Black Presence in Green Spaces: Black History Month

£0.00£20.00

THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT, email us at info@wildinthecity.org.uk to be added to a waiting list with the subject header: Waiting List

Venue: Old Diorama Arts Centre, 201 Drummond Street, NW1 3FE

Time: 6.30pm – 8.30pm

People of colour currently spend less time in nature in the UK than white people; therefore missing out on the pleasures and health benefits and are less involved in conserving and protecting green spaces.

There is a widely acknowledged under-representation of black leadership within the environmental sector.

People of colour are often connected to nature in countries of heritage but a disconnect occurs in the west. Our work has explored the many reasons why, including experiences of racism and disenfranchisement; being made to feel that we don’t belong in nature and the countryside.

Join Wild in the City for an exploration of our relationship with nature and reasons why black people are less connected in the UK.

Talk, panel discussion, short films

Speaker

Beth Collier is an anthropologist and Nature based Psychotherapist who teaches natural history and woodland living skills. Her work explores relationships with people and with nature. Having grown up in the countryside, she moved into cities as an adult and was inspired to share knowledge after seeing the high levels of disconnection and its consequences.

As a therapist Beth works exclusively in natural settings. She has spent many years theorising our relationships with nature from an applied psychotherapeutic perspective, developing Nature-based Psychotherapy as an orientation of practice for ongoing client work and provides professional training on the therapeutic use of nature through the Nature Therapy School.

Beth is the Founder of Wild in the City, an organisation supporting the wellbing of urban residents offering experiences in bushcraft, natural history and ecotherapy, using the skills of our ancestors to nurture a deeper connection with the natural world.

Beth has a particular interest in supporting people of colour in finding their place in UK natural settings and creates opportunities for the representation of black leadership in nature.

Her work has produced ethnographies of our intimate, emotional relationships with nature. This includes ethnography of disconnection and it’s impact on the development of cultural attitudes which shun nature; experiences of people of colour in nature in UK settings and white attitudes to black presence in nature.

Beth is a Trustee of the National Park City Foundation, a Fellow of the London Environmental Educators Forum and a member of the teaching team at the Wellbeing Faculty of the Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education.

Beth has a background in human rights, working in this field for over 15 years, the last 8 of which she ran a research consultancy working in partnership with UNHCR documenting conditions in refugee producing countries.

Panelists

  • Mona Lesforis
  • Hanna Adan
  • Kwaku Dapaah-Danquah
  • Mike Barrett White
  • Natalie Cooper
Clear

Description

The event is free, however we suggest a donation to help us continue Nature Connectors as a guiding programme, supporting people of colour to develop their own relationship with nature and to lead others in discovering nature in London and beyond; incorporating courses in walk leadership, natural history, bushcraft and ecotherapy.

Additional information

Donation

Donation: £0, £5, £10, £15, £20