Outdoor Retailer - December 2020 - 36

Feature .02

36 OUTDOOR RETAILER

/ December 2020

Dr. Morgan Green

" WE WANTED TO MAKE
SURE THAT PEOPLE ARE
SHOWING UP IN THE WAY
THEY AUTHENTICALLY
WANT TO BE SEEN, THAT
WE'RE NOT PIGEONHOLING OR TOKENIZED.
THERE WAS SO MUCH OF
THAT FROM EVERY LAYER
OF LEADERSHIP. "

-DR. MORGAN GREEN

the COVID-19 pandemic in particular, he
says the topic of nature as medicine was
most timely.
" Everyone found a way to bring up how
this is helping with anxiety, how this is
working through depression, how this is
helping communities heal, " Green says.
" There's been so much assault on the
American people, whether it's how to handle the plague, whether it's through watching either silent condoning or outright
belittling of marginalized communities
and the racial tensions that have been going on throughout the year. In each of our
sessions, we discussed these things. It was a
really, really good conference. "
Taking lessons learned from the not-sodistant past, organizers were hypersensi-

tive to the necessity of creating an event
that was equitable and inclusive of the
interests of all those who attended. " There
was so much discussion about authenticity and overcommunicating and checking in with all of our panelists. There was
a clear understanding that we are both
representing and putting people in positions of leadership who look like what the
country is, so that we're diverse and that
it's inclusive, " Green says. " We wanted to
make sure that people are showing up in
the way they authentically want to be seen,
that we're not pigeonholing or tokenized.
There was so much of that from every layer
of leadership. "
What made this year's SHIFT conference unique seemed to be its attention to
the importance of representation. With
registration fees starting at $100, the online event was accessible to a more-diverse
audience of attendees. Of course, because
it was online, there were no added costs of
travel, food, and lodging in one the most
expensive resort communities in the country. The panelists were an eclectic mix
of ages, races, and genders, and ranged
from academics like epidemiologist
Christine Ekenga from the Institute for
Public Health at Washington University to
Donald Rakow from the Cornell College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences to environmental advocates such as Rodrick Bell,
the recreation coordinator of the Bronx
River Alliance. And keynote speakers-including Atiya Wells, founder of Backyard
Basecamp and the executive director of
Bliss Meadows in Baltimore City-framed
compelling discussions around the handson details of their important work.
" It's not enough to take a vacant lot and
declare it a park. It's not enough to mow
down a vacant lot and put in a bench and a
tree, " Wells said in her presentation. " We
have to ensure that there are warm, welcoming folks at these sites to further engage with these communities and deepen
their engagement with the outdoors. "

THE WINNER OF THE SHIFT AWARD FOR
Land Management Innovation and honored as a Health in Nature Champion,
Wells personifies the intersection of
community building and environmental
protection. Through her leadership as a

Courtesy of SHIFT

Unfortunately, the 2018 conference that
followed was scarred by controversy. A number of attendees leveled accusations at the
event and Beckwith himself for deliberately
creating a culturally insensitive environment. Persons of color and members of the
LGBTQ+ community insist they experienced emotional trauma. A social media
campaign was launched to have the conference placed under new management and
called for Beckwith to be fired. Members of
the organization's board have since resigned.
But, with several administrative and philosophical changes at the SHIFT conference,
Beckwith, who remains in charge, asserts
that the experience of two years ago has fundamentally changed the scope and vision of
the institution as a whole.
" It really forced us to look internally at
what we were doing and how we were doing it, and have very candid conversations
among ourselves about the sort of intent we
had as an organization and ensure that the
impact aligns with that intent, " Beckwith
says. " I think it revealed just how incredibly
raw and vulnerable and emotionally fraught
the space is-for very good reasons. And it
also catalyzed some incredible growth. "
The strategy moving forward at SHIFT
is to add new voices to the efforts. Board
members added since 2019 include more
people of color and women. Mickey Fearn
is a professor of practice in the School of
Natural Resources at North Carolina State
University. He served five years as the deputy
director for communications and community assistance at the National Park Service.
Julie Pierce Williams was the mastermind
of the Every Kid in a Park campaign during
the Obama administration and holds a master's degree from Columbia University in
psychological counseling with an emphasis
on racial identity. And Dr. Morgan Green,
a pediatrician at Children's Hospital of
Michigan, has joined the SHIFT staff as the
director of its Emerging Leaders Program,
a cadre of young environmental activists
poised to become agents of change. Having
been a member of the ELP cohort during
the 2018 conference and the controversy
that ensued, Green believes he can address
the shortcomings of the organization's past
while helping to create an ongoing initiative
that will be more socially responsible and
culturally relevant into the future. During

Outdoor Retailer - December 2020

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