We begin the New Year with gratitude for the people who have gone before us, who have helped build the movement of outdoor learning and nature connection to where it is today. We are all shaped by those who inspire us through their values, beliefs, stories, and the ways they live and work. Their influence ripples through generations of mentors and mentees, creating a beautiful cumulative effect in both knowledge and ways of being.
Over the last 18 months, five key people in the environmental education and nature connection movement sadly passed away: Tom Brown Jnr, Jane Goodall, Joanna Macy, Juliet Robertson and Emma Johnston. In this blog, we would like to honour all the wonderful educators and big thinkers who have come before us and influenced our thinking, helping us weave threads of thought and ideas together to create our identity.
Tom Brown Jnr
29 January 1950 (New Jersey, USA) to 16 August 2024 (New Jersey, USA)
Tom Brown Junior was a western animal tracker, survivalist and nature connection mentor. He authored many books, including The Tracker and Tom Brown’s Guide to Healing the Earth. Tom is part of the lineage (and web) of mentoring we are connected to, through First Nations tracker Stalking Wolf (Southern Lipan Apache elder and shaman), to Jon Young, whose work inspires ours. Plus, through to others in our network of inspiration, including Australian author and nature connection mentor Claire Dunn, and Australian anthropologist and nature connection researcher Miles Holmes, among others.
Jane Goodall
3 April 1934 (London, UK) to 1 October 2025 (California, USA)
Environmental activist, author and a voice for those beings we needed to hear. Daniel, Trudi, Fay and Sarah had the privilege of hearing her speak live in 2024. She was the most amazing, joyful and inspiring 90-year-old storyteller we have ever met, and we were so pleased to be part of that audience.
Many schools we work with are part of her environmental education primary school program, Roots & Shoots.
Joanna Macy
2 May 1929 (California, USA) to 19 July 2025 (California, USA)
Environmental activist and systems thinker, Joanna Macy developed the framework for The Work That Reconnects, a spiral approach to eco-grief and action: coming from gratitude, honouring our pain for the world, seeing with new eyes, and going forth. Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects framework has been adopted globally by educators, activists, therapists, and community leaders to help people process ecological grief and take meaningful action. Her work has inspired many friends in our network, including one of our elders and mentors, Helene Fisher, who continues her work, to empower individuals and groups to reconnect with the natural world and create positive change, here in Perth.
Juliet Robertson
Unknown to 27 December 2025 (Scotland, United Kingdom)
A world-renowned outdoor learning consultant for early childhood educators, Juliet was the author of two books that made outdoor learning incredibly accessible: Dirty Teaching and Messy Maths. She was also very generous in sharing her knowledge and created a wonderful resource website at Creative Star Learning. Her work has helped schools, early childhood centres, and teachers integrate hands-on, playful, and nature-based learning into daily practice, inspiring a generation of children to explore and engage with the environment.
Daniel, Fay and I were honoured to know Juliet and to sit with her over the past ten years. She brought such lightness, humility and love to relationships and connection, and remains one of the most generous souls we have known.
Emma Johnston
11 June 1973 (Melbourne, Australia) to 26 December 2025 (Melbourne, Australia)
An Australian marine ecologist and university leader, including Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Sydney and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. Her work bridged science, education and environmental advocacy, exploring gender diversity in science, the role of science in a media-noisy environment, and advocating for collective thinking and direction in addressing system-wide problems that harm the environment. Emma has left a lasting legacy, inspiring evidence-based environmental action, collaborative solutions to system-wide challenges, and a new generation of scientists and leaders.
We extend our gratitude to the many people who have worked more quietly — educators, scientists, mentors, volunteers and community leaders — whose steady, often unseen efforts have helped care for places, people and the natural world
Above all, we acknowledge First Nations peoples as the original teachers and custodians of Country, whose ancient and continuing knowledge systems, cultural practices, and deep relationships with land, water and sky underpin all meaningful nature-connection work.
Further reading:
Mongabay, an independent nature and planetary challenges media organisation, has an interesting list and biography of ‘Conservationists and Nature Defenders who Died in 2024’ collated by Rhett Ayers Butler.
You can watch an interview Trudi conducted with Juliet in 2016:
https://youtu.be/yfwjYGKjQW0