Diversity

Commentary, Diversity / 26.09.2009

Pity all National Park Service, Nature Conservancy or US Fish & Wildlife conferences don't conclude with a massive bar tab and a soul train line at one in morning. The new generation of environmental activists is dynamic, diverse and determined to breath fresh energy into the preservation of our wild and scenic places. Who says they can't have a good time while they're at it? Photo by James Edward Mills See the unfolding photostream at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nwsr8th/sets/72157622325056863/...

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Commentary, Diversity / 25.09.2009

Carolyn Finney In the middle of the last century, Carolyn Finney grew up on a wooded estate in Manhattan. Though not a child of privilege, this professor of geography at the University of California at Berkeley recalls fond memories exploring the wild places on the property her father managed for a wealthy landowner. As the only African-American family in this affluent community Finney also remembers feeling less than welcome in this setting surrounded by nature. “It was not natural for us to be there,” she said. As the keynote speaker in the second day of programs during the “Breaking the Color Barrier to the Great Outdoors” conference in Atlanta, Finney shared her memories of a life in wilderness tainted by the racially motivated injustices of our past. “Those memories continue today,” she said. “And for a lot of people memory is truth.”
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Commentary, Diversity / 24.09.2009

Photo by James Edward Mills Appointed in 1997 Robert G. Stanton was the first African-American Director of the National Parks Service. Today he is the deputy assistant secretary of policy and program management in the U.S. Department of Interior. As the keystone speaker and a panelist during the Breaking the Color Barrier to the Great Outdoor Conference in Atlanta, he inspired a new generation of young people to continue a long legacy of service to the principles of environmental conservation and the preservation of wilderness....

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Commentary, Diversity / 23.09.2009

Outdoor diversity advocates Franks and Audrey Peterman welcomed a unique gathering of their peers to the city of Atlanta. A few hundred individuals from across the country, mostly African-Americans met to express their love and appreciation for nature  in the opening session of the Breaking the Color Barrier to the Great Outdoors conference. In her remarks Audrey Peterman shared a common observation with those assembled . "Frank and I would visit these wonderful National Parks and we would see so few people of color," she said."We wanted to do...

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Diversity, Environmental Justice, Interview / 30.07.2009

[caption id="attachment_543" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Tanya Fields"]Tanya Fields[/caption] Too many of us presume that nature is out there, far away in a National Park or in some distant foreign land. Many of us who live in cities especially never truly realize that nature is all around us every day of our lives. We probably take for granted the importance of fresh drinking water, clean air and access to nutritious sustainably produced food. Tanya Fields aims to change that. -- Formerly a hip-hop artist and spoken word poet, Fields now works as the operations manager of the Majora Carter Group, a green-economic development organization in New York City. In her Bronx neighborhood Fields has started a community garden to provide healthy dietary choices for her community and give her family a natural setting to engage in an active lifestyle outdoors.  She’s also fighting for social justice in an effort to claim the environmental rights of people disenfranchised by a legacy of racial discrimination and urban poverty. Introduced to the Joy Trip Project by Chagents, an online social network sponsored by the outdoor footwear and apparel brand Timberland, Fields tells her story in this interview.
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Diversity / 01.07.2009

[caption id="attachment_365" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="photo by Dudley Edmondson"]Photo by Dudley Edmonson[/caption] A new national conference is set to begin on September 23rd.  A group of African American environmental activists and outdoor enthusiasts will gather in Atlanta Georgia to have a frank discussion on issues of race in the movement to preserve wild and scenic places.  Called Breaking the Color Barrier in The Great Outdoors, this conference promises to bring together people of color to talk about their role in protecting the natural environment for future generations. For details visit www.breakingthecolorbarrier.com -- After 20 years in the outdoor business for me this conference is a long time in coming. As a person of color myself I’ve spent my career silently hoping that more people who look like me would find themselves enjoying the wilderness areas I love. -- If only diversity in outdoor recreation were simply a matter of race. Then we might just think about ignoring it. Those who take comfort in the peace and solitude of wilderness, mostly white folks, would likely prefer to keep nature’s hideaways safely preserved for their own use. And as long as the growing minority population of black and brown folks elects to avoid these wild and scenic places, favoring instead foreign travel and urban pastimes, what’s the harm?
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