Children & Nature Network 2025 – Nature Everywhere Conference
“Nature Everywhere” 2025 Conference Organizing Committee
The 2025 Nature Everywhere Conference, held from May 13–16 at the RiverCentre in St. Paul, Minnesota, brought together over 600 global advocates for children and nature, including NLI’s Nilda Cosco and Robin Moore.
The annual conference, reputed to be the world’s largest gathering of the children and nature movement, attracts experts and advocates across multiple fields, disciplines, professions, and sectors, collectively energized by the creative spirit of the young adult majority – reinforced by the opening words of Board Chair Dr. Hanaa Hamdi: “Hope lives here.”
Cosco and Moore contributed to four conference sessions:
Natural Connections: Early Care & Education (ECE) Partnerships & Programming for Health & Well-Being. Hands-on workshop presented by Emia Oppenheim, PhD, RDN, Association of State Public Health Nutritionists (ASPHN); Kelly Dahl, MPH, CDC, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (not present); Nilda Cosco, PhD, NLI, NC State University.
Natural Connections workshop
1. Emia Oppenheim explains available farm to early childhood education funding pathways.
2. The Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE) initiative targets 12.5 million children (59% of total U.S. child population), in care programs outside of home, where they receive 2/3 of meals.2. Funding recipients are 12.5 million children or 59% of children who receive care outside of home.
3. Groups wear “thinking caps” to brainstorm program plans using ASPHN’s social marketing “4 Ps”: Purse, Product, Place, Promotion.
4. Nilda Cosco comments on group ideas.
5. “Garden Magic” plan!
6. “Art of Eating” plan.
7. “Art of Eating” close-up.
8. “Eternal Growth” plan.
Grow Outdoors South Carolina (GO SC): A Collaboration for Early Childhood Outdoor Learning. Presented by Misty Pearson (remote), SC Department of Health; Nilda Cosco, PhD, NLI, NC State University; Rebecca Colbert, PhD, Early Childhood Health Outdoors (ECHO), National Wildlife Federation.
Misty Pearson, MEd., SC Dept. of Health (remote), presents background history and goals of Grow Outdoors South Carolina (GO SC)
Nilda Cosco, NLI (left) describes the NLI Preventing Obesity by Design (POD) strategy, resource production, website design, and evaluation process. Rebecca Colbert, ECHO (right), describes outdoor design process for selected sites and implementation to date.
Changes in Outdoor Environments in Early Childhood Programs Over 20 Years in North Carolina. Poster presenting results of three waves of NC statewide longitudinal survey created & administered by NLI (poster design, Matt Babb). Analysis by UNC-Greensboro collaborators, Amy Wrather and Linda Hestenes, PhD.
Poster presentation: (L-R) Linda Hestenes, University of North Carolina-Greensboro (UNC-G); Nilda Cosco, NLI, NC State University (NCSU); Amy Wrather, graduate student, UNC-G.
“Changes in Outdoor Environments in Early Childhood Programs Over 20 Years in North Carolina.” Data analysis, Amy Wrather & Linda Hestenes, UNC-G. Poster design, Robin Moore & Matt Babb, NLI.
2025 Green Schoolyards Action Agenda Advisory Committee. Nilda Cosco, PhD, NLI, NC State University – Committee Member.
Rich Soil: The economic benefits of green schoolyards (click for more info).
The C&NN conference created a space for meeting long-time collaborators, colleagues, supporters, and funders, including C&NN Founders Cheryl Charles and Richard Louv, veteran supported and Board Member Nancy Herron, as well as leaders of C&NN’s Green Schoolyards Action Agenda and Outdoor and Nature-Based Early Care and Education Collaborative. Also noteworthy were meetups with Green Schoolyards America, the National League of Cities, Kaboom, Kompan’s Play Institute, and PlayCore’s, Center for Outreach, Research, & Education (CORE).
The Conference focused on practical, hopeful solutions that support both ecological resilience and the well-being of young people. With nearly 100 sessions, including technical talks, workshops, and panels, the conference provided a platform for sharing ideas and creating nature-rich futures for children. Highlights included discussions on universal design in green spaces, evaluating nature-based programs, and collaborative songwriting as a tool for community engagement.
A central initiative was the Green Schoolyards Action Agenda, aimed at all U.S. communities achieving access to green schoolyards by 2050, to improve climate resilience by reducing heat islands, managing stormwater effectively, and above all supporting healthy youth development and well-being.
Conference panels expanded on early childhood and youth development. A related session underscored the importance of time in nature and its impact brain development, emotional regulation, and healthy adult-child relationships.
A youth leadership panel highlighted the importance of connecting young people with the land, cultural practices, identity, and education. Panelists emphasized the integration of self-care and mental well-being into leadership, noting that grounded adults can more effectively mentor future environmental stewards.
Indigenous leadership played a vital role throughout the conference. Poet and scholar Kachina Yeager reminded attendees of the Dakota people’s deep-rooted relationship with the Twin Cities’ landscape. Shelley Buck, president of Owámniyomni Okhódayapi, presented her organization’s efforts to restore a sacred Dakota site in Minneapolis, a project praised by Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan. Flanagan encouraged attendees to continue nurturing children’s natural connections as a path toward healthy lives.
Dakota author Diane Wilson delivered a keynote highlighting kinship, reciprocity, and storytelling as means of reconnecting children with the natural world. She invoked the Dakota concept Mitakuye owas’iƞ — “we are all related” — emphasizing our collective responsibility to co-create a more hopeful and balanced future.
The conference concluded with the presentation of the Richard Louv Prize for Innovation in Nature Connection to CJ Goulding, co-founder of Boyz N The Wood, recognized for empowering youth through nature engagement and challenging harmful life situations.
Ultimately, the 2025 Nature Everywhere Conference was a demonstration of union-in-action — where professionals and youth came together not only to reflect but to envision and build a nature-connected world for all children.
(L-R) Nilda Cosco (NLI cofounder), Richard Louv & Cheryl Charles (C&NN cofounders), Sarah White (Ernest Cook Trust, UK), Nancy Herron (C&NN Board Member), Robin Moore (NLI cofounder).
Kat Lituonja, Sarah Lawrence College, discusses her research project based on NLI’s design and evaluation framework, with Robin Moore.
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