Seeking a Version of Ourselves in Nature: Diversity and Representation with Teresa Baker
How collective action is shaping a more inclusive and welcoming outdoors.
Teresa Baker is a passionate advocate for environmental protection and diversity and inclusion in outdoor spaces, known for her work in bridging the gap between communities of color and the natural environment. As the founder of the In Solidarity Project, which houses the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge, she is also working alongside Josie Norris on the Outdoor Diversity Alliance. She has dedicated her career to creating pathways for underrepresented communities to connect with nature.
By partnering with outdoor organizations, Teresa seeks to reshape the narratives around who belongs in nature, advocating for greater representation in outdoor media. Through her efforts, she aims to create a welcoming outdoor culture that enriches lives and nurtures a deeper connection to the natural world, reminding us all of the transformative power of nature for everyone.
As we delve into the importance of inclusivity in outdoor spaces, it’s crucial to understand the barriers that many communities of color face in feeling welcome in nature. A legacy of segregation and racism, both historically and in modern incidents, has created a sense of exclusion. The lack of representation in outdoor media and marketing perpetuates the feeling that nature and outdoor recreation are primarily for white communities. Additionally, proximity to nature is often a challenge, as many communities of color live in urban, nature-deprived areas, making access difficult. Without affordable transportation or nearby parks, outdoor experiences become further out of reach.
In the following conversation with Teresa Baker, we explore her efforts to create welcoming spaces in nature, her personal journey, and her vision for a future where everyone can connect with the outdoors.
This interview has been transcribed from audio, with some revised sections.
INL: Can you share a story or an early memory of being in the outdoors?
Teresa: My earliest memory of being in the outdoors is a trip I took to Yosemite with the local girls' club. This was my very first time without my family, going into a space like Yosemite, and I remember it so vividly because I remember the ranger coming into camp. I had to be around 12 or 13, and I remember the ranger coming into camp, talking. Of course, I was ignoring everything this ranger was saying; I wasn’t paying attention, I was just in awe of my surroundings. Later that night, a bear came into camp, and I’m like, ‘Oh crap, a bear.’ I remember the ranger saying something about a bear, but I wasn’t paying attention, so now what do we do? It was because we were kids, we had food in the tents, so the bear came into camp. The rangers came back and shooed him off. That’s just a moment I will remember because, growing up in the Bay Area, we didn’t see bears. So it was an awesome experience, but it was also somewhat frightening.
INL: Was there a specific experience that directed you to this path?
Teresa: Yes. Again, a Yosemite story. Just to preface Yosemite, there was a time when I would hop on Amtrak and go to Yosemite once a month. So for years, I would go to Yosemite just for the heck of it, because it is such an amazing place. About 10, 11 years ago now, on a trip to Yosemite by myself, I was in the park for about a week, in the valley. Just walking around, exploring, taking pictures of everything. And for some reason, I noticed the people around me—and they didn't look like me. I noticed the staff, and the people who were just roaming about like I was. And for whatever reason, I was like, ‘wow, I'm the only Black person here.’ I didn't see it in the staff or anywhere else. So when I got home, I reached out to the National Park Service in D.C. and I said, ‘Hey, this was my experience. I think you guys have a problem,’ and they literally said to me, ‘We know, help us fix it.’ And that began my journey of working with agencies and brands around inclusivity in the outdoors.
I didn't have a relationship with the National Park Service prior to me reaching out. I just did it because I didn’t want to talk to another person who doesn't have a relationship with the Park Service to complain. My tax dollars support the salaries at the National Park Service, so I should have a voice. I should be able to call them up and say, ‘Hey, this was my experience. How can we work together to fix this?’
INL: What did you do next?
Teresa: After the conversation with the National Park Service, I started reaching out to friends and saying, ‘Hey, let's start a campaign where we can inspire and encourage people from underrepresented communities to get out into these natural spaces, to basically love on nature.’ And I said, ‘If I created the campaign, would you all participate?’ And it was yes from everywhere, even from the National Park Service, saying, ‘We'll help get the word out.’
So, early on, I created the African American National Parks event, where I encouraged people across the country to get out into our national parks on a given weekend. The first year, there were about a couple of hundred people that participated across the country. And after that, I couldn't control it—it was beyond my control. People took it upon themselves to promote it and share it over social media. And it was awesome to see, because it took on a life of its own.
I did that for about three, four years. And then I moved away from it because I was like, ‘There has to be something else in addition to that that I can do,’ and I started working with the National Park Service on how can the National Park Service inspire communities, underrepresented communities, to get out into their parks—because these parks are where a lot of our stories are held.
