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Your Living Lab and Learning Center

From water harvesting to lush food forests, the Living Lab is your community educational resource for regenerative desert living.

Visitors of all ages are invited to explore sustainability practices in action through our interactive exhibits and demonstrations in the heart of Tucson. As the headquarters of WMG, the Living Lab also houses our staff working on programs that span Tucson, Mexico, and the Southwest. We are proud to “walk the talk” each day as the 2016 winner of Arizona's Greenest Workplace challenge. Come join us in drinking our rainwater, using the composting toilets, harvesting fresh snacks from the food forest, enjoying native gardens, and biking or busing to the Living Lab.

Come visit us for a tour or class at your Living Lab.We're proud of the Living Lab's rich history and how it's always evolving.

Access WMG's Living Lab and Learning Center Data Portal for weather data, rainwater supply and demand, and moreJoin our WMG's Sleeping Frog Farms CSA!

See what's new at your Living Lab and Learning Center - it's growing, changing, and developing all the time!

Living Lab & Learning Center News

Jonah with Growler
Although grants can be an effective way to get funding for a program, they are unsustainable long term and don't give much room to expand. Monthly donors make it possible to put our time and energy into the community and core of a program, rather than searching for new grants and sources of funding. It is thanks to contributions from community members like you that we are expanding our Family Saturdays and Build Your Own Basin programs, building our new Learning Center, and...
(Español abajo) Bring the kids to Family Saturday at the Living Lab to learn about composting. This event is free for the whole family on Saturday, August 20 from 8:00am - 11:00am. We'll read Poo to Peaches, tour the composting toilets and learn how composting turns kitchen scraps into food for the garden. Every family will receive a free copy of Poo to Peaches to take home Schedule:8:00am - Kids Activities (ongoing)9:30am - Song & Story Time11:00am -...
Building Healthy Desert Soils
Join us for our Virtual Living Lab Field Studies Classes! You'll learn sustainable desert living skills in a fun, contact-free, digital environment. Learn working systems to improve soil health, care for your urban forest, composting toilets, and more.  Classes include topics such as Composting Toilets, Rain Gardens, Laundry-to-Landscape Greywater Systems, Healthy Desert Soils, Rain Tanks, and Rain Tank Irrigation Systems. Some of our classes are offered for free thanks to grant funding from...
Intern Class of 2020
Our experiential internship programs are designed to provide real world work experience while adapting to the unique opportunities and constraints resulting from COVID-19. Interns will work directly with WMG staff as well as the greater community of docents, volunteers, and partners on project work that fulfills WMG’s mission. The new Summer Internship Program is an 9-week program starting June 15th, with opportunities in the areas of river restoration, geographic information systems, community...
Join us for our Hydrate at the Living Lab classes! These hands-on classes at our Living Lab and Learning Center give you access to working systems and resources to help you achieve your hydro-local, urban sustainable living goals. Classes include topics such as composting toilets, installing a Laundry-to-Landscape greywater system, building healthy desert soils, irrigating with rain tanks, and more! Learn more and register online on our Hydrate at the Living Lab page. Hope to...