Environmental groups recruit people of color into overwhelmingly white conservation world
Associated PressBARABOO, Wis. — Arianna Barajas never thought of herself as the outdoors type. “All the environmental issues we’re facing are really big and we simply can’t face them all unless we have a lot of ideas at the table,” said Soumi Gaddameedi, a 22-year-old Indian American who works as a donor coordinator for the nonprofit group Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin. For instance, people of color tend to live in urban settings with less exposure to the outdoors and may consider outdoor recreation a white man’s domain, said Kristy Drutman, the Filipino and Jewish founder of the Green Jobs Board, an online listing of environmental jobs with companies promoting diversity. “I don’t think BIPOC are choosing not to be in the outdoors, they’re just not given the same opportunity,” Drutman said, using an acronym for Black people, Indigenous people and people of color. “There’s a long-standing tradition of white men from rural areas dominating these roles,” said Caitlin Alba, who works to recruit minority students to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s environmental programs.
Discover Related
)
