Rincon Group / Our Blogs / Blog on Equity. . .
Dear Sierra Club Family,
As we head into the July 4th holiday weekend, I want to share two important updates. First, ABC News ran a really powerful story this week on racism and inclusion in the outdoors. I hope you will find 10 minutes to read, watch and amplify the story: America’s national parks face existential crisis over race, featuring our very own Joel Pannell, Associate Director of the Outdoors for All campaign, and the great Ambreen Tariq, Outdoors for All campaign strategy team volunteer and founder of Brown People Camping, among other leading voices on justice and equity in the outdoors. Thank you to Joel, Ambreen, Ian Brickey and Karlie Drutz for all your contributions to developing, telling, and amplifying this important story.
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Additionally, I want to draw your attention to the #RecreateResponsibly campaign, launched to raise awareness about safety in the outdoors during the COVID-19 pandemic. This campaign and the Recreate Responsibly Coalition formed in the lead up to Memorial Day weekend with six simple guidelines to protect yourself and others in the outdoors: 1) Know Before You Go; 2) Plan Ahead, 3) Explore Locally, 4) Practice Physical Distancing, 5) Play it Safe, and 6) Leave No Trace.
Sierra Club’s Outdoors for All campaign has been supporting efforts led by our partner Latino Outdoors to encourage the coalition to adopt an additional guideline to build a more welcoming and inclusive outdoors culture. As you already know, and the above ABC News piece explains so well, many of our BIPOC brothers and sisters live under the constant threat of violence and harassment every day, and this legacy of criminalizing BIPOC communities and individuals has deep roots in the outdoors. While it’s just a small step in the right direction, I am pleased to announce that the coalition has accepted our recommendations and added a seventh principle, “Build an Inclusive Outdoors,” to its guidelines.
With the addition of this principle, Sierra Club’s Outdoors for All campaign is pleased to join REI, Latino Outdoors, Outdoor Afro, The North Face, The Trust for Public Land and the nearly 500 other members of the Recreate Responsibly Coalition, to share best practices to get outside responsibility this holiday weekend. Amplify here. We are committed to working with our partners to strive for a just, inclusive, and equitable outdoors community where BIPOC and others with marginalized identities feel safe and welcome and can enjoy the myriad benefits of time outdoors without fear of violence or harassment from the system or individuals. Access to nature is a human right, and all people deserve to enjoy our parks and public lands.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spike in states across the country, I want to remind everyone to #RecreateResponsibly should you choose to get outdoors.
Check out all the #RecreateResponsibly best practices here --> recreateresponsibly.org
Thank you,
~~ jackie
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Rincon Group / Our Blogs / Blog on Equity. . .