Nature Is Everywhere
Reesha Katcher
About Reesha Katcher
My name is Reesha! My purpose is to build a more beautiful and equitable world. For the last 10 years, I’ve been doing this work through organic food production, outdoor education, and creative art and play. I love the outdoors, and have been excited to create meaningful experiences for all ages as a naturalist, garden teacher, and education consultant. During the last year, I’ve grown and donated 1,200 lbs of organic food at the school garden where I teach via the Mill Valley Children’s Garden. At the YMCA of San Francisco, I have been co-creating the Climate Action Task Force, committed to supporting our local and global community through climate action. I’ve also completed a “Teaching Climate Change” program through National Geographic. As a Coro “Women In Leadership” alum, I’m working with a group of other White women to co-created an antiracism action and accountability group, striving to be accomplices in uprooting injustice. In June I will be completing the California Environmental Educator Certification through the Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education. I love to bake, and am learning how to make the perfect chocolate chip cookies!
About Nature Is Everywhere
This is a hand-drawn coloring book of recipes and activities that offer a dynamic, 2-dimensional invitation for co-creation and play while exploring everyday, natural resources. Instructions and infographics imbue everyday objects like paper, food, cardboard, and plastic – with reverence and curiosity. Readers reflect on our connection to nature regardless of our access to green space, and are prompted to rethink and reassess how we navigate our world. This project is inspired by my work as an environmental educator, and the challenge of creating nature engagement for youth via virtual means during the pandemic. Many children want to participate but lack resources at home, prompting me to think creatively; instead of just bringing children to green space, how can I inspire youth to explore their familiar spaces anew, with fresh eyes and curious hearts? This feels deeply aligned with the spiritual work of Shmita; reframing and re-examining the everyday, elevating the mundane into a space of sacred exploration. With this project, I’m breathing life into my mission of building a more beautiful world; by offering coloring pages that outline hands-on re-use activities, and infographics about how resources come to be used and wasted in our everyday lives, I hope to inspire readers to create their own nature journals, references, art projects, nature engagement, and climate action through waste reduction and resource assessment. And most importantly, hand-lettered and hand-drawn illustrations, meant to be colored in and drawn on, are meant to inspire irreverence and lightness in the work as well; the vitality of play in experiential learning, getting hands-on as we learn, is central to the embodiment of growth; much like a shmita year, embodied and reflective. “Nature Is Everywhere” is a toolkit for joyful reconnection to self and the planet for a beautiful and curious future.
