About Us
“What we practice at the small scale sets the patterns for the whole system…This doesn’t mean to get lost in the self, but rather to see our own lives and work and relationships as a front line, a first place we can practice justice, liberation, and alignment with each other and the planet.”
Mission & Vision
Our mission is to redefine the culture of the outdoor industry from exclusionary, extractive, and predominately white to a culture that celebrates and learns from the experiences and leadership of Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and people of other marginalized identities.
We dream of a world where people of all identities experience joy, feel physical and emotional safety, recreate comfortably, educate others to recreate, and lead in outdoor spaces.
Philosophy
At Green Wood & Duff we believe that personal, cultural, and institutional change is possible. We believe cultural change requires the participation of people of all races and identity markers, at all levels of an organization. Systems of oppression harm everyone. Nature is healing and limiting access to nature cuts off healing possibilities we all need. We strive for authentic communication and unflinching analysis in relationships sturdy and compassionate enough to support necessary conflict. We believe a just society on a healthy planet requires increasing belonging in spaces and institutions that have historically excluded and discriminated against Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and People of Other Marginalized Identities.
Values
Small is All
We can change a community one person at a time; we can change the world one community at a time.
Slow is Steady, Steady is Fast
We move slowly for emotional processing and learning in order to move quickly in the organizational changes that need to happen.
Growth is Nonlinear
Genuine growth is hard and will require meeting participants where they’re at, revisiting previous learnings, and jumping forward to new topics. There is no one-path-fits-all for antiracism.
Emergence
We respond to the needs of a group or individual in the moment, sometimes regardless of agenda.
Balance head and heart
This is intellectual, relational, emotional, and spiritual work.
Move at the speed of trust
Meaningful change requires strong relationships.
Full and transparent attribution
We are carrying on the work of many that came before us and give them the credit they deserve.
Racism explicitly but not exclusively
We focus on racism while addressing intersecting forms of identity oppression, recognizing it’s too tangled a knot to follow just one thread.
Make it Count
We are here for meaningful, sustainable change.
Our values are inspired by adrienne maree brown, the Racial Reconciliation and Healing Project, and our own epic days in the mountains.
“You have to feel, to heal, to deal.”
– Dennie Butler-MacKay
History
Steph Subdiaz and Ella Hartley were both backpacking instructors for the Colorado Outward Bound School when the 2020 Movement for Black Lives drew them into their work together. Steph had been involved in racial justice and equity advocacy since her high school Cultural Diversity history class and was teaching math at an alternative boarding high school. Ella was halfway through a graduate program focused on racial justice and healing, living and protesting in a locked down, curfewed New York City. In response to community interest, as well as their own desire to change the culture of outdoor education, they created the Racial Justice Weavings. For three years, Steph and Ella hosted weekly conversations with their fellow outdoor educators about the role of racism in outdoor education and how they could all work to dismantle it in their own organizations and broader lives.They called these gatherings Weavings as a reminder that they were picking up the work started by many, integrating into everything happening in that cultural moment, and adding to the future of the movement.
Over time, Steph and Ella witnessed a ripple of impact across their community that has inspired them to extend their antiracism work to the greater outdoor industry. As a multi-racial team–Ella is a queer white woman and Steph is straight Woman of Color–they are uniquely positioned to support and challenge white folks and BIPOC folks. Their lived experiences allow them to approach issues with a wider lens from oblique angles – they each see different things and challenge each other to be more empathetic, perpetually evolving in their work together. They facilitate in multiracial spaces for collective material changes, and separately in racial affinity groups where white and BIPOC participants can dissect their own internalized white supremacy–a very different task for each group.
Steph and Ella have worked and currently work at standard-setting institutions, including: Colorado Outward Bound, Desert Mountain Medicine, Eagle Rock School, High Mountain Institute, University of California Santa Cruz Recreation, Harvard Divinity School, and Firefly Inclusion Solutions. They have learned from leading anti-racism and social justice organizers and educators, such as: The Racial Reconciliation and Healing Project, Donnae Smith of UC Santa Cruz, Parker McMullen Bushman of Ecoinclusive, Stephanie Carrillo of Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences, Autumn Brown and the Anti-Oppression Resource & Training Alliance, Resmaa Menakem and Carlin Quinn of Educating for Racial Equity, Robin DiAngelo, and the Racial Equity Institute.
They now offer their shared expertise and experience in racial justice work and the outdoor industry as Green Wood & Duff. Steph and Ella deeply understand the needs and culture of the outdoor industry, including: seasonal work and the needs of that particular shifting workforce; the divisions that can grow between field and administrative staff, or between generations within the same organization; land- and place-based activities; and the risk assessments involved in engaging participants in the outdoors. They have both organized, led, and advised several different types of overnight outdoor expeditions and outdoor programs, and have lived and worked in small, tight-knit communities centered around outdoor education work.