Keynote Speaker - Renée M. Chacon (She/Her/Hers)
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Renee M. Chacon, is a Diné/Xicana/ Filipina from Southern Colorado and New Mexico. Renee serves as the Environmental Justice Action Taskforce Member Co-Chair on the Equity Analysis Subcommittee for the CDPHE and is a cultural educator in several environmental justice initiatives to stop environmental racism in Commerce City.
In addition to her incredible work in environmental justice, she is also a sahumadora for Kalpulli ColorAztlan and is the co-founder and executive director of Womxn from the Mountain. |
Panel Session 1- Rise Up, Recreationists!
Climate Justice and Outdoor Recreation
Climate Justice and Outdoor Recreation
The climate crisis is detrimental to the natural resources and ecosystems that support outdoor recreation. Warming patterns in the western U.S. have led to reduced snowpack and increased wildfires; introducing irreversible changes to the landscape and watershed. Even after decades of discourse, notable gaps remain between climate change’s impact and action needed to address it.
Mainstream climate conversations often mirror other systemic injustices by centering the protection of natural resources while doing little to advocate for the fair distribution of benefits and burdens of its impacts on marginalized communities. Climate action must confront structural inequities through community-led planning, decision making, and resource management.
This panel explores how the outdoor recreation industry can leverage the long history of environmental activism among communities of color in the pursuit of protecting critical habitat, increasing access to healthy natural spaces, and managing the responsibilities of climate resilient communities.
Mainstream climate conversations often mirror other systemic injustices by centering the protection of natural resources while doing little to advocate for the fair distribution of benefits and burdens of its impacts on marginalized communities. Climate action must confront structural inequities through community-led planning, decision making, and resource management.
This panel explores how the outdoor recreation industry can leverage the long history of environmental activism among communities of color in the pursuit of protecting critical habitat, increasing access to healthy natural spaces, and managing the responsibilities of climate resilient communities.
Alma "Rosie" Sanchez (She/Her/Ella)
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Alma “Rosie” Sanchez (she/her/ella) is a Latina activist with roots in Coalcomán, Michoacan Mexico and Guatemala City, Guatemala. Rosie has dedicated her personal and professional life to conservation, environmental activism, and community engagement.
A graduate of Oregon State University with a Bachelor of Science in fisheries and wildlife sciences specializing in conservation biology, Rosie’s activism includes spearheading the campaign to reintroduce wolves in Colorado, as well as working towards a more equitable and inclusive outdoor recreation industry in Colorado. |
Isaias Hernandez (He/They)
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Isaias Hernandez, aka @QueerBrownVegan, is an environmental justice educator + activist from Los Angeles, CA. He’s passionate about making environmental education accessible and advocating for social justice in the environmental movement. Growing up, he lived in a community that faced environmental injustice and it shaped the way he saw the world.
Isaias' experiences led him to create the Queer Brown Vegan platform, an environmental education page that focuses on social justice and intersectional topics not traditionally covered in environmental spaces. He has a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and spent his college years working on a variety of diversity inclusion work in environmental spaces, academic research, and creative work. After graduating, he helped start the digital publication Alluvia Mag before becoming a full-time educator and creator. |
Phil Henderson (He/Him/His)
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Originally born in California, Phil Henderson started his outdoor career almost 30 years ago. His passion for recreation, education and climbing has provided him with opportunities to travel, climb and ski around the world. Over the past two and half decades he has spent hours volunteering for many youth programs in the US, exposing young people from around the country to the power or nature. Has been instrumental in teaching mountain skills training to guides and porters around in Nepal, Kenya, Tanzania and Chile as well as encouraging, inspiring and mentoring many more people to get outside.
Philip now spends his free time skiing and biking in southwest Colorado where he lives with his wife and daughter. |
Teresa Martinez (She/Her/Ella)
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For over 30 years, Teresa Martinez has worked professionally to increase awareness, engagement, access, and stewardship of our entire National Trails System. A graduate of Virginia Tech, Teresa holds a B.S. and M.S from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in the College of Natural Resources. Teresa is a lifelong outdoor recreationist and from 1987-2007 she worked for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, from 2007 to 2012 she worked for the Continental Divide Trail Alliance and since 2012 she has been the Executive Director (and co-founder) of the Continental Divide Trail Coalition. She serves on the Trail Leadership Council of the Partnership for the National Trails System and has served as the Chair of the Federal Advisory Committee to aid the USFS in the development of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail.
