For Nature's Sake—and Ours.
All people can and should tap into the health benefits of nature — to find healing, to become better versions of ourselves, to care for others, and to care for the world around us. Nature is at the heart of it all.
This is the foundation on which HealthyNature.earth stands: We are nature. And there is hope in healing, especially when we organize and work together.
Our Work
The evidence is in.
Contact with nature promotes physical health, mental health, social connection, spiritual renewal, and environmental stewardship.
Parks and protected areas are among the most powerful — and most undervalued — health resources on the planet.
Yet the gap between what science knows and what systems do remains vast. Parks are underfunded as health infrastructure. Healthcare rarely prescribes nature. The communities with the greatest health burdens often have the least access to green space. And the field itself — brilliant, passionate, growing — remains fragmented across disciplines, institutions, and geographies that too rarely talk to each other.
HealthyNature.earth exists to close those gaps.
Founded by Diana Allen after 26 years leading the U.S. National Park Service’s Healthy Parks Healthy People program, HealthyNature.earth is a platform for acceleration — connecting the science, tools, people, and policy vision the nature-and-health movement needs to move from evidence to action.
Mission
HealthyNature.earth advances parks and protected areas as essential health resources through tools that inform, conversations that inspire, and partnerships that drive real change.
Vision
A world where every person, in every community, at every stage of life has access to the health-giving power of nature — and where parks and protected areas are understood, funded, and protected as essential health infrastructure.
Core Values
Evidence-Led
We ground everything in the best available science. Claims are sourced, tools are rigorously developed, and credibility is non-negotiable.
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Equity-Centered
The communities with the greatest health burdens often have the least access to nature. We design for underserved communities first, not as an afterthought.
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Collaborative by Design
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We seek to strengthen the broader ecosystem of nature-and-health organizations rather than competing with them. We build bridges between sectors, disciplines, and institutions to foster partnerships that address challenges and opportunities for connecting nature and health more effectively.
Clear and Actionable
04
Complex research, scientific findings, and information must become tools anyone can use. Policy frameworks must become plain language. The gap between what experts know and what people can act on is the gap we exist to close.
Full-Spectrum
Nature promotes health across a multitude of human dimensions, including: physical, mental, spiritual, social, and environmental. We hold all five. We do not reduce nature to a gym or a pharmacy. We honor its full capacity to heal, restore, connect, and inspire.
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Independent
We are nonpartisan, institutionally independent, and mission-driven. This independence — from government, from industry, from any single funder — is what allows us to speak freely, move quickly, and go where the work is needed most.
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Five Pathways — How Nature Reaches People
At the heart of HealthyNature.earth is a framework that answers the most important practical question in the nature-and-health field:
How does nature actually reach people as a health resource?
The answer is through five distinct pathways, each with its own actors, evidence base, tools, and audiences. Together, they describe the full continuum of nature-based health promotion — from the design of a trail to the passage of legislation. We're using these pathways as the basis for building tools, inspiring conversations, and partnerships to support, amplify, and accelerate the nature and health movement. Pick your healthy nature pathway. For nature's sake—and ours.
Doctor-led Interventions
When a clinician or a healthcare provider prescribes nature, it carries the weight of medical authority — and it opens the door to insurance coverage, clinical integration, and systemic adoption.
Park-led Interventions
The park itself — its infrastructure, its policies, its programs — is a health intervention. A well-designed park promotes health before a visitor makes a single choice.
Self-led Interventions
The most lasting health practice is the one a person chooses freely. Self-led nature engagement is the daily habit that compounds into lifelong health.
Community Interventions
Community is a health determinant. When nature engagement becomes a shared experience, it builds belonging, trust, and collective wellbeing alongside individual health.
Policy Interventions
Lasting change requires structural support. The policy pathway is what moves nature and health from innovation to standard of care.
Signature Projects
HealthyNature.earth
Signature projects coming soon—stay tuned for projects and tools.
Let's Work Together
Reach out today using the form provided below.