Photo by April Thomas
Every year since REI launched their #OptOutside campaign in 2015, I’ve chosen to spend “Black Friday” in the great outdoors or with my community instead of waiting in line to buy a new TV. But #OptOutside has never meant more to me than it does this year.
For the past 12 days, my community in the Bay Area has been trapped indoors by the smoke from the devastating Camp Fire, which has taken 79 lives with hundreds of people still missing. In California the climate apocalypse has arrived. Nothing will ever be the same.
I’ve never longed more for the outdoors. In fact, I never realized just how broad that term is -- “outdoors.” I don’t usually think of the distance between my house and where I park my car one block over as “the great outdoors.” But when you have to wear a mask to leave the house, the separation between indoors and out becomes very clear.
I haven’t gone outside in three days, because even if you’re lucky enough to have access to a mask, doctors are recommending to avoid outdoor activity altogether, much less exercise. I would give anything just to go for a walk around the block without the oppressive, red sky looming above and the choking smoke in my lungs.
I don’t know a single person who doesn’t intend to burst out of their home and breathe deep as soon as the rain comes to clear the air. The weather report says this will finally end today, with a tremendous rainstorm. Everyone here in the Bay -- other than those who have already fled the smoke -- seems to have a plan to head outside the minute the smoke clears.
This year the Bay Area won’t just #OptOutside on Black Friday. We’ll be hitting the trails and walking Lake Merritt on Thursday, too. In fact, I bet a lot of folks will have their turkey dinner out on the patio this year, even if it’s a little chilly.
There’s nothing like being trapped indoors for two weeks to make you appreciate what a privilege it is to be able to #OptOutside. The Bay Area had the worst air quality in the world for most of the past week -- but not by much. There are places all over the world where this is an everyday reality lived by billions of people. Places where to go outside at all, much less to go hiking or ride your bike, you have to wear a mask.
Access to nature is a human right. That is a fundamental tenet of our Outdoors for All campaign. I’m feeling that keenly this week as I’m denied that access for the first time in my life.
I’m also feeling how deeply all the issues we work on are connected. The fire that is choking the Bay Area, the fire that destroyed over 150,000 acres of California, the fire that burned over 12,000 structures and is still raging today, only 70 percent contained -- that fire was made more likely by our changing climate.
Here in Oakland we’ve been struggling for over five years to prevent coal from being handled and shipped at the Oakland Army Base because coal dust from the trains would worsen our air quality. The burning of that coal overseas would also impact our climate here in California, which would in turn increase the likelihood of more fires like this one. If we want to continue to have the choice to #OptOutside, we can’t just fight for conservation and lands protection -- we need to also fight on every front to protect our precious, fragile climate.
If you are lucky enough to have the choice to #OptOutside this Friday, I hope you do. And if you are an active adventurer who cares about access to nature and the outdoors, I hope you’ll join the climate justice movement too. Believe me: Hiking and biking is a whole lot less fun when wearing an N95 mask.