Families, community, and cultural values shape and influence the way that children develop their environmental identity with the natural world. This study aims to understand these influences, particularly how such influences may vary from family to family and in non-rural and rural Alaskan settings.

Additionally, the type of environment, or geographical setting, in which children are exposed informs their emotional and behavioral responses to natural stimuli. Exposure to new environments will provoke an initial response that may not be present after further exposure and learned skills. This longitudinal project will examine how children’s emotional responses to certain settings evolve over time, and how education can be used to strengthen children's empathetic care for the more-than-human world.

Click on the links below to explore sociocultural and geographical information about the two cohorts of children.