Articles in the Diversity Category
Breaking the Color Barrier in the Great Outdoors, Camping, Children and Nature, Diversity, Events »
Rue Mapp of Outdoor Afro is excited to present in Atlanta this week at Keeping it Wild and at the American Camp Association‘s (ACA) National Convention! ACA is an education partner of Outdoor Afro, and together they have designed curriculum for their e-institute entitled: Cultivating Camp Relevancy for Diverse Audiences - check it out!
Both events are designed to energize the field of outdoor recreation and camp management around how to engage more diverse audiences with the outdoors.
Click on the image above for more information for the Keeping it Wild appearance, and click here to learn …
Children and Nature, Diversity, Environmental Education, Urban Nature »
Contributed by Alex Kudryavtsev, a native of Russia and PhD Candidate at Cornell University.
Alex conducts a participatory research project in the Bronx and elsewhere on how urban environmental education programs develop a sense of place in youth. I am also glad to work with Alex as part of EECapacity, an EPA-sponsored project led by Cornell University’s Civic Ecology Lab to support ways EE can be more relevant to urban communities.
He introduces to us the narratives of Julien Terrell (in his role of educator at Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice in the Bronx) …
Children and Nature, Conservation, Diversity »
I had such a thrill yesterday connecting with land loving friends in Berkeley, CA at the Bay Area Open Space Council’s Rainy Season Gathering to discuss how we might better connect people to land in a relevant way.
The following is re-posted from the Bay Area Open Space Council Blog – start from the bottom and work your way up! It’s the next best thing to being there!
It’s raining in the Bay Area! The Rainy Season Gathering brought the rain to Berkeley. It’s official. (for those of you reading this from …
Diversity, Environmental Education, Events, Media, National Parks, Nature, Policy, Reflections, social media, Travel, Urban Nature »
Dear Outdoor Afro Friends,
2011 has been a terrific year! Through the power of social media, we have seen our community steadily grow, and help people make culturally-relevant connections to nature and outdoor recreation.
Throughout my travels this year, the hot topic has been relevancy: “How can we connect more diverse audiences to the outdoors?” people ask. While there is not one neat and tidy answer that can work for everyone (nor should we expect there to be), what we have discovered is that people embrace what is important to them. So …
Contest, Diversity, Photography »
A total of 15 images were submitted in the last week, and now it is time for the Outdoor Afro community to VOTE!
Here’s how:
Click on your favorite image
Next click the “Recommend” button above the image on Sunday, November 6th until Monday, November 7th at 11:59 PM, PST
The image with the most recommendations WINS a nifty Coleman lamp, shipped directly to the winner by the Coleman Company.
What is so cool about this contest is the diversity within the diversity of outdoor possibilities! With great images like these, there are no losers! Enjoy, …
Birds, Diversity, Environment »
Contributed by J. Drew Lanham
Birding while black; it’s not something that I simply think about, it’s something that I live.
A birder since the age of eight, I’ve always been the odd one out; the “rare” bird in the flock. Now approaching the fifty year mark faster than I care to admit, it wasn’t until my late twenties that I began to encounter the other rare birders of color out there. It’s unfortunate that it’s become normal for me to be “that guy”. Accepting it has been a challenge and at …
Birds, Diversity, Environment »
Last month’s bird was the very common Warbling Vireo. The proverbial pendulum has swung dramatically to the other side with this month’s rare Indiana bird.
I sometimes have difficulty deciding on which bird to mention for a “Bird of the Month”. Trying to decide which particular bird species stood out during a particular span of time…can be a daunting task for someone who simply loves to observe birds and their behavior. (This probably manifests itself in my capacity to watch, what may be a very common species, for long periods of …
Diversity, Environment, Myths, Recreation, Relevancy »
As I speak to more people these days about African Americans and the outdoors, a question that most often leads the conversation is, “Why don’t African Americans engage with nature?”, which admittedly prompts me to let out a little sigh…
Since founding Outdoor Afro, what has excited me most is the number of African Americans from around the country who share a variety of ways nature can be enjoyed. People post pictures, blogs, and videos that collectively shout, “Yes, we do love the outdoors!”
We sometimes forget that African Americans have always …
Birds, Conservation, Diversity »
By Douglas “Birdman” Gray
I’ve seen some great birds lately. Some distinctive ones. Some rare ones. Some colorful ones. Some with very lovely songs. But the bird that impressed me most over the last month is, for the most part, none of those things.
This month’s featured bird is the impressive (for me anyway) Warbling Vireo.
Let’s face it; it’s been a long hot summer. In Indiana, all sorts of heat-related records have been set. But one thing I noticed, even while birding at heat indices well above 100 degrees, Warbling Vireos could …
Diversity, Environmental Education, Urban Nature »
Meet Akiima Price, one of the most talented environmental educators I know, and a dear friend.
She is leading the way in the environmental field to make land-based programming and curriculum relavant to more communities, especially those under stress or traditionally undeserved.
Keep up the good work Akiima! Watch:
