Our Mission and Philosophy

Beautiful Dawn Chorus. 29 April, 2000, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. © Lang Elliott.

Our Mission is to celebrate and illuminate the wonder and beauty of nature, and help foster a deep and intimate connection to the natural world, especially nature near at hand.

Celebration — Gratefulness — Immersion — Knowledge

Taken as a whole, our approach not only encourages a profound bonding with nature, but also an informed and reverent relationship that is good for the earth and all its creatures, including humankind. By nurturing a genuine heartfelt connection, we will help release the wellspring of love that leads to caring for and protecting our natural world.

Our Method: We will accomplish our mission by producing inspirational and educational resources designed to increase awareness and understanding of nature, while also encouraging a healing immersion that promotes relaxation and a sense of well-being.

Initially, our focus will be on the creation of a growing library of Nature Vignettes, multimedia celebrations suitable for online viewing by nature enthusiasts of all ages — beginner naturalists, parents, children, and teachers alike — anyone who desires a greater appreciation and understanding of nature.

The primary goal of our vignettes is to convey the essence or quality-of-being of our native animals and plants. As such, we rely heavily on high definition “video portraits” to reveal the wondrous beauty of life in motion. As you can see from our completed vignettes, the featured videos are supplemented by other media, including text, photos, and sound recordings. Basic natural history information is almost always included.

Our style of delivery is light-hearted, engaging, and poetic, yet always scientifically accurate. Believing that it is more important to feel close to nature than it is to know everything about it, our goal is to help people develop a nourishing sense of connection that engenders a lifelong bond with their natural surroundings.

Additional Projects: As our library of vignettes expands, we will begin pursuing other projects as well. Go here for a brief summary. Some have been already set into motion.

Geographical Area: At first we will highlight nature themes or phenomena commonly encountered in eastern and central US and Canada. Eventually we will expand to include all of North America, with occasional forays further afield.

Scope of Coverage: We will focus primarily on common and widespread animals and plants that are either already familiar to most people, or that can easily be observed in the right habitat, at the right time of year. We do not intend to produce an exhaustive encyclopedia covering thousands of species. Rather, our goal is to produce an “eminently useful guide to the commonplace.” This is in line with our belief that one need not travel far to touch upon the miracle of nature … one need only to step outside and take a careful look around.