Care Outdoors Program Graduate:
"What was most meaningful to me about the Care Outdoors Program was discovering a connection to Nature that I have never felt before. As a city dweller, I often move quickly through my days without really noticing the nature around me. This program encouraged me to slow down and pay attention to the small green spaces woven into my daily routines - many of which were in my own backyard! As an older adult, I appreciated feeling curiosity and presence return in a gentle, natural way. It reminded me that nature isn’t distant—it’s here with me, enriching my life in simple but powerful ways. It has been a wonderful learning experience, and Monica is an amazing educator."
– Georgene Nitzsche, MS (Gerontology, University of Indianapolis)

Aging in Harmony with Nature

Pioneering Education, Training, and Leadership Development in Eco Gerontology and

Care Outdoors.

Explore how our relationship with Nature shapes health, wellbeing, belonging, and longevity in a

climate-changing world.

The Eco Gerontology Initiative

Advancing Research, Education and Practice in Eco Gerontology

Why Participate?

We are living through a unique moment in history.

As populations age, climate change accelerates, and social isolation grows, there is an increasing need for new ways of understanding health, wellbeing, care, community, and longevity.

The Eco Gerontology Initiative offers education, training, and leadership development for individuals and organizations seeking to place our relationship with Nature at the heart of how we understand and support aging.

Participants gain:

🌱 Evidence-informed knowledge and practical tools

🌱 A deeper understanding of aging in a changing world

🌱 Opportunities to strengthen Nature connectedness and wellbeing

🌱 A supportive community of practice

🌱 New perspectives on care, community, resilience, and regenerative futures

🌱 The opportunity to help shape the future of Eco Gerontology

Together, we are cultivating the knowledge, leadership, and community needed to advance the emerging field of Eco Gerontology and support healthy longevity for people, communities, and the living world.

Care Outdoors Companion Training
Practical, evidence-based training in nature-based companion care that supports wellbeing for people of all ages while helping grow a new culture of care that values connection with Nature.

Eco Gerontology Community Conversations
Join meaningful conversations exploring aging, nature, care, climate resilience, and the future of age-friendly, livable communities.

Eco Gerontology Foundational Certificate
A pioneering learning experience exploring the ecological, social, cultural, and philosophical dimensions of aging in a changing world.

Speaking, and Organizational Partnerships
Educational experiences, leadership development, and collaborative initiatives for organizations committed to healthy longevity, regenerative livability, and age-friendly futures.

Helping Shape the Future of Eco Gerontology

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“For those who are or are becoming Elders, with an interest in the Science and Spirit of Ecology and Gerontology, who may be seeking greater understanding of both fields, and how they interact, and who may be searching for a means of informed activism, this course is a wonderful springboard.”
— Beverly Flanagan

Join a growing community of practitioners, caregivers, educators, advocates, and lifelong learners helping advance the field of Eco Gerontology.

What is Eco Gerontology?

Eco Gerontology is the study and practice of understanding how relationships between people, communities, and the natural world shape wellbeing across the lifespan.

As the pioneering field exploring aging in relationship to ecological health, place, belonging, and regenerative livability, Eco Gerontology recognizes that human wellbeing is inseparable from the wellbeing of the living systems that sustain life.

In an era of population aging, climate change, and growing social isolation, Eco Gerontology offers a framework for reimagining how we live, care, age, and thrive together.

Rooted in Gerontology, Deep Ecology, Nature Connectedness, and Green Care approaches, Eco Gerontology seeks to foster conditions where people, communities, and ecosystems can flourish together.

Why Eco Gerontology Matters

The world's longest-lived populations do not thrive because of pills, supplements, or extreme exercise. They thrive because they live within environments that support movement, connection, purpose, belonging, and daily interaction with the natural world.

Research increasingly demonstrates that access to nature-rich environments supports healthy longevity, brain health, quality of life, resilience, and wellbeing across the lifespan.

Yet ecological health and our relationship with Nature remain largely overlooked within many aging policies, programs, and systems of care.

Eco Gerontology helps bridge this gap by exploring how people, places, communities, and ecosystems can work together to support healthy longevity and regenerative livability for current and future generations.

Growing Regenerative Futures for All Generations

Eco Gerontology invites us to expand how we think about aging, care, and community.

Rather than viewing aging solely through medical or economic lenses, Eco Gerontology recognizes that healthy longevity emerges from the relationships between people, places, communities, and the living systems that sustain life.

As societies around the world navigate population aging, climate change, and growing social isolation, there is an unprecedented opportunity to cultivate communities that support belonging, purpose, wellbeing, ecological health, and meaningful contribution across the lifespan.

Through education, leadership development, community engagement, and nature-connected practices, Eco Gerontology seeks to help grow a future where people and Nature can flourish together.

I Advocate for Living Environments that Nurture:

• Daily access to Nature and the outdoors

• Regeneration and ecological health

• Biodiversity and climate resilience

• Safety, stability, and belonging

• Meaningful connection across generations

• Lifelong learning and contribution

• Collaboration with shared purpose

• Reciprocal relationships among people, communities, and the living world

Aging in Harmony with Nature is not simply a vision for older adults. It is a vision for thriving communities and a flourishing future for all generations.

Selected Media and Public Engagements: