My conviction that all children have the right to learn through creative exploration in the natural world is rooted in my experience as an art teacher in the Chicago Public Schools from 1996-2010. During that time, a system-wide policy of no outdoor recess caused me and my students to suffer from nature deficit disorder. Bringing my art classes into an unused rooftop greenhouse breathed new life into my teaching practice and I discovered the power of an integrated art and ecology approach. Since then I have developed an arts-based environmental literacy curriculum that engages students with local ecosystems through the elements and principles of visual art.