Charmayne Planter: Sowing Seeds of Empowerment
Human geographer Charmayne Planter helps lay the groundwork for the next generation of conservationists
- By Delaney McPherson
- Next Generation
- Jun 25, 2025
WHEN CHARMAYNE PLANTER WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL, she and her friend decided to start a science club to give themselves something to do after school. As the club grew, Planter’s mother—a teacher at the school—had the idea to connect the club to the National Wildlife Federation’s Earth Tomorrow® program. With Earth Tomorrow, the club expanded to emphasize youth empowerment and cover environmental justice issues such as lack of access to the outdoors for Black and Brown people.
“By senior year, we had around 60 members and a very ambitious club,” says Planter, now a 23-year-old master’s student at the University of Georgia. “I felt like I made a difference, and the club is still going to this day.”
Planter’s Earth Tomorrow experiences piqued her desire to investigate the environment and how people interact with it, so she began studying human geography. Her work has been particularly focused on the —Planter is Gullah/Geechee through her late father—and as an undergraduate she analyzed their relationship with nature. Now she is expanding that research to consider how factors including tourism and the economy affect the Gullah/Geechee and their way of life.
In 2021, Planter was honored with NWF’s National Conservation Young Leader Award for her work with Earth Tomorrow. Since then, she helped create a for and recently completed a fellowship with NWF in which she used her firsthand knowledge of youth programs to develop new engagement strategies.
“Youth often feel disempowered, but they have so much influence,” says Planter.
More from National Wildlife magazine and the National Wildlife Federation:
The Gullah/Geechee People Hold Their Ground »
Earth Tomorrow, Building the Future »
Meet Another Next-Gen Leader »
