How Kids, Communities, and the Environment Benefit from Green and Natural School Grounds (rwjf.org)

To read more of Sharon Roety and Jaime Zaplatosch's article, please click here.

At our respective organizations, Children & Nature Network and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), we reflect on how nature and healthy environments impact children and communities. As a senior vice president at Children & Nature Network, Jaime thinks about this every day, reflecting on research that shows nature makes kids healthier, happier, and smarter. As a senior program officer at RWJF working with Global Ideas for U.S. Solutions and Health & Climate Solutions, Sharon sees how critical and empowering a healthy environment is for everyone, including places such as Austin, Texas, and Morocco. Sharon has also seen communities transform into greener, nature-filled environments that can close health equity gaps and create more sustainable, climate-resilient spaces and as a positive consequence—climate resilient people.

Most kids spend their weekdays at school, making them an apt environment to bring kids closer to nature. Schools are also a focal point and gathering place for many communities, and data tells us that greenspaces, schools, and other meeting locations that make up civic infrastructure are critical to health.

For many children, school may be their only time to safely play, exercise, and connect with nature. Spaces that invite children and communities to engage with nature—sometimes known as green school grounds—can help close these health equity gaps and encourage kids to become stewards and designers of their environments. And with this, convince local leaders to follow suit for entire communities.

For instance, in California, students join health professionals and environmental researchers to advocate for schools that are designed to withstand the impacts of climate change, which highlights why a comprehensive understanding of nature is so important. This is more important than ever as the threat of climate change grows globally—from heatwaves to floods and drought to increased severe hurricanes and wildfires—makes spending time outside more challenging and even unhealthy.