Reclaiming Land, Culture, & Narrative Through Black, Indigenous, & Queer Stewardship

Shelterwood Collective, a Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ-led community forest and retreat center in Sonoma County, California, advocates that ecosystem health can be achieved by communities who are in deep relationship with the Earth and with one another.

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Shelterwood Collective: Community Building, Narrative Shifting, and Ecosystem Restoration

On this show we explore the world of Shelterwood Collective, a Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ-led community forest and retreat center that seeks to heal people and ecosystems through active stewardship and community engagement.

Recently they took on the role of stewards for 900 acres of forest in Sonoma County, California, on Unceded Kashaya and Southern Pomo territory. Our guest is Layel Camargo, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of Shelterwood Collective.

We explore what it means and why it is important to heal self and environment through land management, shaping culture change, and narrative shifting (also sought by story telling). Shelterwood Collective believes that ecosystem health can only be achieved by communities who are in deep relationship with the Earth and with one another.

The work of Shelterwood Collective extends beyond the forest edge through training & programming focused on antiracism, decolonizing conservation, inspiring resilient leadership, promoting artistic expression, and community health.

STORY: Advancing Eco-Mindfulness through Queer Ecology with Miles Lewis

For the extended interview, click here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/extended-with-72808679

STORY: Earthlodge and Black Southern Indigenous Nature-Based Healing

*Layel Camargo is a non binary and trans person uses they/them pronouns . They are an indigenous descendant of the Yaqui and Yoeme tribes of the Sonoran Desert. Co founder and co executive director of Shelterwood Collective, a land stewardship project building a retreat center and artist residency. In the last 10 years they have been a champion of Zero Waste, veganism, and a cultural organizer and producer for podcasts such as ‘Did We Go Too Far?’ & ‘Climate Woke’. In 2020 they were named on the Grist Fixers List of Climate Activists to follow.

*Jessica Aldridge, Co-Host and Producer of EcoJustice Radio, is an environmental educator, community organizer, and 15-year waste industry leader. She is a co-founder of SoCal 350, organizer for ReusableLA, and founded Adventures in Waste. She is a former professor of Recycling and Resource Management at Santa Monica College, and an award recipient of the international 2021 Women in Sustainability Leadership and the 2016 inaugural Waste360, 40 Under 40.

More Info:

Grist: https://grist.org/fix/arts-culture/2021-intersectional-future-for-the-climate-movement/
Cultural Power: https://www.culturalpower.org/stories/trail-ahead-layel-camargo/

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/
Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/
Support the Podcast: https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

Guest: Layel Camargo
Host and Producer: Jessica Aldridge
Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats
Executive Producer: Jack Eidt

Updated 6 February 2023