Do you want to make your voice heard on current environmental or social justice issues? Are you unsure how communicate your opinion to the elected officials who represent you? Would you like to craft a message that’s powerful, persuasive, and designed for maximum impact? If you answered yes to any of these questions, join Reconnect Earth on Tuesday, April 20th from 6:00-7:30pm PST for Raising Your Voice for Change, a virtual event to help you become a more effective advocate.

Register here to get the event Zoom link.

Modern technology makes communicating with elected officials easier than ever–but doing so in a way that has real, lasting impact is more challenging. In this event, we’ll go over different ways to contact your representatives, how to make your message stand out, and how to harness your personal story to leave a lasting impression. We’ll also talk about other upcoming opportunities to develop activism skills with Reconnect Earth.

Sign up here for Raising Your Voice for Change, and we’ll send you the Zoom link to join. This is a free event and you only need access to a computer with internet to participate.

In Summer 2021, join Reconnect Earth for an experience you’ll never forget: nine days backpacking and camping on Mount Baker in the North Cascades while learning about ecology, human and natural history, and grassroots social change. Hike through ancient old-growth forests, sleep in a beautiful subalpine meadows, and climb to the base of a giant glacier while exploring how to harness your potential as an agent of positive social and environmental change.

Apply here to join a summer trip in 2021

For a preview of questions you’ll be asked to answer on the application form, see here.

Reconnect Earth’s summer trips are designed for college students and young folks of roughly college age (defined as approximately 18-29). Older and younger applicants may both be considered on a case-by-case basis.

We’re offering trips during two sets of dates in 2021: July 17th-25th and August 14th-22nd. When you fill out the application, you will be able to indicate which trip you would like to join.

Thanks to our low overhead and generous donors, we can offer our trips at a significantly lower price than many similar programs. Tuition for our 2021 summer trips is $575, with partial scholarships covering up to more than 80% of the regular price available to those for whom the regular tuition is a genuine financial barrier (you’ll also have the chance to request a scholarship during the application process).

Apply to join a Summer 2021 trip

“I started the trip surrounded by people I didn’t know and ended with close friends whose friendships I will cherish for the rest of my life.” – Samara, June 2019 trip participant.

Currently, both our July and August trips are full. If you would like to be added to the waitlist please fill out the trip application form here and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Still have questions? Check out our FAQs page and our COVID safety policies page. You can also email questions to trips@reconnectearth.org

Register here to join us for an evening of trivia, community, and fun

The team of Reconnect Earth has put together a list of suggested readings for folks to continue their own personal quest for knowledge around social justice, the environment, activism, conservation work and many related intersectional topics. As always, we are constantly learning, reflecting and working on personal practice; leave a comment below and let us know what you find helpful or other resources we can help steer folks towards!

Suggested Summer Reading List (Books):

Race/Social Justice

(Please note, we have included links to these books available at Indigenous owned, Black owned businesses where possible – if you can support your local BIPOC owned businesses first and foremost, or your local library, please do so)

• So You Want to Talk About Race By Ijeoma Oluo
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry by Camille T. Dungy
• What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City by Mona Hanna-Attisha
• White Fragility: Why it’s so Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
• Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
• Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum, PhD
• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
• An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward
• The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
• Survival Math by Mitchell S. Jackson

Written by Indigenous Authors

• Tulalip, from My Heart: An Autobiographical Account of a Reservation Community by Harriette Shelton Dover
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Paddling with Spirits by Irene Skyriver
• As Long as the Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, From Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker

Personal Narrative / Outdoor Experiences

• Thru Hiking Will Break Your Heart by Carrot Quinn 
• The Unlikely Thru-Hiker by Derrick Lugo 
• Wild by Nature by Sarah Marquis
• The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors by James Edward Mills
• The Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, and the Natural World by Alison Hawthrne Deming
• Black Faces, White Spaces:  Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney
• Trace: Memory, History, Race and the American Landscape by Lauret Savoy 
• On Trails by Robert Moor
• Horizon by Barry Lopez
• Last Chance To See by Douglas Adams

Activism 

• Little Black Book by Marlow Baines
• Youth to Power by Jamie Margolin
• The Lifelong Activist by Hillary Rettig

Suggested Instagram accounts to follow: 

• @melaninbasecamp 
• @pattiegonia
• @boccrew
• @badgal_brooky
• @alisonmdesir – Endurance athlete, mental health coach & advocate, community builder, activist and mother.
• @she_colorsnature – Diversity in the outdoors. Motherhood + Mountain life. Speaker. Writer.
• @themirnavator
• @nativesoutdoors
• @lassosafroworld
• @teresabaker11 – Working to increase diversity and inclusion in the outdoor industry.
• @katieboue
• @naturechola
• @ava
• @vasu_sojitra
• @courtneyahndesign — email about sharing graphics for social media content