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Walks with Wolves

Por Sean Seary

My love for the outdoors is tied, inherently, to my childhood: growing up in the greater New York metropolitan area, I spent a lot of time playing sports outside with my friends, going for walks with my dog, and helping my mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother in the garden. I was very much into wildlife, and was always reading and watching shows about big cats, wolves, chimps, and so many other wild critters.

I looked up to people like Steve Irwin and Jane Goodall, who had helped foster not just curiosity for the wild world, but also love and compassion for its inhabitants. These conservationists taught many young minds, like my own at the time, that we should be doing our best to protect mother earth and all of the plants and animals that call this world home. They inspired me to want to work with animals, and so I made that my dream.

I’ve thankfully been able to make a career out of working in the environmental field, which is a blessing in and of itself. Throughout the various positions I’ve held and workplaces I’ve found myself in, I noticed a glaring lack of diversity in the environmental/outdoor/conservation world. As a mixed-race Latino of Puerto Rican descent, it wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized how truly underrepresented our people are in the greater conversation about conservationism and environmentalism. Which explains why popular environmental figures never looked, acted, or spoke like us.

As a mixed-race Latino of Puerto Rican descent, it wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized how truly underrepresented our people are in the greater conversation about conservationism and environmentalism.

After spending many years bouncing around environmental careers; from education to policy, outdoor recreation, and back into education, I was finally able to make my dream a reality. I started working at the Wolf Conservation Center in early 2022, and just like that my childhood dream to work with animals had come true! It took a lot of time, energy, and effort to make it this far, but perseverance and sense of purpose goes a long way.

At the Wolf Conservation Center, I get to work with wolves on a daily basis and teach programs that discuss the history of wolves throughout North America, the ecological role they play in their habitats, in addition to the human role in protecting their future. We’re currently home to 32 wolves, 30 of whom are critically endangered species who belong to a federally managed wild-release program (we’re a nonprofit who help facilitate and administer the program). The other 2 wolves are our Ambassador wolves, who are essentially wolf teachers and allow folks to experience what it’s like to see and be around wolves.

A lot of the work that we do, not just in terms of education and advocacy, but also through conservation efforts, helps change the negative stigmas and stereotypes about wolves. Like people, wolves live in family units (or packs) and they care deeply for their pack members. They are intelligent, beautiful, and emotional beings, and have every right to exist on this earth as we do. I’m incredibly thankful that my work not only allows me to change the perception of Latinos in the environmental field, but also change how people perceive wolves. While I’m getting to live out this childhood dream, I haven’t lost sight of the ambition that took me to this point, and will use it help make learning about wolves more accessible to disenfranchised and underrepresented communities.

Sean Seary is a 30-year-old environmental educator from the NY metro area who loves spending as much time as he possibly can outdoors. Whether it’s reading, running, hiking, or gardening, you can often find him outside living his best life. Currently, he is a Program Educator II at the Wolf Conservation Center, where he teaches about wolves and the human role in protecting their future.

Día de los Muertos en Movement Boulder

Por LO Colorado

Latino Outdoors Colorado is excited to bring Día de Muertos to Movement Boulder from Monday, 10/31 to Wednesday, 11/2. We want to kick off this celebration by doing some learning on who we are, what the holiday is and what it means to us to celebrate this with the greater climbing community.

Latino Outdoors
Latino Outdoors is an organization that inspires, connects, and engages the Latine/x community in the outdoors. We embrace culture and family as part of the outdoor narrative, ensuring that our history, heritage, and leadership are valued and represented.

The Colorado chapter of Latino Outdoors started in 2016 and our chapter’s volunteers consist of climbers, anglers, hikers, backpackers, environmental and wildlife advocates, and so much more. The majority of the events that we host are beginner, youth, and family friendly and always free to attend. As a chapter, we value providing to our community lasting access to experiences in the outdoors and having a volunteer cohort that represents the various possibilities of what it means to be a leader in the outdoors.

What is Día de Muertos?
Día de Muertos or Day of the Dead is primarily a Mexican holiday, but many Latin American and non-Latin American communities celebrate this or similar holidays. Some of those countries include Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala, Haiti, Philippines, Brazil, and Costa Rica. Día de Muertos is a time to honor, remember, and temporarily welcome back our loved ones who have passed away and it is a celebration that has come about from the blending of Mexica (or Aztec) tradition and the colonial influence of Spanish Catholicism.

For Día de Muertos, we guide our loved ones back to us with the use of an ofrenda or an altar. The ofrenda is meant to guide the dead back to the living, but also gives the living relative a chance to build a memorial to honor their loved one that has passed. All ofrendas will be unique and different, but there are some traditional elements of the ofrenda that are often expressed. The ofrenda should represent the four elements: fire, wind, earth, and water. Fire usually takes the shape of a candle that guides our loved one to our ofrenda. Papel picado, a thin and colorful sheet of paper, represents wind and will move as the loved one returns. Earth will typically be food that your loved one enjoyed or the traditional pan de muerto, a pan dulce that represents death by taking the shape of bones and a tear to represent sorrow. Water can be represented by actual water or another drink that will quench the loved one’s thirst after the long journey to the living. Other important items include cempazúchitl or marigolds, copal incense, and calaveras or sugar skulls.

The duration of Día de Muertos varies depending on where you are celebrating and who you are welcoming back. Typically, you have your ofrenda ready for loved ones by October 31st so they can find your ofrenda and then it continues to be celebrated throughout the 1st and 2nd of November.

