Sheila Williams Ridge, director of the Shirley G. Moore Lab School, recently spoke at the 47th annual North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) conference in Spokane, Washington. The conference focused on potential roles education can play for a more sustainable future.

Ridge was a speaker during one of the conference’s plenary sessions. The session, which featured five speakers in total, offered views on how environmental education could be used as a “force for the future.”

Williams Ridge has a long history of promoting nature-based play and education. She is a founding staff member of Dodge Nature Preschool in West Saint Paul, Minnesota, a facilitator for the NAEYC Nature Interest Forum, and a member of the Council of Nature-Based Preschools. She also is a founding board member for a new urban, nature-based preschool in Minneapolis and a founding advisory board member for the Natural Start Alliance. She is a co-author of the new book Nature-Based Learning for Young Children: Anytime, Anywhere, on Any Budget.