Learn about Sharing Nature India, and our parent organisation, Sharing Nature Worldwide (U.S), their work and influence across the world.
Each of us can deeply enrich our lives by starting a close relationship with Nature. We can start today by engaging in meaningful, absorbing, and joyous experiences in Nature.
About Sharing Nature India
Our Guiding Principle
Sharing Nature India is created on the premise that Nature is alive. That all of it is a single consciousness. We are one with Nature. The separation we feel is the fundamental reason for the ecological and social conditions of our planet. Yet, if we nurture a close relationship with Nature we can overcome the illusion of separation and experience the unity and infinity of Nature.
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A seemingly insignificant act of connecting with Nature and communing with it not just heals ourselves, since we are one – it affects all humanity, all Nature. Once we master this connection doorways open to unimagined possibilities for mankind.
Our Philosophy
Consciousness is the seed from which all existence germinates. Thus, when we approach Nature with high consciousness – positive feelings of respect, anticipation, even reverence – merging our focus with the beauty of Nature and the wisdom that lies within, we are rewarded with greater natural beauty and awareness of the complex intelligence that governs ecosystems and much more. Likewise, when we approach Nature with low consciousness – negative feelings of greed, fear, alarm and regret, we create conditions in which more of it exists. By this understanding we can arrive at a new and unique conservation ethic: true ecological conservation lies in high consciousness experiences in Nature.
Our future will be completely different from what we expect it to be. The skills and values that will drive it will be unlike those that are prized today. Mankind is currently experiencing a period of transition. A time of beginning and ending. Those who choose to focus on the beginning are re-discovering our “latent ability to unite with the energies of earth”, our eternal nature and limitless power.
“At each shift of the paradigm, the impossible presents its impeccable credentials… and the unthinkable becomes the norm.”
– Michael Berg
In the path to this transition Joseph Cornell and Greg Traymar of Sharing Nature (U.S.) are standing at the doorway ready to usher us into the new. We are truly excited and privileged to embark on this journey with them.
Our Story
We are Archana and Manu Sharma, the faces behind Sharing Nature India. We are passionate about living in Nature. Until recently we lived on the outskirts of Delhi. Archana headed the training team of a telecom company. Manu was climate change activist and sustainability consultant. A few years ago Manu began gardening at home which spurred an interest in farming our family land. Fast forward to 2018, we left our city home to live on the farm a life closer to Nature. We plant, we harvest. We hear the birds sing and watch them frolic in the air. We pick fresh vegetables and herbs. Nature gives us much more than a bountiful harvest and good health – we derive joy and meaning from it. Not always easily, we struggle too but we are learning and cannot imagine getting back to the old life.
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Our Journey
When Manu was engaged in climate activism, he spent close to a decade studying possible ways in which the climate crisis could be addressed. As a believer in innovation and technology at the time (2006), it became a personal quest. He sought answers in technology, political will, policy mechanisms, a public movement to push for political action and finally in reduction of our needs. There was tremendous learning and discovery in this process of evolution of ideas, yet satisfaction eluded him.
“People who have wild ideas about how to run this earth, ought to start with a small garden.”
– Ravi Khanna, Peepal Leaf Farms
Archana has always been close to Nature since childhood. Although she has never lived there, her family roots belong to the upper Himalayan region. She fondly remembers arduous treks to her mother’s ancestral home during visits, the animals they kept and listening to the stream of flowing water. She grew up seeing her mother tending to the kitchen garden with a lot of affection, often talking to plants. A feeling of accessibility and cheerfulness permeates Archana’s nature along with her leadership instincts which she inherits from her father who is an Army officer (retd). She has worked in corporate training in telecom and DTH sectors and in education.
When, encouraged by Archana, Manu took up vegetable gardening in their backyard and later on the rooftop, we were both surprised at the plentiful harvests from such a small space. Manu’s once forgotten relation with Nature began to be restored. As he questioned his approach to the climate crisis he came across ideas he had not considered before that gradually led to a radical shift in perspective. A sense of despair for the planet gave way to tremendous hope and faith in our future. Rooftop gardening evolved into organic cultivation in our village near Una, Himachal. Three years later we built a small home in our farm and became full-time residents.
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead.”
– Albert Einstein
Deepen Your Relation
In order to restore the planet to the splendour it once was, we must begin by acknowledging our own relationship with Nature and strive to deepen it. We believe the highest expression of this relationship is experienced by creating a living space with conscious awareness of its meaning. A garden you have aspired for, one that nourishes you.
You too can dream to deepen your relation with Nature. The most immediate way of experiencing this connection is through meaningful, absorbing and joyous experiences in Nature. We invite you to take your relation with Nature to a deeper, even profound level through Sharing Nature’s wonderful activities. Learn more about the Sharing Nature Experience.
“You can’t know who you are until you know where you are.”
