“ There Is No Nature in Boston”
A decade ago, I helped write the kindergarten curriculum for the Boston Public Schools( the city directly across the river from Cambridge, where I live and work). The curriculum’ s final unit was to be about the natural world. Taking the advice of my mentor, science educator Karen Worth, I advocated for a focus on squirrels, sparrows, spiders, and sycamore trees— things children could directly observe and interact with at home or at school. I lost this argument. Others involved in creating the curriculum declared in no uncertain terms that“ There is no nature in Boston.” The children ended up studying animals they could only see in books or at the zoo.
The statement“ there is no nature in Boston”— or other cities for that matter— isn’ t true. A host of flora and fauna survives and even thrives in human-built environments. However, the misconception is not uncommon. Many believe that to experience nature, one has to get to the countryside, or at least the suburbs.
It is important to push back against this notion. Saying there is no nature in a city means there is nothing to care for; nothing to have a relationship with. At a time when children and adults need to form caring and sustainable relationships with the natural world, statements like“ there is no nature in Boston” are more than incorrect— they are dangerous.
Young children know that there are birds and worms and flowers in the city. They notice and talk about them. They also notice buildings, fire trucks, traffic lights, and people. Families and educators shape and socialize what young children notice by responding positively to some observations and ignoring others. The result is that, for some, a belief that cities have no nature develops.
What We Talk About Grows
Over the years, I have observed that people come together when they have a common goal or interest to talk about. For some, it’ s football and the upcoming big game. For others, it’ s a reality television show.
Author and activist adrienne maree brown argues that what we talk about grows( 2019). I want the flora and fauna around our school to be the cool thing that children, teachers, and families talk about. Growing an awareness of and attention to the nature of Cambridge is a first step toward fostering solidarity with the more-than-human world.
In this effort, the good news was that I wasn’ t starting from zero. During my first couple of months at Newtowne, I noted that children talked about their nature sightings in Cambridge: A paper wasp nest across the street from school; really big leaves from a sycamore tree; a spider in the Purple Fish classroom. My goal was for them to talk even more about the natural world and grow their awareness about our city’ s critters.
The Critter Count Launch
In January 2024, our school launched“ The Newtowne School Critter Count.” Children, families, and faculty were invited to share sightings of birds, bugs, and mammals. With the help of a parent( we are a co-op!), I set up a page on our website to keep track of the sightings.
Knowing this was the first census-like activity the children were participating in, I thought of ways to build excitement and understanding about the count. During their studio time, children in the Green Dragonfly and Blue Otter classrooms helped make data collection boards that were posted around the school.
I took groups from all the classrooms to the nearby Cambridge Common to look for critters. Before leaving on these“ critter count walks,” I asked children to anticipate what they might see. Predictions included giraffes, lobsters, and dinosaurs.( We did see squirrels, dogs, and a flock of starlings.)
I also encouraged the children to keep an eye out for animals while they were inside. Having bird feeders at some of our windows helped.
While January is a quiet period for animals in Cambridge, we recorded 17 different species during the first weeks of the count. These included gray squirrels, black capped chickadees, wild turkeys, red-tailed hawks, downy woodpeckers, and house spiders.
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