por Erynn Castellanos
Growing up we’re told stories about el chupacabra and la llorona, stories our grandparents and parents told us so we wouldn’t be out en la calle all hours of the night as kids, stories on why we should fear the outdoors. These stories helped us believe the narrative that the woods are still a place for us to fear, a place our padres warned us about, places to never go alone.
My grandparents grew up in Sula, San Martín de Hidalgo in Jalisco Mexico, a tiny pueblo a few miles outside of Guadalajara. They moved to the United States when my grandmother was sixteen and my father was a couple months old in the early 1970’s. They settled in Lincoln Heights, California at the height of a polarized political climate. The anti-Latino movement encouraged my parents to stay indoors and to avoid traveling to isolated woods alone. Their concept of the outdoors now meant being outside in the streets, an unsafe place with bullets and gang members. Their connection to nature instead happened in small urban backyard lots.
My grandmother was an environmentalist without being an “environmentalist”. She showed me that I could have a garden filled with limones, guavas, bananas, yerba buena, and nopales. I could water that garden by using the bucket that awkwardly sat in the shower with me so that no drop would be wasted. She taught me how to love her garden, how to be self sufficient and how to feel at peace in nature. My grandma wasn’t an environmentalist, she was a survivor that used every piece of everything she had.
When I was 8 my family moved from Lincoln Heights to a suburb 25 miles East of Los Angeles. When I was stressed my mother would take me, usually against my will, to go for long walks with her “far away” (about 20 miles away) from home. These little adventures became the only thing that would take me out of the complications of my day to day life. I began to find the beauty in morning runs and the feeling of accomplishment in dominating vistas overlooking the valley.
I was easily labeled as an Environmentalist with a capital “E”, meaning my family thought I was crazy when I became a vegetarian in middle school, and took up sewing patches on my clothes instead of throwing them away. When I got older I wanted to go on hikes with my friends, they called me a crazy adventurer because I didn’t fear the outdoors like they did. Although I had a strong connection to the outdoors, especially the small pockets of nature in my urban jungle, it wasn’t until I finished my degree that I wanted to reform environmental education in my community.
While I was going to school for Communications and Political Science from California State University, Northridge, I began working for an environmental nonprofit. I found some of the biggest challenges in the organization was trying to assist homes of people living in climate vulnerable neighborhoods how their lifestyles could be more sustainable. There was a significant absence of representation at meetings and seminars. Attending these meetings led me to understand that the reasons these issues were present correlated with the lack of access to spaces of nature, and the lack of environmental curriculum in these neighborhoods.
I am currently the only person of color in my environmental studies cohort in Montana. Now I am looking to be a leader in making the environment a more equitable and welcoming place for people needing to find the same peace and escape that I found. My hope is that in the near future, jobs in conservation, environmental science, and nonprofit work will be flooded with applicants of all colors and backgrounds. I also hope the fear surrounding the Latino community in the outdoors can be faced with the same explorative courage our ancestors(my grandmother) had when they wanted to create a better life for their children
Erynn Castellanos is a Los Angeles area native with a desire to change her city and the world for the better. She graduated from California State University, Northridge with a degree in Communications and Political Science and is currently attending the University of Montana Graduate School for Environmental Studies. Her passions include exploring cities, forests, and literature. Along with pursuing her M.S., Erynn also works to promote educating children (K-5) about Earth sustainability.
