Emotions are the driving force behind climate action, according to author, teacher, and climate activist Dr. Katharine K. Wilkinson. Indeed, words like “heartbreak,” “courage,” “healing,” and “belonging” appear throughout her work like signposts marking the heart’s journey—sometimes her own—from climate despair to commitment to self, nature, and community.

Like something from a fairy tale, Slovenia’s Soča Valley possesses an almost ethereal beauty.

On warm spring mornings, kayakers glide past downtown Chicago’s glass towers, their paddles cutting through water that reflects the skyline in shimmering blue. Along the riverwalk, joggers and families pause to watch herons stalk fish near the shoreline. It is a scene that today feels ordinary, almost serene.

Whether it is weeding one’s garden, hiking a forest trail, taking recycling to a center, or picking up trash in a waterway, when people interact with nature, they are cultivating their nurturing hearts toward the planet.

In many cities, childhood unfolds amid concrete, traffic, and persistent dirt and noise, conditions that shape the emotional and physical well-being of young people growing up in dense, underprivileged urban environments.