A few years ago, the Children’s Nature Institute moved its headquarters from a rustic outpost in Franklin Canyon to the very urban Pico-Union neighborhood with the mission of raising awareness of the nature that exists in the urban world. They also started taking kids and their families on urban nature hikes —  in their own neighborhoods. The Institute also takes nearly 20,000 kids, ages three to …

December is the time when lots of us go through our checkbooks and decide how much to donate to charity – and who to give that money to. In California, lots of our money goes to environmental advocacy groups – the people making sure our beaches stay clean and our air stays breathable.
On a sunny December morning in Malibu, Nancy Hastings gazed out at her …