Net-Zero Hero: Starla Simmons

I’m helping to make Austin Net-Zero by bridging the connection between people and nature, social justice, and collective healing!

Meet our latest Net-Zero Hero: Starla Simmons. Starla is a dedicated social worker, eco-therapist, and professor at The University of Texas at Austin. With over 15 years of experience, Starla has led the way regionally in integrating nature-based practices into social work, emphasizing the vital connection between environmental justice and community care.

With a focus on the community-centered nature of her work, we followed Starla as she met with students completing their social work internships at Gus Garcia Recreation Center and Urban Roots’ East Austin farm. During our time together, we talked about her journey, discovering the practice of ecotherapy, and what it means to work with young folks right now. Read on!

What inspired you to take action?

For me, spending time in nature has always been a healing source from the stress that comes with existing as a Black Woman. I grew up spending a lot of time outside in the country — solo, with my siblings, and in the summer with my cousins at my grandparents' farm. I’ve always associated nature with those warm feelings of connection, adventure, acceptance, and love! Now, there are lots of evidence-based studies that show the benefits of being outside and engaging in nature-based activities.

So naturally, working with mostly Black and Brown youth as a social worker, I incorporated nature activities. Noticing the lack of healthy green spaces available in East Austin, understanding the historical lack of access to land, displacement, erasure of ancestral land-based practices, and stigmas around “being Black outside” — I started to increasingly believe that a connection to nature is not only good for wellness but a necessary element for social justice.

Starla (bottom row, second from left) leads a UT Social Work class through a lesson at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center.

How did you do it?

I’ve done a lot of things in the past 15 years, and my practices are steadily evolving.

When I was a social worker in school districts, I facilitated ecotherapy groups, took kids camping, and practiced mindfulness in nature with parents and staff members. I have developed a training called “Healing in Nature” that I have presented many times to lots of different audiences. The training specifically addresses the importance of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities' connection to nature. I also served as one of the first Volunteer Leaders for Outdoor Afro in Austin, TX.

Now, as a social work professor, I engage in various ways to uplift the importance of environmental justice in our profession. I guest lecture in several classes with the goal of helping social work students understand the various roles they can play within the environmental justice movement. Social workers are ecotherapists, climate disaster responders, community organizers, and policy advocates for climate change. A student in my first graduate-level cohort started EJET at UT, a student group for Environmental Justice and Ecotherapy. I have served as the Faculty Liaison for the last six years. EJET received a big grant that has allowed us to host the School of Social Work’s first-ever Environmental Justice/Ecotherapy conference and other yearly events focused on environmental justice.

I have been doing outreach to cultivate more social work internships that work in nature and incorporate environmental justice. Through these efforts, we developed new internships with the City of Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department, Urban Roots, Austin Sunshine Camp, and P.O.D.E.R.

Top: Starla walks with Master of Social Work students Tori Martinez (left) and Izzy Vaccarino (right), who are completing their internship at Gus Garcia Recreation Center. Bottom Left: Starla with leaders of EJET at UT. Bottom Right: Students present about mindfulness in nature during one of Starla’s classes.

What’s been most rewarding about getting involved in this way?

During my ecotherapy trainings, there is always at least one person (often a person of color) who has deeply reflected on their own relationship with nature and has an ‘aha!’ moment — remembering a beautiful memory in nature or perhaps reframing an aversion to nature! I love watching as people reflect on how they feel in nature. I can often see their demeanor change and their nervous systems regulate.

The other rewarding thing is hearing from students about how they have expanded their social work practices to incorporate nature. I once had a student facilitate an ecotherapy group in a jail!

Starla meets with Briana Cohen at the Urban Roots East Austin farm. Briana is a social work student pursuing her Master’s in Social Work. Through her internship with Urban Roots, she’ll be facilitating workshops with second-grade students in their school garden.

What’s been the toughest part?

The toughest part is just knowing that people, particularly people of color and Indigenous people, have ALWAYS had beautiful practices and relationships with nature for their well-being — but that knowledge has been erased, diminished, and invalidated. And now people have to work so hard to reinstate what has always been an important practice for all human beings.

Much of your work has focused on engaging young people, from sitting on the Board of UT Elementary School to serving as staff liaison for various UT student groups. How do you think local leaders and organizations can better support young people in leading sustainability and environmental justice initiatives?

To start, we have to “meet people where they are” (as we say in social work) and honor their experiences with nature and in their environments. The world they are growing up in looks so different from what we may have experienced — and that’s real and not their fault! There are plenty of youth who are anxious and hopeless about climate change. It’s our job as adults to hold space for all those feelings and realities. I think that starting with a personal relationship with nature can be very healing as we tackle the bigger issues.

Left: Starla with Briana at Urban Roots. Right: Starla with Tori & Izzie at Gus Garcia Recreation Center.

You mentioned previously serving as the Austin leader for Outdoor Afro, a national non-profit that “celebrates and inspires Black connections and leadership in nature.” What has been the impact of this work for you personally and for the larger community?

The biggest impact that Outdoor Afro has had on me is around changing the narrative of “who loves the outdoors.” Outdoor Afro and other culturally-based outdoor groups have really kicked the stigma and stereotypes about WHO enjoys nature and, more importantly, HOW people enjoy nature.

Starla (far right) on a hike at Enchanted Rock with the Austin chapter of Outdoor Afro.

Is there a book, documentary, or other piece of media you would recommend for folks wanting to learn more about these topics?

Several books come to mind:

• Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity and the Natural World, by Alison Hawthorne Deming
• Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind, by Craig Chalquist and Linda Buzzell
• Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors, by Caroline Finney
• Been Outside: Adventures of Black Women, Nonbinary, and Gender Nonconforming People in Nature, by Shaz Zamore, Caroline Finney, and Amber Wendler
• Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists, by Leah Penniman

What advice do you have for others?

Nurture your own authentic relationship with nature! Learn about your own ancestral practices and connections to land. Honor Indigenous knowledge. Learn the science of climate change. It’s ALL related.

We all have a role to play in the larger climate action movement. To learn more about Austin's net-zero goal and explore actions you can take to support a greener community, view the Austin Climate Equity Plan.

Share your Net-Zero contributions with us on X (formerly Twitter) or Facebook, and use #NetZeroHero. If you know a Net-Zero Hero (or heroes!) who should be recognized for their efforts, send your nomination to sustainability@austintexas.gov.