Kate Semmens Articles

What is resilience and how can you support your community to be more resilient?

Resilience is defined in many ways – from the simplest idea of “bouncing back” after a major hazard event to more forward-thinking improvements to support sustainability. The CREATE Resilience Research and Community Learning Hub project envisions a community where all populations are thriving that takes proactive rather than reactive action to improve preparation and response... Read More

Nurture Nature Center Supports Updates to Easton’s Climate Action Plan and Net Zero by 2050 Goal

Nurture Nature Center has been assisting the City of Easton with its climate action planning and commitments since joining the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/) in 2016. NNC has led greenhouse gas inventories for the City in 2017, 2018 and 2022, a vulnerability assessment in 2018, an emissions reduction target in... Read More

Nurture Nature Center selected as an American Geophysical Union Thriving Earth Exchange Community Science Hub to help connect flood vulnerable communities to scientists and resources

The Nurture Nature Center is honored to have been recently selected to serve as an American Geophysical Union Thriving Earth Exchange Community Science Hub!  Over the next two years we will be working with AGU Thriving Earth Exchange to help communities affected by flooding. AGU Thriving Earth Exchange is a non-profit program that helps communities... Read More

New Social Science Research Study Strives to Reach Audiences Vulnerable to Flooding

New Social Science Research Study Strives to Reach Audiences Vulnerable to Flooding and Underserved by the National Weather Service; Focus Groups Start in North Dakota and Nebraska In September 2022, the Nurture Nature Center received a new social science research grant from The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration entitled “Expanding Audiences, Removing Barriers, Promoting Action:... Read More

Watershed-Friendly PA Program Expands; Launches New Website

Watershed-Friendly PA Program Expands to Large Properties and Urban/Small Lots and Apartments; Launches New Website Watershedfriendlypa.org Watershed-Friendly PA is a project of the Nurture Nature Center and Penn State Extension Master Watershed Steward Program.  Seeking to increase the amount of areas throughout Pennsylvania that positively contribute to watershed health, the Watershed-Friendly PA program provides education... Read More

Sense of Wonder

Guest post from NNC docent, John Cosgrove, in response to see the World of Wonder Science on a Sphere program Sense of Wonder Some thoughts upon returning home after watching Jeff’s “World of Wonder” Science on a Sphere show.  There seem to be two types of wonder. There is the wondering that drives investigation. What... Read More

Climate Resilience in Your Community Activity Book

Nurture Nature Center is excited to share a new activity book we created with NOAA’s Office of Education!  “Climate Resilience in Your Community” has six main sections focused on education and resiliency vocabulary, community resources, traditional ecological knowledge, community preparedness, environmental justice, and taking action. Learners complete a crossword, iSpy activity, research information about their... Read More

Nurture Nature Center receives 2022 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

Nurture Nature Center is honored to receive the 2022 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for the Watershed-Friendly Property Program (established through a grant from PA DEP Environmental Education Program).  Executive Director, Rachel Hogan Carr, and Outreach Educator, Gabi Sullivan, accepted the award on behalf of the NNC team... Read More