This chapter considers the role that art and design secondary school education can play in expressing concerns, raising awareness and empowering future generations to tackle vital environmental and ecological issues. The term ‘ecology/ecological’ refers here to relationships between all living organisms, including humans and their physical environments. This chapter will consider ecology, often fragile and precarious at a micro, meso and macro level, drawing parallels to the ecosystems found in nature when thinking about schools (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, Handbook of child psychology. Wiley, 1998). I will draw on my experience of delivering art enrichment sessions in a secondary school where students work collaboratively to develop a site-specific artwork with a focus on ecology. My argument is that the requirement for ‘physical’ spaces that foster students’ connection with nature through biophilic design, biomimicry and outdoor learning spaces and ‘head’ spaces for addressing these concerns, can draw on the notion of ‘slow hope’ with an ethic of care and compassion for our natural environment (Mauch, RCC Perspectives, 1, 2019). This approach emphasises the importance of creating environments that nurture both physical and mental connections to nature.