Collective impact begins on an individual basis. These individuals are as diverse, nuanced, and varied as the natural world, but they are currently overlooked or hidden.
The Outdoor Advocate is my effort to tell their stories, making visible the people who are already around us to help change the face of "The Outdoors".
Want to share your story?
Contribute to our efforts?
Or just generally curious?
Get in touch!
I didn’t grow up outside, despite what many people assume when they hear that I love the outdoors. I didn’t grow up with access to recreation nor was I embedded in an "outdoorsy" community. I didn't have much knowledge, means, or skill until I chose to go outside and learn to hike and backpack in my adulthood. Over the years, I've come to know many other people who are like me — people from diverse backgrounds with varying degrees of experience and participation. Yet, why do "The Outdoors", or at least the representation and perception of the people, places, and experiences that define our outside spaces, still not reflect the stories of me or my peers and the places we explore?
A lot of the existing narratives about the pursuit of outdoor activities and the exploration of outside spaces can be distilled into a simple picturesque photograph: a lean, athletic, white body gazing out across a vibrant, untouched landscape. As successful as this type of imagery has been for marketers, brands, and social media, this depiction is far from reality. The truth is that bodies of different colors, abilities, sizes, gender identities, and socio-economic class are actively outside and in places that are not always pristine or remote. Yet, the majority of these real-life participants are largely omitted from popular discourse, perpetuating a sense of not belonging. Even the outside places we covet tend to be far away wildernesses, again rendering the outdoors with exclusivity.
"The Outdoors" is rooted in privilege and its depiction in the media is no different. Most of today’s outdoor representation continues to disconnect marginalized communities from what being outside actually looks like. It perpetuates “The Outdoors” as a colonialist, ableist, heteronormative, white male construct of occupying and conquering land. Beyond representation, this disconnect also serves as restrictive messaging for a host of related social causes, including the preservation of and access to public lands, local and global environmental conservation, and the promotion of physical and psychological health tied to spending time outside — the who, where and why ignoring the largest segment of the population needing the most visibility.
This limited view of our outside places has affected me and many others like me who do not identify with the existing outdoor narrative. So I want to push back on this stagnant idea of “The Outdoors” and reassert what it means to live a healthy life in our outdoor spaces. One way I hope to do this is by sharing the personal stories of our overlooked and underrepresented populations through The Outdoor Advocate. Rather than waiting for someone else to re-write the narrative, I am getting to know the individuals who are already outside and listening to those who are engaged with the land. I’m sharing their stories to promote inclusivity in the industry, celebrate everyday efforts to get outside, demystify our outdoor places, and inspire more individuals to develop their own relationship with the natural environment. Through each story, I hope to demonstrate that the outdoors is, in fact, for EVERY body.
- Becky
.......
Read my personal story here.