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Tag: #conservation

Celebrate Latino Conservation Week with Latino Outdoors

Por Christian La Mont

Latino Conservation Week: Disfrutando y Conservando Nuestra Tierra (LCW) is an initiative of the Hispanic Access Foundation and was created to support the Latinx community in getting into the outdoors and participating in activities to protect our natural resources. That’s the official overview. To me, LCW is a week-long celebration of conservation, cultura, and comunidad.

At Latino Outdoors (LO), it’s safe to say that we celebrate conservation, cultura, and comunidad every day of the year. That’s who we are. Our small but mighty staff works daily to connect youth and families to the outdoors, often leading with a reminder that conservation is a part of our culture—whether it’s preventing wasteful use and reusing materials (who amongst us hasn’t had the bag, the shirt, the food storage container that has been used and reused long beyond its original purpose). Conservation also runs in our veins and manifests in the act of maintaining and passing on a deep connection to nature and working the land, whether by choice or by necessity. We aren’t new to nature and the outdoors. Caring for the planet is part of who we are; it’s part of our values. In fact, last year the Pew Research Center released a study that stated that most Latinx people in U.S. say that global climate change is an important concern. We call that conservation cultura.

We also celebrate our culture every day at Latino Outdoors. Through our Yo Cuento storytelling program, we share stories from across Latinx experiences and proudly serve as a platform to share the outdoor experiences of others through our social media accounts and growing YouTube channel. Whether we celebrate that culture through blog posts, videos, music, podcasts, dance or other forms, storytelling is one of the ways we work to create a world where the outdoors is a place to share and celebrate stories, knowledge and culture while growing leadership and an active community of Latino outdoor users, mentors and stewards.

In addition to celebrating conservation and cultura every day, we also proudly engage in the work of building community and working within the many diverse Latinx communities across the country, each one with unique dialects, expressions, tastes, histories and heritage. With over 20 regions, ranging from Boston, Denver, Missoula, and Washington D.C. to Arkansas, San Antonio, Los Angeles and beyond, our volunteer leaders don’t just invite their communities on LO outings like hiking, kayaking, stewardship projects, bird watching or climbing, they also work within those communities to identify barriers and connect them to the local resources to help overcome them. Most of us are from intentionally marginalized communities, immigrant communities and front-line communities, so we don’t just plan a hike—we plan our hikes with lived experiences and a deep first-hand understanding of the urgent need to connect our communities to nature, breakdown barriers and fight for equitable access to the outdoors. Like many communities of color, the communities we collaborate with and are a part of live with the daily impacts of environmental injustice, of redlining practices, of social injustice, of generational traumas, with the impacts of racism, prejudice and intolerance.

Connecting children, families, early career professionals, students and individuals to nature isn’t just a matter of enjoying the view—though we do enjoy the view—it is a matter of physical and mental health and healing. It’s a matter of providing space within these open spaces where we can break into Spanish and English, share stories of abuelas and tíos y tías, comida y casa, stories of immigration and migration, stories that allow us to be ourselves, to celebrate ourselves and to know that we are part of a larger community. We also work in community with other organizations—the collaborations which allow us to reach a larger audience, to share our mission and vision and connect our people to opportunities and experiences they might miss out on otherwise. Latino Outdoors couldn’t do what we do without the strength of our relationships and the ties to the communities we’re a part of.

So, when I talk about celebrating conservation, cultura and comunidad, you could say it’s part of our DNA.

Still, there’s something incredible and unique about LCW. In the past few years, it has grown its nationwide presence with shout-outs and acknowledgments from National Geographic, the Department of Interior, California State Parks and Latinx policymakers like Senator Alex Padilla. With our partnership with the Hispanic Access Foundation, LCW2022 is planned to feature over 100 in-person activities throughout the week in collaboration with local community-based organizations, national brands, government agencies and nonprofits while, at the same time, LO will also be celebrating with videos, art, virtual panels and more. Thanks to the behind-the-scenes work of incredible organizers at the Hispanic Access Foundation and our team at LO, this year’s LCW promises to be an incredible week featuring panels, videos, events, an LCW photo contest, a sticker contest and our second annual LCW Achievement Awards.

