What would make this world into a Utopia?

Schools that teach kids to connect to nature

As we exist now, we go inside to learn, in a school that is cut off from what gives us life. This gives the lesson that we can come up with the answers to our critical climate, inequality, social injustice, and many other problems by not listening to nature itself. But if we were to lift up the asphalt and let nature come back, this is the wisest school of all. Teaching that the earth knows how to heal itself. and if we pay attention to how the plants begin to grow in disturbed areas- that they restore everything else- ecosystems regain function, pollinator insects arrive, cleaning the air happens, people are happier, wild plants are food and medicine, and the soil can grow more food. the generosity and love that the earth teaches can impact human hearts. And every part of nature is giving something to the whole . . . Schools of the future can teach about the importance of this interconnectedness through giving that experience directly to kids, so they grow up thinking differently than now, and internally relating to the earth in a way of love and respect, learning that taking care of it is taking care of ourselves. Michelle W.

Utopia Machine: Nature Schools, Ellen Harvey, 2024. No. 26 of 100 panels. Acrylic on Alubond panel, 16 x 12 in.