Photos of a large tree tattooed on the chest of Golden State Warriors guard Monta Ellis on the Tattoos by Randy Myspace page are making a big stir today.

Thanks to urban forester Kemba of Urban Releaf for the initial sharing! The tat has now inspired her to recruit Monta to help plant trees in the local community!

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Please take a moment to vote for us — this is such a wonderful honor! The category we appear in is on page 5 of the ballot:

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The Black Weblog Awards was founded in 2005 to give recognition to Black bloggers.` What started out as a barely-known event has now grown into an international showcase. With participants from over 90 countries, the Black Weblog Awards stands out as one of the most widespread Internet award events for Black bloggers.

To date, the Black Weblog Awards has recognized nearly 180 blogs in over 30 categories. The Awards has also been featured in several mainstream and online media outlets, including NPR, CNN, and others. Winners of the Black Weblog Awards have also went on to appear in other media outlets, like MSNBC, the Huffington Post, BET, and many others.

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Join National Park Service ranger Betty Reid Soskin and Rue Mapp of the social network Outdoor Afro as they discuss the state of African American participation in our national and regional parks.

I am honored to share the stage with Ms. Betty Soskin, who will share personal memories of East Bay life and working conditions during World War II and show a short film about Richmond’s Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park.

Following Ms. Soskin’s presentation, I will highlight the variety of city and regional parks in the Oakland area and encourage audience members to share their experiences.

Details:

Wednesday, February 23, 2011
6:00 PM to 7:30 PM

Oakland Public Library
125 14th Street
Oakland, CA 94612

ACA is a community of camp professionals who, for nearly 100 years, have joined together to share knowledge and experience and to ensure the quality of camp programs. ACA and Outdoor Afro have recently formed an educational partnership to help camps connect to the diverse Outdoor Afro community; and also help Outdoor Afro community members become more aware of the wide range of camp experiences available to them.

The ACA conference brought together camp professionals from around the country to learn about best practices and new innovations, and to foster collaboration to bring the camp experience to more Americans. My friend, and Outdoor Afro supporter Nina Roberts, professor at San Francisco State University, gave a fabulous presentation on strategies to help camps recruit more diverse staff. Here are some of her comments:

Also nice to meet Kevin Gordon, who runs a multicultural camp called Camp Kupugani:

After the educational forums, the ACA exhibition hall featured a wide range of vendors with scores of products and program tools to successfully run camps, and there I ran into some friends and supporters of the Outdoor Afro community, each committed in their own way to make the camp experience available for everyone. Here are Camp Director Lisa Maynor’s comments:

And finally, just before leaving to return home, I was able to connect in person with the passionate CEO of the American Camp Association, Peg Smith, who generously shared her thoughts on ACA’s goals related to camp diversity:

Thank you ACA for your educational partnership and genuine commitment to diversity in the camp experience!

One generation from now most people in the U.S. will have spent more time in the virtual world than in nature.

I had the good fortune of screening the eye opening PLAY AGAIN locally with my own kids, and meet the passionate filmmaker Meg Merrill. Her film makes a case, against a backdrop of contemporary teen life, about how more time in front of screens than in natural spaces bodes troubling outcomes individually and for our society. Here is more:

Kristin and Paige Moreland

PLAY AGAIN is an award-winning documentary, directed by Tonje Hessen Schei, produced by Meg Merrill, and edited by David Bee with music from Icelandic band Sigur Ros and singer Kimya Dawson.

New media technologies have improved our lives in countless ways. Information now appears with a click. Overseas friends are part of our daily lives. And even grandma loves Wii.  But what are we missing when we are behind screens? And how will this impact our children, our society, and eventually, our planet? At a time when children play more behind screens than outside.

The film explores the changing balance between the virtual and natural worlds.  Is our connection to nature disappearing down the digital rabbit hole? This moving and humorous documentary follows six teenagers who, like the “average American child,” spend five to fifteen hours a day behind screens.

PLAY AGAIN unplugs these teens and takes them on their first wilderness adventure – no electricity, no cell phone coverage, no virtual reality. Through the voices of children and leading experts including journalist Richard Louv, sociologist Juliet Schor, environmental writer Bill McKibben, educators Diane Levin and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, neuroscientist Gary Small, parks advocate Charles Jordan, and geneticist David Suzuki.

PLAY AGAIN investigates the consequences of a childhood removed from nature and encourages action for a sustainable future. For more information please visit www.playagainfilm.com and “like” their facebook page! PLAY AGAIN in Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival Monday 2/21 at 12 Noon Culver Plaza Theaters (9919 Washington Blvd., across from Sony Studios) *Q & A with producer Meg Merrill and lead youth, Kristin and Paige Moreland! **Additional screening at the PAFF Student Fest on 2/23 (Time TBA) 2010 AWARDS BEST OF FEST, Colorado Environmental Film Festival BEST EDUCATIONAL FILM, Ekofilm in Prague JURY MENTION for Best Documentary, FICMA in Barcelona UPCOMING FESTIVALS To find or organize a screening in your area visit www.playagainfilm.com.

• Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula (2/17 @6:15p)
• Pan African Film Festival in LA (TBA)
• Washington DC Environmental Film Festival (3/22 @7p)
• Santa Cruz Film Festival (TBA)

Outdoor Afro fans learned about Barbara Hillary back in 2009, she not only survived lung cancer, but also took on a trek hardly imaginable to most to the North Pole on skis at age 75!