Inspired by #BlackBirdersWeek, and in part by #NationalParkWeek, Latino Conservation Week has been celebrating with daily themes for three years. Themes and topics of focus this year will include #LCW2022KickOff, #RecreateResponsibly, #AguaEsVida, #AdvocacyAfuera, #ConservationCultura, #ComunidadYFamilia and #YoCuento. All are invited to join the celebration regardless of background or heritage, because as much as Latino Conservation Week is about nuestra gente, it’s also a celebration of the work we all do in the name of protecting our planet, being good stewards, opening doors of opportunity and establishing lifelong connections to nature and the outdoors—whether that’s a patch of grass in Brooklyn and Los Angeles or a vista view overlooking the Rocky Mountains.

For my part, I’ll be spending Latino Conservation Week attending hikes highlighting the importance of national monuments and protecting public lands and remembering those childhood memories of my Papá, as a brand new immigrant from Mexico, taking my Hermano and me fishing in Colorado for the first time, or memories from more recent years of my Mamá and our recent experiences kayaking and exploring urban parks in Los Angeles where she summed up the work of conservation with a simple sentence and powerful reminder (as only familia and comunidad can remind d0): “es tu parque cuídalo.”

It’s your park, take care of it.

If you’d like to be a part of the Latino Conservation Week celebration, visit LatinoConservationWeek.com and follow the hashtag #LCW2022 or #LatinoConservationWeek on social media. Join us for this week of conservation, cultura, and comunidad. Nos vemos pronto.

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See the original article posted by Osprey by clicking here.

Christian La Mont is the Program Manager for LO’s storytelling and communications program, Yo Cuento.

Latino Outdoors works to inspire, connect and engage Latino communities in the outdoors and embrace cultura y familia as part of the outdoor narrative, ensuring our history, heritage and leadership are valued and represented. Check out our website!

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Time to raise Latinx voices for Nature

From the sidelines of the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow.

por Miguel Booth

Growing up I don’t recall seeing Latinx environmental champions on the TV, do you?

I remember being inspired by Sir David Attenborough or Jacques Cousteau. I marveled at the beauty of nature and the outdoors in far-flung places brought to me by the BBC, National Geographic, or the Discovery Channel but never by Univision, Televisa, or other Latino media giants featuring local talent.

It’s not that Latin American or Latinx environment champions weren’t there, of course they were. From Ushuaia to Alaska, and all around the world, we find inspiring examples of people caring deeply about nature, making it their purpose to protect it and going as far as risking their lives for it. Chico Mendes, Berta Cáceres, Joan Baez, Cesar Chavez, and countless others laid the foundations in the fight for human and environmental rights for all. But it seemed it was always in the context of intense struggle and sacrifice, correcting the wrongs that had fallen upon their communities not hosting a feature documentary or given a prominent platform on TV to inspire audiences to love and protect the outdoors.

And now, in our ever digital and synthetic reality, there is a sense that many people are distancing away from nature. This trend may have deeply disturbing consequences. How are we to love and care for nature and the outdoors if we have no emotional connection to it? Perhaps one of the most important ways is by keeping the connection alive through stories, images, and films that bring nature into the cities.

As a kid growing up in Mexico, my escape into nature ignited a curiosity that eventually steered my career choice. It was an unconventional journey for sure. As my friends turned to careers in finance, business, engineering and law – I chose wildlife and environmental filmmaking. I got a lot of puzzled looks, was that even a career? Latin America had zero schooling options for it, so I headed to New Zealand.

I was one of the lucky few. The first Latin American to graduate with a Natural History Filmmaking and Communication Degree and soon joined the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Massachusetts where I spent 10 fulfilling years traveling the world highlighting animal rescue and conservation efforts. Later, I moved with my family to Nairobi, Kenya, and took up the position of Head of Multimedia for the UN’s Environment Programme

Picking up a camera was always just an excuse for me to go outdoors, to travel, and explore. And surely if others could see what I film out there, they would care and they would also worry about how fast it’s changing, right?

I’m now writing this from the sidelines of COP26 in Glasgow. This is the United Nations’ climate summit, a space where governments, private sector, civil society, activists, and observers come together to come up with a way of limiting warming to the 1.5°C target set out a few years back in Paris. I won’t sugar coat it, we’re a long way from achieving the target. In fact, a +2°C is practically guaranteed and even a 3°C increase is in the cards. Governments are moving slowly and cowardly, businesses are operating ‘as usual’ prioritizing profit and growth over everything else and sadly even many NGOs are happy to play along with greenwashing if it allows them to continue operating.

Now more than ever, we need the Latinx community to take extreme ownership for the environment. Why? Because it’s in our DNA. We are the sons and daughters of Chico, Berta, Joan, and Cesar. The outdoor spaces that we love, those that we depend on for our very survival are on the brink of collapse.

