#Occupy Nature

It does not matter if you choose to take to the streets, the #Occupy Movement has captured the imagination of everyone, and is not going away any time soon. The #Occupy prompt has become a symbolic directive to give voice to a wide range of concerns; from corporate bastions, to conceptual ideals, to icons of popular culture.
Of course, being me, I thought of nature – the outdoors, and found it almost ironic how Occupy protesters in my hometown of Oakland, and in every urban hub, were also making themselves sustainably visible in protest by camping outdoors in public plazas all over the country. An ironic twist on the Great American Campout!
As I sat at home with my children following on Twitter the frightening turn of events happening in Oakland recently, I also contemplated what alternatives we might find to affirm (Occupy) peace in our everyday lives. How might we balance the economic pain that has touched us all in some way?
With African American participation clocked as low as 1% in the National Park System, I thought of the 99% of people who look like you and me; those who do not benefit from this public and important resource that holds the possibility of personal enrichment and sustainability in ways hard to quantify in dollars.
Therefore, though Outdoor Afro, it is my goal to help generate a future where people of every hue know that not only public plazas, but also parks and wild spaces are their inheritance, and theirs to benefit from and support.
What might that look like?