• Written by Aparna Rajagopal-Durbin
• Categorized class, environment, gender, intersectionality, privilege, race, reading, uncategorized, wilderness and conservation

Dear CNN, Like many colleagues, we were thrilled to see that the topic of diversity in the outdoors has made it to mainstream media with your article “Nature's calling -- for more human diversity.” And we were even more pleased to see so many partners and friends gaining a national platform for this very important conversation, and contributing some key insights. AND . . . we would be remiss if we didn’t say a big “yes, and . . .” to add to and complicate the oversimplified narrative that you and other media outlets continue to prop...

• Written by Aparna Rajagopal-Durbin
• Categorized uncategorized

Photo credit: Glenn Nelson at Trail Posse Friends and colleagues, We are thrilled to announce that José Gonzalez is joining the Avarna Group! We are so grateful to be able to learn from José, who brings a wealth of experience in conservation, outdoor and traditional education, and facilitation. José's name probably rings a bell with most of you, as he has had a tremendous impact on the conversation surrounding relevancy, equity, inclusion, and diversity in the outdoors in the recent past. José is the founder and Executive Direct...

• Written by Aparna Rajagopal-Durbin
• Categorized class, environment, gender, hidden bias, intersectionality, multicultural education, outdoor education, privilege, race, recruiting and hiring, sexuality, tips & tools, uncategorized, wilderness and conservation

Implementing President Obama's Memo on Diversity & Inclusion in Public Lands & Waters Dear valued partners and friends: We’re writing to announce that we’ve created a new free toolkit that we hope will help all of you. As many of you know, last Thursday, President Obama made an impactful statement on diversity, equity, and inclusion in our public lands and waters when he issued his Memorandum on Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Our National Parks, National Forests, and Other Public Lands and Water. The memo directs fede...

• Written by Ava
• Categorized class, gender, privilege, race, reading, sexuality, uncategorized

We are in the middle of our busiest month, where we are scheduled to give 12 days of workshops for 10+ organizations. We're about half way through and have noticed one common theme in the questions we are asked. Many of our partners and participants want to know: do reverse _____isms exist? That is, can a women be sexist against a man? Or can a person of color be racist? Though the questions are all slightly different, we always give a similar answer, which is: "No. Reverse '-isms' do not exist."' Of course a simple "no" is not enough to ans...

• Written by Ava
• Categorized uncategorized

This week both Aparna and I are engaging in some self-care. Aparna’s was planned - she is out in canyon country with her family, enjoying a few days away from the computer before we hop back into a whirlwind of travel and work. I am taking some less-than-planned self care time as I battle a cold. But first, what is self-care? Well, there are a lot of definitions, but I always think about self-care as the work I do for myself that allows me to be fully present in all aspects of my life, including my work at Avarna. Being present at work ...