Here is our Talk Tuesday Blog Talk Radio interview with Hillary from July, 2009 where she humorously shared how it is possible and necessary to live up to ones potential:

Not willing to remain still, this month the venerable Hillary started on another trek, this time to the South Pole.

See the Expenews feed for futher details and to read the rollercoaster of events leading to her journey.

Outdoor Afro wishes Ms. Hillary the best of luck for a safe trip, and recognize the inspiration she is to us all!

Learn more about Barbara Hillary, including booking information for speaking engagements by visiting her website.

The show theme was prompted by Outdoor Afro friend Shelton Johnson by a letter he wrote a couple of years ago inviting Oprah to visit. Shelton knew back then that just a tiny sprinkle of Oprah’s fairy dust could bring the National Parks into focus for Americans, particularly for African Americans, in a new and innovative way.

While I have been in the business of making the visual connection between African Americans and the outdoors, the moment I saw Gayle and Oprah with Shelton and Half-Dome in the horizon, I switched seamlessly from purveyor to customer. The beauty of Oprah and Gayle in that stunning natural space helped me visualize myself there.

And apparently I was not alone in my inspiration. Just after the show, my friend’s 78-year-old father phoned to say that he would like to visit Yosemite with her, and they have made a pact to go in 2011.

But the positive impact this show could have on families with young children is important. Those of us in the outdoor recreation field know that parents, especially mothers, are gatekeepers of outdoor experiences for their families. Therefore, in order for outdoor engagement to become a sustained activity for a new community, there needs to be a lot of support to address barriers such as fears and perceptions, equipment, and repeated, positive visual articulation of what it can look like. See this REI ad as a great model.

So Oprah getting out there camping as an African-American woman is significant, in that it demonstrates possibility. Her televised camping experience is the break-through moment that the field has been waiting for, and has needed in order for the outdoors to become relevant to a wider audience.

It is Outdoor Afro’s hope that the buzz that has come from her effort will not only open up new dialog and inspire new audiences, but also convert this new interest into real outdoor engagement and stewardship.

Did you watch the second half of the show today? What did you think?

Visit the Outdoor Afro Community to find people in your area to join in the outdoors!

“On October 29 and November 1, Oprah Winfrey will devote two entire shows to her overnight camping trip in Yosemite National Park earlier this month. Ms. Winfrey’s visit originated with a letter of invitation from Park Ranger Shelton Johnson. While in the park, Shelton shared his Buffalo Soldierpersona – Elizy Bowman – at an evening campfire chat with Ms. Winfrey and others staying at the Lower Pines Campground in Yosemite Valley.

While the shows highlight Ms. Winfrey’s visit to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, Tunnel View, her mule ride, and fly fishing on the Merced River, she also raises the question of why there aren’t more visitors of color in national parks.

We all struggle with this question – and what to do about it.

Ms. Winfrey’s visit and the popularity of her show offer the National Park Service an unprecedented opportunity to reach a vast audience of potential first-time visitors and to start a conversation with them.

Photo by Dudley Edmondson

Coming on the heels of Ken Burns’ acclaimed documentary, these broadcasts promise to take the national parks to heights of visibility rarely seen before, particularly in mass media and pop culture.

At the national level, we are working with the Yosemite staff to create opportunities to leverage the broadcasts and deliver a National Park Service invitation to visit the soon-to-be 393 national parks and learn about these places owned by all Americans.

I encourage all of you to use this opportunity to reach out to your communities. For example, you could host viewing parties with the show as a discussion starter on how to increase the diversity of our visitors or hold “how-to” events over the weekend of October 30-31 to teach the basics of hiking, camping, and visiting for first-timers.

WATCH VIDEO PREVIEW

While we literally had years to prepare for the America’s Best Idea broadcast, there is now little more than a week to prepare for these episodes that will reach more than 30 million viewers and millions more through Oprah.com.

I am confident that our innovative and creative employees will rise to the occasion and create immediate opportunities for all Americans to connect with the national park idea.”

The Outdoor Afro community is all aflutter about this news, as a major goal of this site is about changing perceptions of who engages with the outdoors. It is especially important that women of color be shown engaging with natural spaces in a positive context, so that others can see the possibility and benefits of building a relationship with treasures such as our national parks — which belong to everyone.

We hope this won’t be the last time we see Oprah camping! Can’t wait to hear your comments about the show!

For so many of us, the outdoors is a place of solace and refuge. This is also true for armed services members returning from overseas, firefighters taking a much needed break from work, and families facing tough economic realities. Together, the Natural Leaders Network and the Sierra Club, with the support of the Children & Nature Network, will observe the National Day of Service by engaging in and working to highlight, enhance, protect, and restore these vital outdoor spaces.

The Natural Leaders Network is honored to be part of this important day. We hope you will join us by visiting Serve Outdoors and hosting or participating in a service project in your community.

Yours,
The Natural Leaders Network

What are your thoughts about Nature Deficit Disorder? Watch the show and please leave a comment here with your impressions!

For more information about the Children in Nature movement and how you can get involved check out their website!

Also plug in to the Children and Nature Collaborative’s website for additional information!