Stories of people like John Muir, stories like the Buffalo Soldiers1—a lot of these stories people had never heard of. People weren't aware that the Buffalo Soldiers were the first rangers to guard Yosemite. These were African American men, a lot of them from the South. They had the option to be people who took care of the land in the South, or join the military, the Army, where they literally made 13 cents a month. And they guarded Yosemite. Before Yosemite was a national park, it was a state park, and it was the Buffalo Soldiers who built the first roads and the buildings, some of which are still in use today. And they guarded Yosemite. So, telling these stories makes people feel that they too have ownership in these spaces. That was important to me, because these are stories that I wasn't aware of until I started going to these parks and learning the history.
It was amazing to see people take this on as if it was their mission to tell the stories and to get out into the outdoor spaces. And what people don't really understand about diversity and inclusion, especially in the outdoors, is it’s not because we want to set aside a time and a space just for Black and brown people. It’s because when you look at conservation efforts in this country right now, the people who are not at the table are Black and brown people. So, what better way to show them that they have a place in this work than getting them out to fall in love with these spaces? That’s the whole purpose behind what I do: to show Black and brown people that they too have a responsibility to protect these natural spaces.
I think I sometimes get this wrong because sometimes I speak to the beauty of places like Yosemite, like the Avenue of the Giants, where the redwoods grow like wild, and I leave people with the impression that that is the only place you can find nature, and that's not true—nature is right outside your front door—nature is a city park, a regional park, a state park—all of which need protecting. So I don't want people to think that ‘oh well I have to go to Yosemite to experience nature.’ You don't. Nature is right outside your house. So when you visit these places, it'll inspire you to visit larger outdoor spaces away from the city. That's what local nature does—inspires us to dream bigger.
INL: Why is it that underrepresented communities don't feel welcome in these spaces?
Teresa: When you look at history (and everything stems from history), you see how some of our national parks had signs that said ‘This is a white entrance’ and ‘This is a colored entrance.’ They don't hide that. They have these signs in their museums that speak about that time in history, where Black people were sent to a specific part of the park and white people were sent to another. So, when you look at that, and you know of that—people like Harriet Tubman2 used these outdoor spaces as escape routes from their enslavers—you can then understand why people have a hesitancy when it comes to going out into wooded areas. That's where they lynched Black people—in these wooded areas—and that's the history.
When you look at the makeup of our National Park System 11 years ago, when I first started doing this work, it was 86% white. A government agency tasked with protecting these outdoor spaces was 86% white, and you look and you're like, where's the place for me? Where do I belong? Leadership is all white. Rangers don't look like me. The signage in the parks is only in English, so it doesn't speak to people who have a different language. And that's why it feels at times that it’s unwelcoming.
I can honestly say I have seen a change in the National Park Service over the past six years, where things have changed. You look at who leads the Department of the Interior, the National Park Service—Native Americans. So, things are changing, slowly at times, which is part of my frustration, but they are changing.
I look at agencies or organizations like Yosemite Conservancy, who are doing amazing work around better representation in their plight to help Yosemite. I think the more agencies step up to help government agencies out, the better progress we will make. It's going to take people speaking up, and oftentimes that's a scary thing, but we have to do it all the time—if we want our voices heard, we have to speak up. So, we also have to ask the general public—private organizations, private donors—speak up. Use your power to let these agencies know that you are aware of issues X, Y, and Z, and how we can all work together to make these situations feel more welcoming. If it's more welcoming, people from underrepresented communities will start applying for these positions, and they'll start sitting on boards—conservation boards—where their voice can be heard, and they too can help with the attack that's currently underway on our planet.
INL: How did the In Solidarity Project come into being? What is the CEO pledge and the Outdoor Diversity Alliance?
Teresa: About six, seven years ago, I met a guy named Chris Perkins. Chris Perkins—he’s a really cool guy—and he was writing about these issues around the lack of diversity in the outdoors. So I reached out to Chris and I said, “Hey Chris, I have a concept, an idea, called the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge, where I’ll reach out to CEOs of brands and ask them to commit to making their brands more diverse, especially around marketing and hiring.” And I said, “Chris, I’d love for you to work on this with me.” And Chris said yes, right away. Chris was an environmental student at Yale and graduated from Yale, and I trust him in the work ethics that he has around this. So Chris said yes, we started writing out what the pledge would be, and started reaching out to brands to get them involved.
