Susan Snyder

Welcome to The Urban Naturalist, an online project by teacher-naturalist Susan Snyder that is designed to help people step out of their hermetically sealed, electronically wired lives and reconnect with the natural environment.

As a teacher at a nature center in the Intermountain West, Susan has met children who know what penguins and clown fish look like but cannot recognize a robin.

Several times each week, Susan will share stories and tips to help inspire people to get outside and find a little bit of nature to enjoy, whether they are exploring an urban courtyard, a public park or the vast open spaces of the American West.

She also will discuss the issues and challenges that have alienated people from the outdoors.

"Global warming is scary," Susan says, "but an American child who has never touched a real grasshopper is scarier."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Susan Snyder holds a master's degree in Ecological Teaching & Learning and is a Utah Certified Environmental Educator. She works as a writer and a teacher-naturalist at a Northern Utah nature center.

Susan researched and wrote about nature and environmental issues for nearly 25 years as a newspaper journalist before turning to teaching full time. She has learned that preservation of a thing is done best by those who have grown to know and understand it.

Susan lives in Utah with her life partner, six bicycles, two sets of skis, one pair of snowshoes and one rambunctious black-and-white cat.

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