— Wendell Berry
About Sharing Nature Worldwide
Sharing Nature is a global movement dedicated to helping people of all ages deepen their relationship with Nature. Sharing Nature uses creative, life-changing Nature activities and Flow Learning™, a revolutionary teaching system that fosters empathy and makes ecological principles come alive. It uses experiential games and activities to teach principles of ecology and natural sciences. Sharing Nature aims to broaden people’s sympathies and inspire a sense of stewardship through immersive and life-changing Nature experiences.
Joseph Cornell created his first nature awareness programme in the early 1970s.
Sharing Nature Worldwide is a Nevada City, U.S. based non-profit founded by Joseph Cornell. Joseph Cornell’s book, Sharing Nature with Children was first published in 1979 and was met with high critical acclaim with some calling it “a most original and imaginative concept.” Since then Joseph Cornell has written several more and all together, 68 editions of his books have been published in over 25 languages with over a million copies sold. The 2019 reprint of Sharing Nature will be its 40th anniversary edition.
Joseph Cornell, whose middle name is Bharat, lives with his wife Anandi, in northern California at Ananda Village, a spiritual cooperative community in the tradition of Paramhansa Yogananda. Learn more about Joseph Cornell on Sharing Nature U.S. website here.
Awards and Honours
Joseph Cornell has received many international awards for his Sharing Nature books and work.
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He received the prestigious Countess Sonja-Bernadotte Prize in Germany for his vast influence on environmental education in Central Europe.
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The Hungarian Society for Environmental Education gave him Honorary Award for his “service as a role model for educators worldwide.”
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The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service selected Sharing Nature with Children® as one of the 15 most influential books—published from 1890 to today—that has connected children to Nature.
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In 2011 Cornell was selected as one of the “100 biggest opinion leaders committed to the Environment” by the French organization, Anges Gardiens de la Planète.
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The National Association for Interpretation said that Cornell’s books “sparked a worldwide revolution in nature education” and “his expertise, irrepressible enthusiasm, blend of knowledge and warmth creates an atmosphere for learning that is very contagious.”
Cornell’s highly effective outdoor learning strategy, Flow Learning™, was featured by the U.S. National Park Service as one of five recommended learning theories, along with the work of Maria Montessori, Howard Gardner, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget.
Joseph Cornell’s books have received the following prestigious awards:
Sharing Nature
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Winner, Silver Nautilus Award in the Animals & Nature category
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Winner, Grand Prize: Indie Book Awards in the Non-Fiction category
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Winner, Indie Book Award in the Science/Nature/Environment category
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Winner, Indie Book Award in the Parenting/Family category
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Winner, Silver Evergreen Medal in the Nature Conservation category
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Winner, Green Book Festival Award in the How-To category
The Sky and Earth Touched Me
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Winner, Grand Prize for Non-Fiction, Next Generation Indie Book Awards
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Winner, for Science/Nature/Environment category, Indie Book Awards
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Gold Medal Winner for Best Environment/Ecology/Nature Book, IPPY Book Awards
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Winner, for Spiritual category, Green Book Festival
Listening to Nature
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Winner, Book of the Year Izaak Walton League Pewter- North American Publishing Co. Gold Ink Award
John Muir: My Life with Nature
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Winner, ASPCA Henry Bergh Children’s Book Award, Non-Fiction Humane Heroes
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Excellent Book: South Korea Environmental Department
Sharing Nature with Children
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Best Book Award: Ministry of Environment, South Korea
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Earthworm Award: Friends of the Earth Children’s Book Award, UK
Sharing the Joy of Nature
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Best Book Award: Ministry of Environment, South Korea
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Third Place Book Award: National Association for Interpreters
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First Place Video Award: National Association for Interpreters
Worldwide Presence
Millions of parents, educators, naturalists, and youth and religious leaders in over forty countries around the world have used the Nature awareness methods featured in Joseph Cornell’s Sharing Nature book series. Cornell has led Sharing Nature workshops in over 30 countries. Greg Traymar has led workshops in 14 countries.
In Japan, Joseph Cornell is the honorary president of Japan Nature Game Association that has 10,000 trained Sharing Nature leaders and 224 regional associations. Japan’s national elementary science curriculum promotes Sharing Nature experiences as a way to help students “get close to nature” and “love nature.”
Sharing Nature activities and games are used all over the world. Sharing Nature with Children has become justly famous because it works.
Learn More
Experience: Our upcoming workshops
For Who: How Sharing Nature serves everyone
Emotions: The importance of emotions in learning
Why Attend: Learning and wellness benefits of Sharing Nature training
The Shift: A mega-trend affecting our future and how the training helps
Flow Learning: A revolutionary teaching method that enhances learning
Compare: How do our activities differ from traditional outdoor programmes
Videos: Videos on Sharing Nature, education, and examples of Nature connection
Testimonials: Testimonials and accounts of participants of Sharing Nature activities
Like that red tree on right? We love it too! We’re not sure of its name. It’s likely a temperate climate tree. (Mobile users will have to switch to a desktop to see it)