Steven Ochoa, a volunteer with Latino Outdoors, shares what the celebration means to him:

“Día de los Muertos to me is a celebration of life based in duality. The ceramic calaveras (sugar skulls) on my altares (altar) each represent a person that has transitioned to mictlan. Mictlan is a Nahuatl word that translates to “the land of the dead,” (composed of the words miqui meaning to die, and tlan meaning place of). Mictlan is not equivalent to afterlife in western religions, rather it is a continuation of life in a different plane of existence. Día de los Muertos is the one time per year that loved ones can cross back to our realm from Mictlan, and as such we build altars for them to find their way to us. The ofrenda consists of their favorite foods, drinks, and anything else that brought them joy on this side of existence. These elaborate creations are absolutely works of art that inspire and should move you, but they are not backdrops. In my personal experience, I am okay with people taking pictures of my ofrenda, but I am not okay with someone posing in front of them. I believe my loved ones are present at my ofrenda at all times, and it is disrespectful for someone to use my loved ones as a backdrop. 

It has been important for myself to reach spiritual nepantla, meaning the spiritual middle where I have been able to embrace the best parts of what I’ve been taught and the indigeneity I aspire to reclaim. So I invite everyone to be moved and to take pictures of my personal ofrenda respectfully with the knowledge you are taking a picture of my father, grandmother, cousin, and best friends.

I end with a translated quote from Octavio Paz’s Labyrinth of Solitude that best captures the essence of Día de los Muertos amongst Mexicans: “The Mexican does not fear death. The Mexican jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it. It is one of their favorite toys and their most steadfast love.”

Movement Boulder Celebration

We feel it is important to bring this celebration to the broader climbing community, as death is something that we deal with too often in this activity. By sharing our cultural practices with you, we hope to provide a space where death and grief are acknowledged. A place where our loved ones that have passed are celebrated, honored, and guided back to our reality.

On the morning of October 31st, Latino Outdoors volunteers will be setting up a community ofrenda that will be available to climbers at Movement to contribute to. On November 1st, we will be tabling at the gym so you all can learn more about our work and ask any questions you may have about the holiday. On November 2nd, we will be hosting an event for our Latine/x community and will be around the gym if you would like to connect with us. After our event on the 2nd, we will be taking down the ofrenda.

We invite you to contribute to the ofrenda by bringing pictures of your loved ones and any food, drink, or objects that honor their lives.

Ocean Teaching Us To Love Nature

por Michael Brito

Michael Brito grew up in Southern California, where the long stretches of sandy beaches inspired his love and connection to the outdoors. As a high school student, he would stake out bonfire pits with friends and watch the waves at the beach. Like generations before, he connected with his community around a fire. The fire’s warmth, crashing waves, and the painted sunset pulled him away from everything. Brito found a connection to the earth on those long beach days.

Brito attended UC Davis initially as a Political Sciences major. While he felt the need to pursue a career connecting people for the common good, he struggled to figure out how he could do so while finding an occupation that sparked a fire in him. After two years of struggles as an undergrad, Brito found his community among students studying Marine Sciences. Being part of this community allowed him to look closer at the coastal marine life they were observing. Very quickly, he created an even deeper connection with the ocean.

This community of students inspired Brito to switch his degree and pour all his remaining time into studying and asking ecological questions about coastal oceans. Becoming familiar with the neighboring marine life or how marine algae produces more oxygen than all the world’s forests sparked that fire Brito had been searching for. He became aware of how the world’s oceans are suffering from climate change yet protecting us by absorbing the carbon dioxide humans have been pumping into the atmosphere. Deeply moved, Brito was mobilized and became an advocate for ocean conservation. After college, he worked on the first ever captive rearing program for the critically endangered Sunflower sea star, Pycnopodia helianthoides. While this was important work, he felt he could make a more lasting impact on conservation by engaging with coastal communities.

Brito stumbled upon the Mendocino Coast on a road trip and was left in awe by the beautiful coastline. He immediately found a job in Fort Bragg with Pacific Environmental Education Center (PEEC), teaching fourth to eighth graders about the Mendocino coast’s natural history. He now works with the Noyo Center for Marine Science, supporting the mission of promoting conservation through the education of the local community. Brito hopes to work with the Noyo Center for Marine Science to reach Mendocino county’s Latinx communities and give them guided access to outdoor spaces.

Brito believes fostering an outdoors that welcomes diverse groups of people is essential because everyone must be given a chance to connect to the earth and green spaces. When Western thought-centric ideas dominate a space, they can exclude other ways of thinking and discourage others from being part of it. As a person of color, he understands that there is an egregious lack of leaders of color. Having navigated through white-dominated spaces, Brito believes that we must continue to engage local underrepresented communities so that everyone can one day be part of solving current issues such as climate change. The solution starts with creating opportunities for Latinx and people of color to get outside and have an enriching community.

The most significant barrier Brito anticipates as the major roadblock for people to get outside is the difficulty for low-income families of color to afford to spend time outdoors. This problem has only been made worse by the lack of accessible public transportation. As Brito continues his work, he hopes that more community members want to contribute to Latino Outdoor’s mission to get all people outside.

Michael Brito is a 24-year-old who recently joined the Latino Outdoors North Coast Chapter as an Outings Leader. He’s worked as a teacher naturalist for P.E.E.C. and gained a deep appreciation for the Mendocino Coast. Michael enjoys reading books about marine life and exploring the local tide pools. He looks forward to creating a more inclusive, diverse, and welcoming space for all in the outdoors.