No Neutral Ground
Why the outdoors isn’t separate from state violence or global injustice.
This week I ran a new trail in Maine. The air was chilled, not the classic humid June of the Northeast. The trail led to a beach - it was gray and blustery, with speckles of rain, the ocean heaving against the shore. Heading back and avoiding muddy puddles, I saw three turtles, some deer and a snake. What a privilege it was to get outside, breathe clean air and bask in the green glow of the trees on a rainy day.
The entire time, my mind was somewhere else.
We like to talk about the outdoors as neutral ground. As refuge. As reprieve. But is there neutrality when it feels like the world is crumbling? Is there neutral ground in a world where some people are allowed to move freely, and others are hunted down in the streets or killed in their homes?
The outdoor community - those of us who hike, climb, camp, paddle, photograph, and make content from our time in nature - cannot pretend to exist outside of what’s happening right now.
The illusion of escape
It’s tempting to disconnect. To get outside and “clear your head.” But when I hike or run or walk now, the grief comes with me. And it should. (Many of you know I do not use the word “should” lightly.)
This week in LA, more than 100 undocumented people were detained in pre-dawn ICE raids. Some at job sites. Some on their way to school drop-off. These are the same communities that maintain gardens, repair trails, plant trees, install solar panels, and fight for air quality—often in the very places we recreate. It’s all connected.
This week in Gaza, bombs continued to flatten homes, farmland, water systems. Over 15,000 children have been killed. Entire ecosystems destroyed. The carbon footprint of this war is massive—but the erasure of life, of land, of memory, of possibility, is larger. It’s all connected.
So can we step into nature right now and not bring these truths with us?
Who is the outdoors for?
We say the outdoors is for everyone. But that’s only true if everyone can show up and feel safe. This is not the reality.
Outdoor culture often builds its identity on escape. But escape isn’t possible for everyone - and when it is, it usually depends on someone else’s labor, someone else’s displacement. How many national parks were created through Indigenous removal? How many backcountry experiences rely on gear made by workers who can't afford to spend time outside themselves?
In LA, the very people who tend our urban green spaces are being pulled from their homes. In Gaza, the landscape itself is being turned into a weapon. Olive groves flattened. Coastlines polluted. Soil made unlivable. There is no distance between environmental justice and human rights.
It is, indeed, all connected
There’s been criticism this week of Greta Thunberg’s arrest during a pro-Palestinian protest. Critics say she’s lost focus. That she’s abandoned the climate fight.
But there is no fight for climate without fighting the systems that displace, surveil, and kill people.
Greta understands what many still refuse to name: climate collapse and colonial violence are part of the same system. One that treats land as resource. People as threat. Justice as optional.
What we do with our grief
Grief can numb or it can sharpen. I don’t write this from a place of moral authority - I write it because I don’t know where else to put the weight of what this week has held. So I run trails. And I try to process.
Not for clarity. But towards a sense of responsibility.
We’re not going to fix this with a single newsletter, or a hike, or a donation. But we can stop pretending that these things aren’t connected. And we can use the platforms and spaces we do have - including the trails, parks, and outdoor stories we tell - to speak the full truth.
Things We Can Do
Talk about this. Don’t let silence be the default in outdoor spaces. These issues are not "off-topic." They are the topic.
Support frontline-led efforts. Whether that’s immigrant legal defense in LA or ecological restoration in Gaza, find ways to redistribute (more below, and please feel free to add in the comments).
Stay with the discomfort. Don’t try to process your grief away from the world. Process it here. In your community. On the trail. With others. I’m saying this as much to myself as to everyone reading this.
People and communities are inextricably linked with climate and environment, period. Human rights is environmental justice is climate action is connection to nature. There is no path forward that does not reckon with what—and who—has been lost.
I hope we can all get outside this week if we’re able. But let’s do it with our eyes, hearts and minds open.
*****
How to Support
In Los Angeles: Immigrant Justice, Legal Defense, and Environmental Health
CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights)
One of LA’s leading immigrant rights organizations, offering legal aid, organizing, and policy advocacy.
chirla.orgImmigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef)
Pro bono legal representation for detained immigrants, including unaccompanied children.
immdef.orgICE Out of LA Coalition
Organizing to dismantle ICE-police collaboration and end deportation programs in LA County.
aclusocal.orgEast Yard Communities for Environmental Justice (EYCEJ)
A frontline environmental justice org working with immigrant communities near LA’s freight corridors and industrial zones.
eycej.orgNational Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)
Defends the rights of low-wage immigrant workers—often outdoor and climate-exposed laborers—in Southern California.
ndlon.org
In Gaza: Humanitarian Aid, Health, and Environmental Resilience
Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)
Delivers clean water, emergency aid, and trauma support for children in Gaza.
mecaforpeace.orgPalestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)
Provides mobile clinics, urgent care, and public health services across Gaza and the West Bank.
pmrs.psWe Are Not Numbers
A storytelling platform led by young Gazans—preserving memory, land connection, and survival through narrative.
wearenotnumbers.orgPalestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON)
A coalition advancing climate and environmental justice under occupation—focused on land, water, and energy sovereignty.
pengon.orgUN OCHA – Occupied Palestinian Territory Humanitarian Fund
Coordinated emergency aid for food, medical, shelter, and public services in Gaza.
unocha.org