It’s long been known that biodiversity is essential to the health of our environment.   The Leave No Child Inside movement is also working toward the health of communities by increasing the diversity of the people who experience nature in their daily lives.  Locally, we have focused on enabling children of all races and ethnicities to experience nature on a daily basis in their own neighborhoods by encouraging and facilitating school gardens and natural playscapes.  In the coming year, we will expand our local focus on diversity in tandem with the Children & Nature Network, which is taking a leadership role in discussions about increasing diversity in nature.  The Huffington Post recently did a three-part series on this topic.  Click the links to read Article I, Article II and Article III.   An inspiring example of an effort to increase diversity in nature is the Outdoor Afro website, a blog spot “where black people and nature meet”.  Outdoor Afro was founded by Rue Mapp, a young woman who has enjoyed camping, mountaineering and rock climbing all of her life, but was “troubled by the consistently low numbers of African Americans participating in these activities.”