At that time, the Outdoor Retailers Show was really huge (it was in Denver at the time), and Chris and I had been working on the pledge for a couple of years before we even met in person. So we met for the first time at the Outdoor Retailer Show, and it was cool to meet him in person. This show is huge—it’s three levels of nothing but outdoor retailers and brands. And we just walked around, and we got some friends and said, “Hey, as you talk to these brands about your work, mention the pledge to them.” And that’s how we started. The first brand to sign on was Marmot. It just grew from there.
It was amazing to see the growth over the years. As we started building out the pledge, other concepts came into being. That’s when I said, everything needs to be housed somewhere, and that’s where the In Solidarity Project came into being. The CEO pledge was housed there. There were a couple of films that I was involved with, like Save the Redwoods League. The films went under there, and then we just listed all the brands that were signing on to the pledge. About a year ago, we stopped accepting new pledge signatories. We’re at approximately 150, and I still work with them today—working on marketing campaigns, how to make their brands more inclusive, in-person gatherings. We still do all of that.
About two years ago, I met with some of the CEOs from the pledge and said, “Hey, let’s get together and talk in person.” And Patagonia, out of Ventura, hosted us. There were probably 15 other brands where we all got together and talked about the work they were doing. We talked about what they’re still struggling with, what they need help with, and how we move forward. From that gathering at Patagonia came an idea from Owen—who was, at that time, the CEO of Moose Jaw. He said, “We should do something like an alliance for the outdoors,” because I was saying, “It would have been a waste of time had we gathered here, and then nothing happens.” So Owen said, “Let’s do an alliance.” And that’s how ODA, the Outdoor Diversity Alliance, came into being. That is housed under the In Solidarity Project as well.
It will soon move to its own website once we get more brands going under that. But it’s the same thing. It’s representing more than just communities of color. It’s representing the LGBTQ community. It’s representing people with disabilities. And these brands who commit to ODA are committing to working with these communities around matters of diversity and inclusion.
It’s a lot of work, but I stress to people that if we are not having fun while doing this work, no one will want to be a part of this—because it’s hard, it’s difficult work. But the fact that these brands are committed to ODA as a collective—they will be working together—not just one brand on its own, doing its own thing. These brands are coming together as a collective, listening to one another, hoping to hear what’s working, so that they can have that be a part of their strategic plan, and to also hear what isn’t working. We want to make sure people understand that we will make missteps—and that’s what is fearful to people—making a misstep, saying the wrong thing, and being called out by the public, and that is what people fear. So as a collective, when we work together, we have one another to lean on. To say, “Do you think this is the best path?” And I think as a collective—not just with the outdoor industry, but any industry—if they took that approach, I think this work would be a lot easier.
INL: What are companies committing to when they say yes? What are the components of the CEO pledge?
Teresa: In regards to the pledge, the commitments that we are asking from companies; there are three components. One is to hire and support a diverse workforce and executive leadership, because all too often you'll look at leadership on boards and they are white across the board—white male and white female across the board. And that's discouraging to a lot of people when they look at leadership and they don't see themselves represented. So, we asked pledge signatories to commit to that.
The second piece is marketing and advertising. This was actually the only piece I wanted to be in the pledge, and Chris was like, ‘No, it can't just be one piece, it has to be more than one piece.’ So, it's marketing and advertising, because back then, six years ago, when I would go on social media and look at brands, I didn’t see anyone that looked like me in their marketing campaigns. I didn't see anyone with disabilities represented in their campaigns, and that is what bugged me the most because what it said is, ‘We're not marketing to you. We don't make gear for you.’ That's a huge missed opportunity for brands—to show diversity in their marketing campaigns, because as more and more people of color, people with disabilities, people from the LGBTQ community get involved in this—that's more revenue for these companies. They're missing out on that because people are desperately looking for brands that speak to them, so that was huge for me.
The third piece was just having ambassadors and athletes from these companies who, again, look like us. Look like people of color. You can't just have the same athletes and expect people to see themselves there. That's a horrible message that it sends to kids, to young people—‘Here are these athletes, but they don't look like you, so that means you can't be this type of athlete.’ So, it’s all about speaking to an audience that's more diverse than they were representing at the time.
Again, I can say pledge signatories and the industry at large have done a better job over the past five years at showing more diversity. That's a commitment straight from the CEOs. My thinking was that if the message reaches the CEO, and the CEO commits to this work through the pledge, it trickles down. Every piece of that company will start to adhere to what the CEO, what leadership, and what the boards are saying, and that was the importance of making sure the CEOs committed to this.
