How The Call of Nature Began
It all started with a summer program.
During the Summer of 2026, we came together at Brooklyn Amity School to learn more about nature, local wildlife, and the environment around us.
We did not want to learn only from books.
We went outside.
We observed.
We asked questions.
We researched.
We drew, painted, wrote poems, created projects, and learned about the species living around Brooklyn and Jamaica Bay.
We studied animals and plants such as the Piping Plover, Horseshoe Crab, Black Skimmer, American Oystercatcher, Menhaden, Diamondback Terrapin, oysters, Monarch Butterflies, and Milkweed.
The more we learned, the more we realized something important:
Nothing in nature lives alone. Everything is connected.
A bird depends on the beach.
A butterfly depends on a plant.
Fish depend on clean water.
People depend on healthy ecosystems too.
That idea became the heart of our work.
Everything is Connected
During the summer, we decided to create a documentary about what we were learning.
We interviewed each other, researched species, wrote scripts, filmed, created artwork, and shared the stories of the animals and habitats we were discovering.
We called our documentary:
Everything is Connected
This documentary is not only about wildlife.
It is about how everything around us is connected — animals, plants, water, land, people, and the choices we make every day.
The Call of Nature Was Born
As our summer program continued, we realized that we did not want the project to end when summer ended.
We wanted to keep learning.
We wanted to keep creating.
We wanted to share what we discovered with other people.
That is how The Call of Nature began.
Our idea is simple:
Learn → Create → Share → Protect
First, we learn about nature.
Then, we create something inspired by what we discover.
We share our work with others.
And finally, we try to protect the things we have learned to care about.
Now We Have a Club at Brooklyn Amity School
The Call of Nature is now continuing as a club at Brooklyn Amity School.
More students can join us, choose a species to study, create artwork, write, research, observe nature, and become a Wildlife Ambassador.
We want students to become experts on the species living around them.
But being an ambassador is about more than knowing facts.
It means caring enough to tell someone else why that species matters.
And You Can Join Us Too
The Call of Nature is not only for students at Brooklyn Amity School. Through our website, kids from anywhere in the world can join us.
You can study a species that lives near you.
You can create artwork.
You can write a poem.
You can make a video.
You can take photographs.
You can research a problem in your local environment.
You can share your ideas with us.
Your species might be completely different from ours, but we are still part of the same story.
Because whether you live in Brooklyn or somewhere on the other side of the world,
everything is connected.
This Is Only the Beginning
When we started our summer program, we did not know it would grow into all of this.
We simply started by looking more carefully at the world around us.
Then we started asking questions.
Those questions became artwork.
Artwork became stories.
Stories became a documentary.
And the documentary became part of something much bigger.
The Call of Nature.
Now we want other kids to join us.
Look around your neighborhood.
Find something living.
Ask questions.
Learn its story.
Create something.
Share it.
And become part of protecting it.
Learn. Create. Share. Protect.
The Call of Nature Team @Brooklyn Amity School
