“… How can Cornellians stay constantly flummoxed with all this natural beauty surrounding them?
“Nature Rx is a new mental health campaign that works to address this issue. Don Rakow, professor of Horticulture, wants to bring this concept to Cornell, and create a program for students to immerse themselves in their natural surroundings as a way to maintain a healthy mental and physical well-being. He, along with co-chairs of the Student Assembly’s Health and Wellness Committee, Carolina Bieri (Atmospheric Science, ‘16) and Matthew Indimine (Policy Analysis and Management, ‘18) have been working to make Nature Rx happen at Cornell.
“At its core, Nature Rx is an initiative making picturesque strolls through greenery a requirement for a revitalized state of mind and body. They are taking on various projects to put this initiative in full force. They created an app called CU in Nature that displays nearby phenomenal scenes of nature, where are the closest ones, what are the features of the near ones, so over time they can explore the whole diversity of natural areas. Additionally, outreach education has created a new credit course for freshmen students called ‘Take It Outside,’ which would be held in the Cornell Plantations and students can explore hiking trails, swim outdoors near campus and take jogs through planned routes.”