We were accepting signatories for five years. Last year, we stopped, and we were over 200 brands at some point. If people stopped submitting reports, we removed them. So, we're at around 160 now, and I can honestly say I'm seeing a difference.
I applaud the outdoor industry as a whole for stepping up. That’s not to say every brand stepped up, but the industry at large—I can go online and see a different makeup—and that's what it's all about for me.
INL: What message would you like to share with individuals who may feel hesitant to engage with the outdoors?
Teresa: What I constantly try to get across to social media audiences, or audiences I meet in person when I do in-person events or talks or whatnot—is that these spaces belong to all of us. It's going to take people trusting that parks and other outdoor spaces will be inviting. They have to trust people like myself, who will say to them, “try it once”. Because there's no way you can stand in the valley of Zion or Yosemite and not experience the beauty that’s there. The wonder that’s there. It’s a calming sense of belonging. If everybody did that, I feel we would be better humans, period. We would care about these spaces, and want to protect them, because we need more stewards.
And it has to come from the audience that's growing. The racial demographic shift that's taking place in this country right now will have people of color being the majority in this country. So, if we are not engaging with them, who will be the people to protect these spaces? So, we have to be part of that.
I just want people to trust that something will happen to you. And it's not something I can really explain. It's standing in front of a waterfall and watching it endlessly flow. It's watching deer and other wildlife run throughout a meadow. And to experience that firsthand, you cannot walk away with the attitude of, ‘Oh, I don't care about that. That's ugly.’ There's no way you can walk away and feel that. You will feel this instant desire to protect it.
And that is my hope. You know, here in this country and elsewhere, we need more people fighting for the protection of these spaces, period. So, that's my message to people—trust that you will leave these spaces a different person once you enter.
INL: What parting reflections would you like to offer for our path forward?
Teresa: Simply, love on nature, period. Love on nature in its purest form.
Get involved with programs that seek to keep natural spaces natural. Vote your asses off for people who want to protect these outdoor spaces.
Get involved with ODA if you can; we need voices, we need to show the industry that an inclusive world is what we should seek. A diverse world is what we should seek. We talk about diversity in nature, and we don't knock it, and you look at all the diversity that's there—the different flowers, the different trees; that's diversity. Why shouldn't we support that and celebrate that in humans, and have that in these spaces—these outdoor natural spaces—so that people can see what's needed? So people can see why clean water is important and where this water comes from. We walk through redwood trees that give out oxygen. We can't live without oxygen, so we have to protect these spaces. Invite family and friends out with us on a camping trip so that they can understand what it's like to camp. Bears won't always wander into your sight! I guarantee you, once you get people outdoors who have never seen the beauty that exists, they will fall in love with these places. So what I want to leave with people is simple: love on nature.
You can learn more about Teresa Baker’s work at InSolidarityProject.com (which houses the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge and the Outdoor Diversity Alliance). We highly recommend watching one of their films—Here We Stand.
The Buffalo Soldiers were African American soldiers who served in the U.S. Army from 1866 to 1916, primarily in the western frontier after the Civil War. Not only did they participate in various military conflicts, but they also played a crucial role in protecting and preserving national and state parks. As some of the first park rangers, they patrolled these areas, safeguarding them from poaching and illegal logging, thus laying the groundwork for conservation efforts in the U.S. The nickname "Buffalo Soldiers" is believed to have originated from Native Americans, who likened their curly hair to the fur of buffalo, symbolizing their strength and resilience. Their legacy highlights the intertwined history of race, military service, and environmental stewardship in America.
Harriet Tubman (c. 1822–1913) was an American abolitionist, humanitarian, and former enslaved woman who became a leading figure in the fight against slavery. Born into slavery in Maryland, Tubman escaped in 1849 and dedicated her life to rescuing others through the Underground Railroad, a secret network of safe houses used to help enslaved people flee to freedom in the North. Tubman is credited with guiding at least 70 people to freedom over 13 missions. During the Civil War, she served as a scout, spy, and nurse for the Union Army, further solidifying her legacy as a fearless leader in the fight for equality and justice. After the war, she advocated for women's suffrage and remained an enduring symbol of courage and resilience.
i love that in 'so called' Australia we have an Indigenous Rangers program and employment - that allows people to stay on their country as the carers for that land - as it should be - I know without doubt thats why exploring this enormous land we get to see its true beauty as those who truly know the land care for it.