When the founder of Outdoor Afro, a nonprofit that facilitates outdoor experiences for Black Americans, started considering the role that her company could play in the historic moment, she had a revelation of sorts: “I realized we were standing on the shoulders of the Black tradition and [thought of] the lyrics of the song about laying our burdens down by the riverside,” Mapp says on a call with mbg. “That’s the moment I really understood that my work was about healing. And we’ve been doing Healing Hikes ever since.” “When I go to a national park, it doesn’t look like America,” says Mapp. “It looks like a private club.” By lowering some of the barriers of entry to meaningful outdoor experiences, Mapp and her network hope to encourage members to seek them out in their daily lives—be it in Yosemite or their own neighborhood. Mapp, a lover of forests and lakes, sees all pockets of the outdoors as equalizers that don’t judge people based on skin color, gender, or physique. “When you are out in nature, you have a very different experience than when you’re in hard landscapes,” Mapp says, referring to streets filled with police and riot gear, skies filled with helicopters. “Those are things that are absent from the faces of redwood trees. It gives us a chance to really get in tune with how we’re feeling.” Right now, in particular, there’s a lot to feel and process. And while COVID-19 has disrupted Outdoor Afro’s programming, the group continues to hold virtual and some in-person meetups across the country. As Mercy Quaye, an Outdoor Afro leader from New Haven, Connecticut, recently shared on Instagram, “Particularly at a time like this where a pandemic is keeping us at home and isolated, and impacting oppressed communities more harshly, it’s important to remember that environmental justice is integral to protecting Earth—the only home we’ve ever known.” Such a future would benefit everyone and everything: Mapp believes that the more people feel safe, comfortable, and welcome in the outdoors, the more inclined they are to live sustainably. “We’re not going to bring people along in a meaningful way if we shame them into these actions. We have to take the time to get to know our environment and get to know one another.” Emma received her B.A. in Environmental Science & Policy with a specialty in environmental communications from Duke University. In addition to penning over 1,000 mbg articles on topics from the water crisis in California to the rise of urban beekeeping, her work has appeared on Grist, Bloomberg News, Bustle, and Forbes. She’s spoken about the intersection of self-care and sustainability on podcasts and live events alongside environmental thought leaders like Marci Zaroff, Gay Browne, and Summer Rayne Oakes.
