Stories and lessons for growing minds

We are a free multimedia platform for educators and students. Through our immersive storytelling and curricula, we explore the deeper issues facing humanity. Use our award-winning films, photo essays, and essays to learn about social, cultural, and environmental issues from people and communities worldwide. For grades 3-12, our stories and lessons encourage students to broaden their perspectives and worldviews while fostering inquiry, empathy, resilience, and a sacred relationship to our planet. We aim to bring universal values into the lives of educators and students.

Experience Our Storytelling

Watch this short video to learn more about the stories we tell.

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Epping Forest
Student Contest
The Spirit of Reciprocity: A Student Photography and Original Illustration Contest

In this contest, students will take a photograph or create an original illustration that reflects the spirit of reciprocity and kinship with the living world. 

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Lesson Plan
Grade Level: 9-12
The Value of Listening
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River Valley
Photo Essay
River at the Heart of the World

A  forested river gorge in the hidden land of Pemakö, which exists deep within the heart of the Tibetan Buddhist belief system, is now threatened by the grind of industry.

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Film
Cocoon

Students share their perspectives during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

by Andrew Hinton
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Photo Essay We Will Breathe

These photos by Sheila Pree Bright share intimate moments of mourning and inspiration within the Black Lives Matter movement.

by Sheila Pree Bright

Lesson Plans Exploring Our Common Humanity

Lesson Plan
High School
Grade Level: 9-12
Do We Have a Right to Clean Water?
Companion Photo Essay
The Fall of Flint
by Matt Black
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Disponible en Español
Lesson Plan
High School
Grade Level: 9-12
Our Shared Humanity
Companion Film
My Enemy, My Brother
by Ann Shin
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Disponible en Español
Lesson Plan
High School
Grade Level: 9-12
The Power to Persevere
Companion Film
Making it in America
by Joris Debeij
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Sign up or log in to save your favorite stories and lessons, create custom collections, and share with others.

Disponible en Español

Student Voice

Through photography, students document their unique and powerful perspectives during the global shelter in place orders amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Student photo contest winner. Paseo de la Reform.
Paseo de la Reforma

The film Earthrise made me realize that from another point of view, humanity is insignificant compared to the planet Earth. I wanted to take a picture showing humanity’s connection to nature.

Iñaki Ramos (age 15) - Mexico City, Mexico

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Upcoming Events

Finding the Mother Tree - Suzanne Simard and David Haskell

Suzanne Simard, a pioneering scientist who has changed the way we understand forest ecosystems, is joined by David G. Haskell to discuss her highly anticipated first book, Finding the Mother Tree (Knopf). In this book, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths–that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities with communal lives not that different from our own.

Emergence Magazine is partnering with Point Reyes Books for this event and it will be streamed on their Crowdcast channel at 12pm PST. Registration is required and there is an optional sliding scale fee. 
 

Who Is Using Our Materials

Our materials provide opportunities for an interdisciplinary approach to learning across disciplines from social sciences and humanities to environmental sciences. Education stakeholders, including K-12 educators, university professors, librarians, tech/media specialists, parents, and students are using our materials in multiple learning environments.

Watch Anytime, Anywhere

Watch our films on your phone, tablet, or connected TV.
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