Nature Stories
Urban, Wilderness, and Everything In Between
At the Development, Ecopsychology, & Wellness Lab (DEW Lab) at Teachers College Columbia University, we are interested in how the environments around us shape our lives—how they influence our emotions, our memories, our communities, and our sense of self.
Nature Stories is a project to gather personal stories about meaningful experiences with nature, across urban, everyday, and wild places, and across a changing world.
Imagine sitting around a campfire or a kitchen table. Or on a park bench, or overlooking a familiar landscape. You are telling a story about a place that stayed with you—something that changed, something you remember, or something that helped you when you needed it most.
Your story is important. We invite you to share it.
Some stories are about change—how a place has shifted over time, or how environmental and climate change have affected your surroundings or your community.
Others are about connection—moments of calm, clarity, or renewal in nature, or the quiet ways nature shows up in everyday life.
Some stories are about memory and relationships—family, loss, belonging, or experiences shared with others.
And for some, nature is a place of reflection or spirituality—a space for meaning, perspective, or feeling connected to something larger.
There is no single way to tell a nature story.
It might be about a dramatic event or a small, ordinary moment.
It might be about loss, grief, or uncertainty.
Or it might be about joy, beauty, hope, or feeling at home in the world.
We welcome stories in words, photos, or video. We will review submissions and curate a selection to share as part of the Nature Stories collection.
Your story will help deepen our understanding of the many ways people experience and relate to the environments around them.
Please submit your story. We will review and may publish your story after light editing for clarity and anonymity.