About Nature and Health

Who We Are

The Center for Nature and Health is a collaboration of nearly 400 researchers, healthcare providers, policymakers, and community members who are passionate about improving the health of all people, particularly those who face systemic health and environmental inequities. We seek to understand how nature improves human health and well-being. Our findings are translated into healthcare, educational, and community programs, practices, and policies that benefit all people and nature.

Nature and Health is an EarthLab member organization. EarthLab is a visionary institute at the University of Washington. We are reimagining how academia can respond to the climate crisis. Our visionary approach connects the University of Washington’s world-class research capabilities with communities from around the world to create novel, equitable, and scalable climate change solutions.

What We Do

Research

While we already understand that even a little contact with nature is beneficial, we still have much to learn. For example, we need to know more about the mechanisms through which nature experiences affect changes in the mind and the body. We also need to understand what aspects of nature have the largest effects and how those effects vary across different individuals and populations. Nature and Health conducts research to better understand these benefits and how to leverage them.

Research Examples

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Collaborate

We are mindful that Western science has excluded and disadvantaged many communities, particularly those from low-income and BIPOC communities. We aim to counter this history by fostering trusting, meaningful, and reciprocative relationships with our communities and partners. To that end, we connect our network of researchers with practitioners, policymakers, and community organizations who can co-design community-led and culturally-responsive studies.

Collaboration Examples

Working with communities to better understand and reduce inequities in access to nature and to reduce disparities in well-being.
Forming the Nature and Health Equity and Racial Justice Task Force which aims to support social scientists and community participants who are working to improve nature access and resilience and forming a research affinity group that is centered on the intersectional realities faced by BIPOC, LGBTQIA, and disabled communities.
Facilitating interactive multi-day workshops for the BIPOC Collective to build professional relationships between BIPOC researchers while expanding knowledge and skills about how to conduct research through self-reflective practices and collaborative inquiry.

Steer Policy

To create a lasting, nationwide Nature and Health movement, we need programs and policies that are scalable across many different communities. We work with healthcare providers, policymakers, educators, and the communities we serve to translate our findings into programs, practices, and policies that benefit all people and nature.

Policy Examples

Speaking at the White House Invest in Nature Summit to underscore the need for young people to engage meaningfully with nature every day.
Co-developing a guide on practical ways to use nature-based solutions to reduce climate risks, promote health of urban trees and forests, and create additional co-benefits of improved human health and well-being within communities.
Co-publishing a book on designing and building places that are beneficial to the physical, mental, and emotional health of humans, while also considering the health of the planet.

Connect

To better understand the needs of our community and to learn about emerging research, we host many different types of community events—ranging from community dinners to symposia. As leaders in the Nature and Health Alliance, we work alongside a collective of experts and community members to advance nature and health policies and practices around the country. By fostering authentic communities of practice at the local, regional, and national levels, we aim to create an enduring nature and health movement that inspires equitable policies and programs around the country.

Event Examples

Community Dinners
Our quarterly dinners bring together researchers, educators, healthcare providers, policy makers, and community organizations to learn about the latest nature and health research and to find innovative ways to collaborate.
Public Talks
Public engagement is central to informing our work. That’s why we host talks and series that are accessible to the community.
Symposia
We recognize that we must amplify access and equity in all that we do. In this spirit, our annual symposia focus on decolonizing data, creating intentional communities of practice, using nature as a buffer against health disparities, and similar topics.

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Why Does it Matter?

At Nature and Health, we understand that time in nature is paramount to thriving In a world that is increasingly more urbanized, stressed, and disconnected. While there are many facets to this research, the following topics are central to our work.

Improving Health

Recent and compelling research indicates that access to green space can promote the health and well-being of individuals of all ages. The public health implications of better green space access include increased physical activity, decreased obesity, reduced stress, and improved mental health. Beyond promoting healthy behaviors and outcomes, parks offer opportunities for communities to gather and build stronger connections. Through a community-engagement process, our researchers study the impact of increasing access to a park using a Trust for Public Land (TPL) supported green schoolyard initiative. The study examines measures related to physical health, mental health, academic performance, social/community factors, participatory design effectiveness, and environmental attitudes. Results from the research will inform district officials, parks planners and managers, and healthcare providers and researchers.

Increasing Access to Nature

In the United States, 74% of people who identify as Asian, Black, Indigenous, or Latinx live in a census tract that is considered nature deprived.¹ To better understand and address these negative trends, our research reveals disparities in who is served by urban park systems, based on maps of current park use and demand for various types of outdoor experiences. We also measure local and regional variability in people’s preference for various natural environments and built attributes of parks. These methods help us identify local and regional gaps in the availability of different types of outdoor opportunities and how they could be filled to create more equitable networks of urban parks.

Boosting Climate Change Resilience

Urban forests and tree cover play a critical role in reducing the impacts of climate change. They mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the impacts of extreme heat, and help communities access nature. These same forests become more vulnerable in the face of climate change. As climate change intensifies, we must increase urban tree cover to support human health and well-being. To help cities protect and expand their tree cover, our researchers co-published a range of action opportunities that can be incorporated into climate adaptation initiatives. We also give regular talks to highlight the linkages between nature and mental health in the face of climate change to inspire new approaches to healthcare.

Easing Pandemic Stress

Many of us have experienced the simple pleasures of nature. Whether it’s taking a daily stroll around the block, listening to birds singing on a crisp morning, or kayaking on a sunny day, the sensorial experiences of nature often leave us feeling calm and reinvigorated. As people took to parks and trails to cope with the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the benefits of green space became more evident than ever. Nature and Health researchers have found that park access was associated with better mental health among children and parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. While pandemic restrictions have eased, Nature and Health’s research remains vital to addressing our country’s emergent physical and mental health epidemics.

Our History

2014
We began when a small group of UW researchers and members of the broader community got together to talk about how time spent in nature could positively affect health and what the implications of those effects are for urban planning, outdoor programs, school design, and myriad other plans, programs, and policies.

2015
With support from the UW Center for Creative Conservation and the then Dean of the School of Public Health, Professors Howie Frumkin and Josh Lawler reconvened the group at a local brewpub, doubling its size. The group met every few months to share research findings, program plans, and policy ideas informally over dinner. It continued to over 160 researchers, educators, health care providers, policymakers, and others–all interested in the ways that time spent in nature can improve health.

2017
In a paper led by Howie Frumkin, the community published an agenda for research to identify potential health benefits of time spent in nature. Guided by the agenda and the needs of the growing community, we embarked on a mission to better understand multiple aspects of the relationship between nature and health.

2018
We received a foundational grant from REI, allowing us to officially launch Nature & Health at the University of Washington under the newly established EarthLab. The grant has allowed us to expand research to better understand nature’s health benefits and the effectiveness of programs and policies designed to take advantage of those benefits.

2021
With more focus on access and integration of nature and health across diverse communities, we have grown to 360 researchers, educators, health care providers, policymakers, and others.

Together, We Can Build a Healthier Future for All

Nature and Health’s cross-cutting research and policy engagement improves the lives of our communities, many of whom will face increasing stressors as climate change intensifies. With your support, we can better understand how nature affects human health, how to best leverage these benefits, and how to implement policies that make nature more accessible to all communities. Contributions of any size will help sustain our cutting-edge research, our community-building efforts, and the next generation of researchers who better represent communities on the front lines of health and environmental injustice.