By Cindy Hardin
Published by Los Angeles Audubon Society in the Western Tanager July–August 2020, Vol. 86 No. 6
I grew up in a coastal city in Orange County. I was able to attend some very good public schools, and enjoy endless summer days riding bicycles to the beach with my friends. My hometown was often singled out as a hotbed of conservatism, and in some ways, this was quite true.
However, my father was in the newspaper business, and daily events, on both a national and international level, were nightly discussion topics at the dinner table. Our family was also lucky enough to be able to travel, and I was exposed to different countries, languages and cultures throughout my youth. As I grew into adulthood, many years of working in the restaurant industry continued my exposure to diversity amongst people. As a result, I was quite aware from an early age that great inequality was a hard fact in our nation.
But it was an incident that occurred during my volunteer days at the Ballona Wetlands that brought home this inequality on a visceral level. It was my first year as a volunteer naturalist with the program, way back in 1999. I was leading a tour of third graders. These children were mostly eight and nine years old. Due to our proximity to LAX, our walks are often interrupted by the noise of planes flying overhead. As one of these zoomed over our heads, one child stated that he had “been on a plane, been in a train, and in a car”. Another child in the group responded with this statement:
“I would like to go on a plane someday, but I’m a Foster Kid, and there’s no money for me”.
This stopped me dead in my tracks, and obviously, over twenty years later, is still on my mind. Here was a child, whose age had not even yet reached the double digits, acutely aware of the limitations of his present existence. I managed to recover quickly, resume the tour, and of course made a point to give a little extra encouragement to the child who wished for a ride on a plane.
The mission of LA Audubon, to provide access, understanding and appreciation of nature for all, is the driving force of the hands-on work that we do. As a volunteer I understood and appreciated the intent. But it was this overheard conversation that made me realize that the work we do can be an equalizer. The child who had experienced different transportation modes was having the same outdoor opportunity as the self-declared foster child. While our target audience is students from underserved schools, we also handle a small number of districts that are smaller, better funded, and serve an entirely different demographic. The good news is that during our tours, each and every student is provided with a more or less identical (as this involves the ever-changing natural world, never exactly “identical”!) experience. For the three hours students spend with LA Audubon, the playing field is level. And in an average year, we host over 3,000 children on field trips to the Ballona Wetlands and Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area!
Our programs go beyond the field trips for the younger set. Our Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Program for local high schoolers has just completed its twelfth year. This year-long after school program teaches students the principles of environmental stewardship with hands-on activities and projects in the Baldwin Hills. College readiness is also a part of this, and participating students are guided through the college application process. There are many in the Greenhouse program who are the first in their family to see college as an option, and acceptance rates for enrollment in to institutions of higher education are quite high for our senior “Greenhouse kids”. Students from our program have gone on to attend schools like Brown University, Amherst College, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, Humboldt State University, CSU Long Beach, as well as our local community colleges. Even better, some who were first introduced to LA Audubon through Greenhouse have returned to Los Angeles after graduating from college, and are now staff members!
LA Audubon has also completed its first academic year of partnership with West Los Angeles College through the Conservation Studies Program, a certificate program for aspiring restoration ecologists and community members who want to better understand the ecology in their neighborhoods. The field trip program at Kenneth Hahn includes internships for at least 5 college students annually. Completion of programs for the older students provides them with real life experience that is essential to resume building, and references from a well-known non-profit: your LA Audubon!
As I write this, our nation is convulsed in protests around the vast inequities in America. Hopefully, by the time this article is published our voices will have been heard, and at least incremental steps are being taken to make real change in the systemic, institutionalized racism that has been part and parcel of our country for centuries. There is a popular saying: “be the change that you want to see”. The programs that I have described are making that change, and being done right here, in a city that is a poster child for these inequities in our society. Our work is not only focused on addressing environmental justice and encouraging access for all to the natural world. Through our outreach and education, we hope to enhance and heal the environment by teaching better stewardship of the earth. Our restoration work in the Baldwin Hills is the realization of these goals.
Although feelings of sadness and helplessness are all too understandable given the current situation in our country and world, action is a great antidote to despair. We are currently working on a campaign for an endowment that will support our work. The tagline is “Nature Demands Action”, and there are several ways that you can help. Time is a valuable contribution, and when we get the greenlight to continue our elementary education program, we will be seeking volunteers to help provide experiences in nature to the students of Los Angeles. Too often when someone hears the term “Audubon Society” the assumption is made that this is a group that is just for birders. Although observation and protection of birds and their habitats is one of our missions, the Los Angeles chapter of the Audubon Society is so much more than a birding club. We strive to break the stereotype that birding, enjoying and accessing nature is an activity for a narrow demographic group. We practice that through our education and outreach programs that are aimed at underserved communities and people of color. Spreading the word amongst your friends and colleagues about LA Audubon is also helpful to our cause-we want people to know that we are an organization of action and change! And of course, the traditional, tax deductible donation is essential to allowing us to continue providing our fantastic programs and projects.
I wonder from time to time about the young boy I met so many years ago, and if he ever got that ride on a plane. And it is my wish that I live long enough to see a world where children everywhere see only possibilities, and not limitations, in this world. And I am truly grateful on a personal level to work for an organization that strives to achieve just that.
As of Aug 5 2020 changed Pub date from July 1 to Aug 5 (hits before move: 24)