We are empowering our generation to love and protect our wild homes.
What is the Wild Hometown Movement?
The Wild Hometown Movement is empowering a generation to fall in love with and protect nature starting at home. We have created a model for a new type of environmental club that any young person anywhere in the world can found to connect with and protect nature. We hope that this club model will help you find your voice as a protector of nature while making new friends and growing yourself as a leader. This organization was founded by a group of young people who are passionate about sharing the natural world and protecting the environment with our peers. We give young people a place to start by offering
Why the Wild Hometown Movement?
If you’re a young person, you’re likely worried about how climate change and other environmental issues will affect your future and the future of our planet. But you’ve also probably seen that we often learn about the environmental protection and environmental issues in a very abstract way involving scary graphs and far-away places. We’re called the “Wild Hometown Movement” because we believe nature and conservation is as much a part of you as your hometown is, because wherever you live—whether a rural area or a big city—nature lives too, whether its forests and streams around your town, birds that fly overhead, or the life that lives in your backyard.
We all belong to “wild hometowns”, the communities of species and ecosystems intimately connected with our human communities, a web of life that we belong to and that makes our lives possible. And environmental issues we read about like climate change, deforestation, and species extinction also take place in our local environment and threaten our wild hometown, and us. That’s why our mission is for our generation to get outside and reconnect with our wild hometowns while empower ourselves as stewards and advocates for the nature that our future depends upon.
What’s Our Solution?
We give young people a place to start through a model for a club to start and resources and action guides to make it succeed. Each of our clubs and programs is led by youth, for youth, to inspire and activate our generation through four core activities:
Where can you find us today?
How can I get involved?
The Wild Hometown Movement is empowering a generation to fall in love with and protect nature starting at home. We have created a model for a new type of environmental club that any young person anywhere in the world can found to connect with and protect nature. We hope that this club model will help you find your voice as a protector of nature while making new friends and growing yourself as a leader. This organization was founded by a group of young people who are passionate about sharing the natural world and protecting the environment with our peers. We give young people a place to start by offering
- a “starter kit” to help get your club off the ground
- Event guides and action guides to help your club thrive
- Internship opportunities and (eventually) project grants
- (For students in New England) Connections to a wider network of student clubs and conservation professionals through ALPINE (Academics for Land Protection In New England), an organization that is promoting and supporting Wild Hometown Project clubs across 37 member schools in New England
Why the Wild Hometown Movement?
If you’re a young person, you’re likely worried about how climate change and other environmental issues will affect your future and the future of our planet. But you’ve also probably seen that we often learn about the environmental protection and environmental issues in a very abstract way involving scary graphs and far-away places. We’re called the “Wild Hometown Movement” because we believe nature and conservation is as much a part of you as your hometown is, because wherever you live—whether a rural area or a big city—nature lives too, whether its forests and streams around your town, birds that fly overhead, or the life that lives in your backyard.
We all belong to “wild hometowns”, the communities of species and ecosystems intimately connected with our human communities, a web of life that we belong to and that makes our lives possible. And environmental issues we read about like climate change, deforestation, and species extinction also take place in our local environment and threaten our wild hometown, and us. That’s why our mission is for our generation to get outside and reconnect with our wild hometowns while empower ourselves as stewards and advocates for the nature that our future depends upon.
What’s Our Solution?
We give young people a place to start through a model for a club to start and resources and action guides to make it succeed. Each of our clubs and programs is led by youth, for youth, to inspire and activate our generation through four core activities:
- Connect with local nature—Students get together to go outside whenever they can. Whether that means roaming around the woods after class, birding in a local swamp, or backpacking a nearby peak, these outdoor experiences bring people together to spark a passion for our wild homes.
- Understand nature and conservation in a new way. We want to help young people understand that wherever we may live, nature lives too and makes our lives possible and inspiring—and to understand what threats the natural places and communities are facing.
- Collaborate with local conservation groups to work as a team to care for nature at home. Conservation groups bring the experience and resources to help our mission come to life.
- Activate the potential of young people to be ambassadors for nature and our future. Every person in our clubs can have the chance to connect their own passions and talents with our conservation mission—whether they want to create art, write op-eds, or teach others about the natural world.
Where can you find us today?
- In Gainesville, Florida, we’re leading “Young Leaders for Wild Florida,” a three-week immersive environmental leadership summer program to build Florida’s next generation of environmental leaders through outdoor exploration, educational experiences with local conservationists, and hands-on environmental action projects. We’ve also founded three active clubs in Gainesville.
- In Middlebury, Vermont, WildMidd, a Middlebury College club, is working with the Middlebury Area Land Trust and three local schools to engage youth in biodiversity surveys and outdoor adventures in local nature parks
- Across New England, we are working ALPINE (Academics for Land Protection in New England) to found Wild Hometown Project clubs in the 36 universities where they’re active
How can I get involved?
- If you're a community conservation group, don't hesitate to reach out to us to brainstorm how you can engage the next generation of environmental leaders in your community! Email Oscar Psychas at opsychas@middlebury.edu
- Start a Wild Hometown Club in your community!
- Check out our action guides for how you can protect local nature!
- Visit our Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/wildmiddleburyproject/
- Contact co-founder Oscar Psychas at opsychas@middlebury.edu to get involved in any way!