Reclaiming the Outdoors: Healing Communities of Color Through Stories and Adventures with Chad Brown

EcoJustice Radio

Freedom to Roam in Nature is an essential human right. For guest Chad Brown [http://www.Chadocreative.com], mother nature played a significant role in his healing from the war trauma he experienced as a navy service member. In his desire to activate healing through nature, art, and sport, he founded two non profits, Soul River Inc. and Love is King and explores storytelling through his photography and documentary filmmaking. Soul River Inc. [https://soulriverinc.org/about/] focuses on forging strong connections between at-risk inner city youth and veteran mentors, inspiring both confidence and purpose through their programing. We will discuss how they use cultural expeditions, called deployments, to bring these teams to threatened wild spaces, providing mission-driven experiences where advocacy and outdoor education meet. For his nonprofit Love Is King [https://loveisking.org/], Chad’s vision is to eliminate the fear of marginalized communities being in nature while developing diverse environmental leaders whose voices are part of natural policy making decisions, such as being at the table of white lead conservation groups. The programing has made them an active voice with the Alaska Wilderness League on protecting the Arctic and their Indigenous communities from oil drilling and development. Chad is also a documentary-style portrait and adventure photographer, with assignments leading him all over the world, and in particular into the Alaskan Arctic. He also makes films; one in particular is called Blackwaters [https://blackwatersfilm.com/], which follows five black outdoorsmen of diverse backgrounds into Gates of the Arctic National Park. For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/posts/chad-brown-89146282 Jessica Aldridge, Co-Host and Producer of EcoJustice Radio, is an environmental educator, community organizer, and 15-year waste industry leader. She is a co-founder of SoCal 350, organizer for ReusableLA, and founded Adventures in Waste. She is a former professor of Recycling and Resource Management at Santa Monica College, and an award recipient of the international 2021 Women in Sustainability Leadership and the 2016 inaugural Waste360, 40 Under 40. Links: https://www.pdxmonthly.com/travel-and-outdoors/2023/08/blackwaters-documentary-film-premiere-chad-brown-soul-river-inc https://flylordsmag.com/new-film-blackwaters-with-chad-brown-james-mills/ Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/ Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/ Support the Podcast: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url Executive Producer: Jack Eidt Host and Producer: Jessica Aldridge Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats Episode 189 Photo credit: Chad Brown