So, my call to you is grab your camera or mobile phone next time you’re outdoors. Take photos and video and share that around. Become the next Attenborough or Cousteau. Tell everyone how you enjoy it out there and why it’s important to act now. Inspire us with nature’s beauty but also report on the ugly. The air and water pollution, the clearcutting of forests, the dwindling presence of insects, birds, whatever you see.

Follow and help amplify the message of other Latinx champions that are fighting to protect the planet. Young activists like Alexandria Villaseñor, Xiye Bastida, Jamie Margolin, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, and also urge Latin American institutional leaders like Patricia Espinosa and Christiana Figueres to level-up on their side. There is no time to waste.

On my side, I’ve recently launched Dreamcatcher, a purpose-driven group of filmmakers and nature expedition experts to inspire a deep love for our natural world. We’d love for you to check out what we’re up to and join us in one of our upcoming adventures. We are inspired by the Latino Outdoors community, and we’re excited to grow together.

Hasta pronto.

A seasoned filmmaker and adventurer, Miguel Booth has produced films in over 60 countries in the past decade. His award-winning films have been showcased by National Geographic, GoPro, Discovery, CNN among others. Miguel served as the UN’s Head of Multimedia for the Environment from 2016 to 2019. In 2020, he founded Dreamcatcher with his wife Gabriela – their films and expeditions look to inspire a global community to love, protect, and live in harmony with nature.

I’m a Latina Trail Runner

por Candace Gonzales

My love for the outdoors comes from my parents and my family. When I was a child, my parents took me camping in the summer. We camped at a beautiful reservoir where I learned to swim and play in the water. My tios and primos camped with us along with our close family friends, and it was a wonderful way to grow up. My family would also spend countless hours in the summer in my grandfather’s garden picking peas and strawberries to eat straight off the vine. Not to mention in the fall when we would all gather at my grandparents’ house to roast and peel green chilies. Those memories I cherish, and I believe fostered in me a love for the outdoors.

Although being outdoors and being in nature was something that I was fortunate to be exposed to as a child, as a young adult, especially in my twenties, I got away from the outdoors. The busy city life called to me, and my goals became getting into my career and enjoying the city’s night scene—the partying, the friendships, and just living that fast city life. Late work nights, crazy weekends, and I did not make the outdoors a priority.

However, one priority I have always had is running. I have run most of my adult life. Thanks to my love for running, it’s what brought me back into the outdoors. In 2018, I stumbled upon trail running by signing up for a part road/trail race, the Turquoise Lake 20K in beautiful Leadville, Colorado. After that race, I knew that exploring trails and being in nature on trails was my new calling as a runner.

Of course, I answered this call and immediately started trail running on the local trails in the Denver metro area. I was addicted, and it was so much fun. Not to mention there is something very spiritual and healing about being in the outdoors. It has this way of allowing you to see all the beauty in the world. Although it was so beautiful to be out on the trail, one thing that stood out to me, especially in a community like Denver, where the Latinx population is the second-largest population, was the lack of diversity on the trails. I found this to be challenging. Challenging in the sense that when you are new to a sport, it can be intimidating, and when you don’t see anyone who looks like you enjoying it can feel a bit unwelcoming.

The outdoors should be welcoming to everyone. All humans should have the opportunity to experience the pure joy you get from running, hiking, or walking the trails with the sun shining on you and the mountains as views. The beauty of being outdoors and discovering nature is an experience all should have regardless of gender, class, race, age, sexuality, and nationality. For me, I recognize that I have a role in making the outdoors feel welcoming and that when I pull up to the trailhead rocking my Spanish music on full blast, that’s me saying I’m here, I’m Latina, I’m a trail runner, and I love the outdoors too. When other gente come to experience the trail, I want them to feel welcomed, and I want to help inspire younger generations to get outdoors and experience the outdoors.

That is why Latino Outdoors is such an important nonprofit and one that is close to my heart. The work that Latino Outdoors does to make the outdoors welcoming, from education, conservation, and just teaching people to love the outdoors, is so important. That is why this fall, I have chosen to use the sport I love (trail running) to help raise funds for Latino Outdoors. Just as I was fortunate to enjoy nature as a child, and I want our future generation to also be that fortunate. I believe Latino Outdoors is doing the grassroots work to make this happen. ¡Andale!

Candace Gonzales lives in Colorado’s front range. She is an avid trail runner who has complete various trail marathons, 30K trail runs, and 50K trail runs. She loves being outside and is a passionate supporter of Latino Outdoors.