About TOA

The Outdoor Advocate (TOA) is a platform to tell the stories of everyday individuals and their relationships with the natural world. Its premise is motivated by the pervasive disconnect between our collective understanding of “The Outdoors” and actual outdoor spaces -- most importantly, the people who use them. The monoculture of popular media, outdated ideas of conservation, and a lack of inclusiveness in our outdoor industries have been feeding this disconnect, perpetuating a narrative that our outdoor spaces are occupied by predominately white, cisgender, athletic, male figures, which is simply not true.

The reality is that people of every race, gender identity, age, physical ability, body type, and socio-economic class are already outside and they are currently doing far more than our society’s biases suggest. So to share their stories is to promote a more honest understanding of what the outdoors is and can be -- accessible spaces that are resources worth protecting. If one by one, we can demonstrate that the outdoors is, in fact, for every body, it proves that we each have a stake in the health of our public lands and can collectively advocate for its future.