Louise Chawla's autobiographical beginning of this article shows the integration of her world-famous science of the environment and its relationship to early and middle childhood development as it finds its roots in Montessori education. Her academic training brought her to Edith Cobb's writing and unveiled the origins of kinship to the natural world in the developing young human. Her own exploration of nature and culture caused her to return to Montessori writings with a fresh understanding of the natural world as a prepared environment. Louise Chawla stresses that children must frequently encounter "the natural world with empathy and delight" and the prepared environment supports them as they become creative citizens of humanity. [This paper was prepared for the NAMTA Conference titled "Deschooling Montessori" January 25, 2002, in Scottsdale, AZ. Reprinted from "The NAMTA Journal" 27.3 (2002, Summer): 131-148 (see EJ661570).]