Extra Credit: The Adventure Gap

The Joy Trip

During Earth week, I attended James Edward Mills’ Presentation in the CPS. He is a freelance journalist and independent media producer based in Madison, Wisconsin. James is the youngest of 5 and he attended Berkeley University. He has written for The Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Region Business Journal, Madison Magazine, Madison Sports Monthly and Wisconsin Trails. His dad, Billy Mills, was the first black student to graduate UCLA Law School.

His presentation was directed towards the issue of the unequal use of the nation’s wild places by Americans. He said that minority populations are much less likely to seek recreation in national or state parks, forests, and preserves. He called this issue the “Adventure Gap” and that is the title of his book. Sponsored by the National Outdoor Leadership School, a first all African American team of climbers climbed the highest point in North America. The nine climbers battled the Alaskan mountain, Denali. For five days, they fought through strong winds and relentless storms and they reached their goals through their determination. By being the first ever group of African Americans to reach North America’s highest peak, this set examples for other minorities to explore and take advantage of the beautiful outdoors.

Overall, I really enjoyed this presentation. Before it, I didn’t know the “Adventure Gap” was an issue which proves how much attention it truly needs. Throughout the presentation, James Edward Mills played several videos to keep the audience engaged and I really enjoyed that. When he said some of the statistics, I was shocked that this isn’t a more popular issue. He said, “22% percent of national park visitors were minorities, even though they make up about 37% of the population”. From going to this presentation, I learned a lot about the issue of minority populations not taking advantage of the outdoors.