'These are places for us as well': Empowering more Arizonans to claim their spot outdoors

The nonprofit Black to the Land Coalition is working to expose more members of BIPOC communities to outdoor activities and the healthy benefits that come with being nature. They have partnered with other organizations to help alleviate costs and they’ve done activities like archery, camping, and kayaking. “We’re creating opportunities for Black and brown people to engage in natural spaces beyond the playscapes and basketball courts,” says one of the founders. “We’re taking on the outdoor world, period.”

As the National Park Service celebrates its 100th Anniversary, employees and rangers are turning their attention towards maximizing diversity and increasing a culture of inclusiveness amongst park visitors and employees. From taking a concrete political stance to recruiting a diverse group of celebrity park ambassadors, the national parks hope to bridge the gaps between what America looks like and the story our parks tell of our history.

In 2009, a woman in Oakland, California realized that there was a lack of African Americans in the outdoors. Tired of being the "only one," she created an online social space via blogging and Facebook called Outdoor Afro to connect African-Americans with other African-Americans that wanted to enhance their time in nature. Six years later, this group has grown to international status with 7,000 members and 30 trained leaders that join together to get out in nature.

The Capacity Collaborative and Thriving Earth Exchange are working together to establish volunteer community science hubs to support environmental justice projects in communities around the United States. The organizations connect communities with scientists and experts who volunteer their time to help move their projects forward.

A mother-daughter trio started the nonprofit See You at the Top as a way to get children engaged in outdoor sports where there is traditionally a lack of people of color represented. The program has reached hundreds of families who have participated in activities like skiing, snowboarding, and biking. "As a culture, we distance ourselves from these activities and say that's not what we do, but we have to begin to see ourselves in these outdoor spaces and know it is something we can all do and enjoy together," said one of the cofounders.

Chicago students organized and, for the first time, convinced the city to rename a park in honor of Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass. The former Douglas Park was named after a Civil War era Illinois senator who advocated to expand slavery, and whose wife owned slaves. Not daunted by the city’s bureaucracy, the students canvassed in their community and gathered over 10,000 signatures for a petition to change the park’s name. The campaign, which began in 2017, was much harder and longer than the students anticipated, but by forming a coalition and continuing to speak out they persevered.

Several environmental groups in the Detroit area are coming to terms with the lack of racial diversity in their organizations. Huron-Clinton Metroparks released a plan to make their parks more welcoming and accessible to everyone, regardless of race and ethnicity. The Friends of the Rouge watershed organization has partnered with other nonprofits to explore race and organizational culture within their own groups. While many of these initiatives have just launched, many groups are taking crucial steps to address environmental injustice within their ranks and how it trickles down to the people they serve.

In western New York, local bike advocacy groups have found power in numbers, banding together to gradually convince their governments to expand cycling access and communities to change their attitudes toward cyclists. By organizing mass cycling rides, which were at times disruptive by design, and other advocacy efforts, GOBike Buffalo and connected groups have convinced government and foundations alike to launch a major bike network.

Indigenous peoples in Thailand's Nan province, in collaboration with researchers from five institutions, launched a citizen-science program using soil, hair, and fish sampling alongside computer modelling to document transboundary pollution from Laos's Hongsa coal plant. This work produced evidence of acidic soils and mercury contamination that has empowered environmental advocacy actions.

After Georgian residents raised concerns about a pollutant that was being emitted by a nearby biomass plant, they banded together to pass legislation that effectively put an end to the practice. These concerned residents founded the Madison County Clean Power Coalition to raise awareness of the effects of creosote burning, which, when breathed in, has shown to increase the risk of lung and heart disease. Their lobbying efforts resulted in the governor signing into law a ban on burning creosote-treated wood.