Dinner
Our June 10, 2025 community dinner featured speed talks from three JPB Environmental Health Fellows. Established in 2014, The JPB Environmental Health Fellowship was developed in response to the urgent need for a new interdisciplinary group of young environmental health leaders.
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Community Dinner with Dr. Adithya Vegaraju
Our community dinners unite people from different backgrounds to explore new ideas, discuss policies and programs, and strengthen partnerships in the field of nature and health. Our November 2024 dinner featured a speed talk by Dr.
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Environmental Health Equity with Edmund Seto
On Wednesday, January 31, 2024, Edmund Seto, PhD joined our Community Dinner to share his environmental health equity work.
Edmund is a professor in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences.
Expanding Access and Welcoming Spaces in the Natural World for Underrepresented Communities
During our October 2023 dinner, Carter A. McBride, MBA, PDC shared his wisdom on expanding access and welcoming spaces in the natural world for underrepresented communities. Carter is an avid outdoors person and has been so fortunate to have had an opportunity to reconnect with his soul in natural spaces and places at the wonderful age of 66 years.
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Assessing and Addressing Environmental Disparities to Improve Psychological Well-Being
Dr. Kim Meidenbauer is Assistant Professor at Washington State University’s Department of Psychology, Health Equity Research Center. During our January 2023 Community Dinner, Kim examined how features of the physical and social environment affect individuals’ brains and their behavior.
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Exploring Factors Shaping the Constraints of Recreation in Forests for People of Color
Despite being the fastest growing group of the US population, people of color are underrepresented in forest-based recreation opportunities. Yet, the freedom for all people to recreate in forests is an important American tradition.
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Outdoor School in Washington State: The Butterfly Net to Catch All Kids
Jon Snyder is Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s Senior Policy Advisor for Outdoor Recreation and Economic Development. He coordinates policy, legislation, budget items, and outreach related to outdoor recreation. He was appointed in December 2015 after serving on the Spokane City Council for six years and owning a regional outdoor magazine for nine years.
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Nearby Nature Systems in Urban Planning to Promote Health
A rapidly expanding research literature indicates the wide range of human health benefits that nearby nature experiences can provide. Optimizing these benefits suggests that comprehensive, systems-oriented strategies are needed to assess nature access opportunities and create network linkages.
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