Wilderness Environmental Youth Action

Aim

Engage young people with environmental issues and enable them to take action to help mitigate the impact of climate change.

The Wilderness Foundation provides environmental education to a wide audience, particularly young people, focussing on the value of wild nature and natural landscapes, instilling a sense of stewardship into the future. We work almost exclusively in nature based settings, delivering educational, personal, social, and environmental outcomes that come from experience of the outdoors, with a focus on biodiversity and people. We measure the impact of our work and share our results widely. Our headquarters are based on a 400-acre farm in the centre of Essex allowing us excellent access to built-up urban areas like North East London, Chelmsford, Colchester, and Ipswich. From this base, we deliver our flag-ship environmental programme called ‘The Chatham Green Project’ to people throughout Essex. This is achieved with our excellent team of outdoor facilitators and environmental and SEND educational specialists.

The Chatham Green Project is a dynamic, ever-evolving environmental education programme that engages children and teenagers in exciting ways that stay with them long after their visit. We strive to give them access to the environment and allow them to make their own connections with the natural world, whilst contributing to a sustainable planet. This on-going outdoor education initiative uses our 400-acre site as an outdoor classroom, where subjects are taught using immersive and creative outdoor education methods.

The project engages thousands of young people each year, covering a wide range of subjects, from lifecycles, farming, climate change, plants & pollination, animals, biodiversity, to name a few. We also provide non-curriculum outdoor fun and team building days including den building and fire lighting. Our ethos is built on a strong connection with the natural world and that we should look after and care for it. We follow the Leave No Trace principles and hold the LOtC Badge.

The project reaches primary, secondary and college students and has strong engagement with young people with SEND needs. We strive to give young people access to the environment and allow them to make their own connections with the natural world, whilst contributing to a sustainable planet. Our goal is to inspire the next generation to love and respect the environment and for this to be carried forward into adulthood. We offer an in-depth understanding of how the outdoors can benefit mental health and well being.

This project successfully funded on 20th September 2022