Interview With Saul Cuevas-Landeros

Saul Cuevas-Landeros

Program Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator at YES Nature to Neighborhoods

Q: Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your background and work?

A: My name is Saul Cuevas-Landeros, I use he/him/él pronouns. I’m currently the Program Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator at YES Nature to Neighborhoods. I started that position in October, but before then I was a program assistant.

It’s been really fun to be with the organization and learn about the environmental education field and being outdoors a lot more. I really feel like I found where I belong. It’s been cool to work with a great team too that makes it all the better.

Q: How do you engage with science and learning in your work?

A: We have different programs and cohorts for youth and adults. For youth, programs focus on environmental education, belonging in outdoor spaces, and inclusion. Themes vary depending on age. Younger groups learn basic outdoor skills like the Ten Essentials and Leave No Trace principles.

We also have adult programs. Those are more tailored to what the adults need. We have programs for transitional age youth (18-26) and another for adults 21 and up.

In adult programs the nature-based aspect is often about healing and spending time outdoors together. The science comes out more informally.

I’m personally a lifelong learner, so I like to bring that into the programs we do. This last year I really got into birding, and it’s been fun to bring that out to the young folks, and even adults. When we went birding during a bilingual trip in English and Spanish, conversations about language and culture came up. Bird names in Spanish are often descriptive, so that creates stories and connections to plants, animals, and experiences.

Q: What is your connection to the Lawrence Hall of Science?

A: Our Program Director Blanca Hernandez has collaborated with The Lawrence for a while. When I started at YES I was looking through past projects and Blanca told me about a collaboration with The Lawrence that led me to join a community research network project called Culturally Responsive Environmental Outcomes.

The project explores how environmental learning experiences are shaped by community context and how communities influence the outcomes of those experiences. It’s been really exciting. I studied philosophy in college, so being in spaces where people are discussing ideas and then putting them into practice feels very natural to me. It’s great hearing different perspectives and feeling like I have a voice in those conversations.

Q: What relationships or collaborations help make your work possible?

A: First, the land we work on makes it possible. We’re on the stolen land of the Ohlone, and we also work on Coast Miwok lands through different programs.

Richmond itself was built on the underpaid and exploited labor of many Black, Indigenous, and people of color, especially during World War II. Acknowledging that history is important because the work we do is part of that larger context.

But it’s also about the people who care. Richmond is very community-centered, and our work doesn’t happen in isolation. We collaborate with many organizations through partnerships like the Richmond Outdoors Coalition, which includes groups such as Bay Area Wilderness Training, Golden Gate Bird Alliance, Inner City Bliss, and The Watershed Project.

We also collaborate with people like Teresa Harlan from the Alliance for Felix Cove and Katie Klu and Vinnie Souza from All Hands Ecology.

All of these partnerships show that the work is collective. We’re all working together to support the community.

Language is another important part. We try to provide Spanish-English translation intentionally, and I try not to see language as a barrier but as an opportunity to share stories and connections.

Q: How do you make your programs accessible and inclusive?

A: There’s definitely the logistical side — cost, transportation, and language. Those are real barriers.

For example, we recently took a trip to the Marine Mammal Center. It’s an amazing place, but it’s also hard to reach because you need transportation. Addressing things like that is part of making programs accessible.

Another part is the curriculum. It needs to be relevant to the community. For example, our 18- to 26-year-old program discusses the war on drugs and how it has affected the Richmond community. It also explores how nature-based experiences and other healing modalities can support mental health.

We also focus on listening to community feedback. For example, youth programs include lessons on food justice and how food relates to culture.

Another key part is agency. The community already has agency — it’s about helping people recognize that and build confidence in their ability to act.

Representation is also huge. Seeing people who look like you in leadership roles helps build confidence and shows that those spaces belong to you, too.

Q: What advice would you give young people who feel like science is not for them?

A: I might ask them why they feel that way.

But honestly, if something is your dream, you have to protect your dreams. We live in a time where people try to tell you what to do or who to be, but imagination is important.

Science isn’t just one thing. There is even a field called the philosophy of science that asks what science actually is. Is it a process? A system?

So science is really for everyone. It’s about curiosity. If you follow your interests and stay curious, you will find people and communities who support you.

Q: What would the world look like if everyone felt science was for them?

A: I think it would be more inviting and welcoming, and less about gatekeeping.

Information would be more open and accessible, kind of like an open-source mindset. People would ask questions out of curiosity rather than hostility.

Hopefully it would also make the world more empathetic.

Q: Do you have a science hero?

A: I tend to think about people close to me rather than historical figures.

Two people who really impacted me were Professor Fernando Nascimento and Professor Eric Chown from Bowdoin College. They were professors in digital and computational studies. They made me feel welcome and encouraged me to ask questions, which sometimes led to even more questions.

I also want to shout out Miss Emma Hera, my seventh-grade science teacher. She was incredibly patient with us, even though we definitely didn’t make things easy for her. Her empathy and dedication really stuck with me.

Q: What is your favorite thing about science?

A: Curiosity.

Science gives you the ability to ask questions and follow up on them. Curiosity helps you build connections — connections in your thinking and connections with other people.

Learning about cognition helped me understand that thinking itself is about making connections. Curiosity lets you create new ones and challenge the ones you already have.

Whether it’s talking with someone about birds or hearing someone’s story about a plant or animal they know, curiosity helps create those connections. That’s my favorite part of science.