Outdoor Afro took a short trip over to East Oakland, California to participate in the community event: Love Yo’ Mama, hosted by the organization Communities for a Better Environment for Earth Day.

“Green is Good for the Hood” was this year’s theme, which was intended to create local awareness and a response to environmental concerns at a neighborhood level.
The event started with a rally to highlight environmental and health issues in Oakland at Tassafaronga Recreation Center, followed by a parade with Scraper Bikers, drummers, and youth dancing. In the afternoon, there …

By Marty Wiggins
Did you know it’s National Environmental Education Week? Since 2004, the National Environmental Education Foundation has coordinated the week before Earth Day as a time to foster greater awareness of environmental education and to encourage children and adults to enjoy the outdoors.
What is so great about environmental education? The obvious benefit is that it gets kids and adults outside. But research also shows that environmental education and outdoor and community-based learning improves student achievement across the curriculum and can have a positive effect on classroom and social behavior. …

Here is a little treat for all of our bird loving Outdoor Afros! Check out this live cam of a wild, female barn owl:
Live TV : Ustream

My six-year-old son Billy and I recently had the privilege to lend a hand to “raise” a garden at Kennedy High School in Richmond, California. We arrived mid-morning at a southern exposed site nestled near the school’s track. The work area swarmed with students, school staff, parents, and Urban Tilth, the organizing non-profit who produced the day as part of its project, 2 Farms in 2 Days.
Not too little to help
The intention behind this weekend event aims to produce real, productive farms that, according the organization’s website, “grow food that directly changes the food …

I have to disclose up front that I am pretty biased about these three book recommendations because I am privileged to know each of the authors as partners through the development of Outdoor Afro and our shared passion for people of color and the outdoors. But aside from my excitement and gratitude for these folks, they have each produced some pretty extraordinary work well worth buying for your loved ones this holiday season.
<A HREF=”http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Foutdafro-20%2F8001%2F106cc75f-7426-481a-8472-44b7b0872fa3&Operation=NoScript” mce_HREF=”http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Foutdafro-20%2F8001%2F106cc75f-7426-481a-8472-44b7b0872fa3&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.com Widgets</A>
~*~*~
As many of you know, Frank and Audrey Peterman have been at the …

Clothesline Photo: Renee Gunter
I was going to write about sustainable landscaping – and I still will, but something else came up:
The Laundry.
Washing clothes is actually my least favorite chore right along with mopping the floor, taking out dripping trash, and investigating that “noise” in the middle of the night. Thus, I view the laundry task through a ‘necessary evil’ lens. But I like when it’s done. The problem is, it’s never done! I think I handle laundry fairly well for a household of four, but every time I get the …

In the spirit of Dia De Los Muertos,  All Saints Day, and of course The Outdoors, here is a re-post from last April about a Bay Area cemetery park I visited with a friend, filled with famous and founding Californians. Re-enjoy!
~*~*~*~*
My friend Miles did a little more research on William T. Shorey after reading about him in a previous blog of mine and learned Shorey was buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. So Miles invited me to trek to the cemetery last Friday afternoon to find the Shorey …

Just for a moment, close your eyes and conjure up an image of a park ranger…got it? What picture comes to mind? For some, an immediate image is the no-nonsense Ranger Smith, the nemesis of Yogi Bear. But there is nothing at all fictional about Ranger Marty Smith, Park Ranger of the Martin Luther King National Historic Site.
Ranger Marty Smith
Smith, a Detroit native, visited national parks occasionally with his family, but never imagined he would grow up to become a steward of one. But fate stepped in when a college …

“Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it.”  — Theodore Roosevelt on the Grand Canyon.

The long anticipated Ken Burns film premier is almost one week away. One of the many things to appreciate about this comprehensive work about our National Parks, are the stories of people of color who were an instrumental and unsung presence in park founding and preservation. Here is a clip from the documentary that features Outdoor Afro hero Shelton Johnson, …

Chelsea Griffie
I took a climbing trip with Outward Bound in my early 20’s, and it changed my life. It was a physical accomplishment I did not think I was capable of achieving – and my awareness of possibility and faith from that successful experience remains with me today.
Chelsea Griffie was similarly inspired by rock climbing and the outdoors. Her Chicago parents were not campers, so she climbed for the first time as a young adult on a trip to Brazil, and was hooked. In the years since, Chelsea’s skills …