Teresa is actively involved in the creation of equitable spaces for all people in the outdoors and currently serves as the acting chair of the Board for the Next100 Coalition. In 2019, Teresa was honored by the Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources as the recipient of the Gerald Cross Alumni Leadership Award. Teresa currently serves on the National Board for Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics and the Advisory Board for the Salazar Center for North American Conservation. When not working on behalf of one of our National Trails, Teresa may be found exploring trails in and around Santa Fe, NM by bike, horse, and foot with her rescue dog Riley; or enjoying a discada with friends somewhere in the great outdoors. |
Moderator - Taishya Adams (She/Her/Hers)
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Taishya Adams is a servant leader focused on collective liberation and stewardship through community building, personal transformation, and systems change. Taishya is also the founder and principal of the Mukuyu Collective - an intersectional, interdisciplinary education & environmental company that leverages the reform, reimagine, and recreate spaces for individual and collective liberation.
Taishya also serves as a commissioner to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The commission sets regulations and policies for Colorado’s state parks and wildlife programs. Taishya also serves as a board member for Black in Marine Science (BIMS). BIMS is an nonprofit organization that seeks to increase racial diversity in marine science through education and policy while also deepening the understanding and stewardship of the ocean. |
Panel Session 2 - A Generation Later: Still Fighting for Environmental Justice
Thirty-one years after the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, communities of color are still combating the environmental disparities that plague their neighborhoods. How have the summit’s Environmental Justice Principles influenced the current discourse? What issues are we still fighting today and why? Join this panel of community voices from the front lines of the environmental justice movement
Ean Tafoya (He/Him/His)
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Ean Tafoya is active in Denver Public Affairs, Colorado Public Policy, and Federal Environmental Policy. He has worked for three branches of local government, worked at three levels of American government, run for Denver City Council, and has directed many local and state political races. Currently, he serves as the Colorado State Director for GreenLatinos. Ean has received recognition for his work from both the Denver Regional Council of Governments, the Denver Regional Air Quality Council, and most recently was named a River Hero by the National River Network. He loves to dance whether it be at a concert or in politics! As Mr. Denver, a local music DJ and radio host, he uses the media to uplift locals in the community.
Follow Ean @believeEan on all platforms. Ean is a water protector that holds a B.A. in Political Science with a Minor in Native American Studies, a Water Studies Certificate, and Early Childhood Education Certificate from Metropolitan State University of Denver as well as a Horticultural Therapy Certificate for Colorado State University. https://www.greenlatinos.org/ and @GreenLatinos on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. |
Neambe Leadon (She/Her/Hers)
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Neambe Leadon has worked within the Environmental Justice field through the lenses of Food Justice, Regenerative Agriculture and Soil Health and Land Access. Neambe has a rich and diverse educational background beginning with a degree in Interior Design - Pre-Architecture from Florida State University; later she studied Massage Therapy; attained a Permaculture Certification; and most recently completed trainings in Herbal Medicine, Herbal Management for Acute Viral Infections and Harvard Business School’s Online Leadership Principles course.
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B. Toastie (They/Them)
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B. Toastie is an award-winning Indigenous affairs journalist in the Pacific Northwest, and a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. They’re a staff writer on the Indigenous Affairs Desk at High Country News, and have previously written for publications like Street Roots, Underscore News, The Portland Mercury, Willamette Week, Columbia Insight and KBOO.
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Juan Pérez Sáez (He/Him/Él)
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Juan Pérez Sáez is the Executive Director of Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK). Juan has dedicated his personal and professional life to conservation, advocacy, environmental education, and stewardship. While building community and creating opportunities for many others to connect with the outdoors. With more than 15 years of experience in this field, Juan worked as the Senior Manager for Strategic Partnerships with the Wilderness Society. He played a leading role in designing and implementing advocacy campaigns driving federal policy to protect public lands, climate, and western communities. He worked for several nonprofit organizations in Latin America and the United States, as well as the U.S. Federal Government.
Juan has a Bachelor of Engineering in Environmental Management from the Universidad de Panamá, a Master of Science in Environment and Natural Resources from The Ohio State University and was also a Fulbright Scholar recipient between 2012-2014. Juan is actively engaged with his community as a board member for the Cottonwood Institute, board member for the Next 100 Coalition, Commissioner for The Colorado Governor’s Commission for Community Service, and a member of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Advisory Council. |
Moderator - Parker McMullen Bushman (She/They)
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Parker McMullen Bushman (she/they) aka KWEEN WERK is bringing people together in the fight for Environmental Justice and Social Equity. Using social media as a tool this Social Justice Activist is part Fashion Diva, Artist and Educator. KWEEN stands for Keep Widening Environmental Engagement Narratives. Parker has a passion for equity and inclusion in outdoor spaces. Her interest in justice, accessibility, and equity issues developed from her personal experiences facing the unequal representation of people of color in environmental organizations and green spaces. Parker tackles these complex issues by addressing them through head on activism and education.
As the Chief Operating Officer of Inclusive Journeys, and founder of Ecoinclusive Strategies. Parker is a dynamic speaker and facilitator that engages organizations in new thinking around what it means to be a diversity change-agent and create dynamic organizational change. Parker’s background in the non-profit leadership, conservation, environmental education and outdoor recreation fields spans over 24+ years. |