Youth community garden

Q&A: A young environmental justice leader on the value of getting youth of color into nature

"Before decisions are made we need to practice what we preach when we say that we stand for justice and equity. In any decision-making process, youth need to be involved from the get-go."

For most college students, Saturdays are for relaxing or spending time with friends, but Damar Garcia is often busy preparing campaign materials for community residents about the importance of ensuring that young people of color have greater access to nature in cities.


Garcia, an environmental activist and college student at Whittier College in Los Angeles County, works to ensure that young people of color in cities have greater access to nature and believes access to the outdoors can not only reduce health disparities among young people in cities, but it can be life-changing for them.

And evidence is mounting that Garcia and fellow advocates are on to something: This summer, the Center for American Progress and the Hispanic Access Foundation released a report which finds that lower income, communities of color experience "nature deprivation" at three times the rate as White Americans. According to the report, more than 76 percent of low income communities of color live in nature-deprived areas, with Black communities experiencing the highest levels of nature deprivation. And, last year, a study of ten U.S. cities by researchers at the University of British Columbia concluded that Latinos and African Americans in these cities have less access to green space in comparison to more affluent, White communities.

Damar GarciaDamar Garcia

These disparities are concerning since nature brings considerable health benefits to residents. Studies consistently find that access to green space promotes the psychological well-being and general health of city dwellers, including young people, ranging from improved cognitive functioning, reduced symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, reduced obesity, and lower rates of mental illness. In addition, lower income, people of color who live in polluted areas without access to nature are more susceptible to developing illnesses such as asthma, a risk factor for COVID-19.

While exposure to nature in cities can bring mental and physical benefits for urban youth, their access to green space has been diminishing over the last few decades, resulting in health disparities among youth living in U.S. cities.

Damar Garcia is a youth organizer who has campaigned on important issues ranging from immigration reform, mental health, climate justice, environmental racism, and food security, in both Los Angeles and in her hometown of Denver, Colorado.

As a youth leader with the Sunrise Movement and for Groundwork Denver, Garcia is working to educate young people, the public and decision-makers about the importance of ensuring that young people of color have greater exposure to nature and to the outdoors, with the hope to inspire them to become advocates for the natural environment.

In an interview for Environmental Health News, she shares her insights about the health disparities among young people due to lack of access to nature, what motivates her to collaborate with Groundwork Denver, some of the positive outcomes for young people of color who have had greater access to nature, and the resources as well as policy changes needed to sustain and expand the work that she and others coordinate at Groundwork Denver.

Credit: Groundwork Denver

In your opinion, in what ways does inequitable access to green space in cities lead to health disparities among young people? 

There are a lot of mental health disparities among young people. Especially now, when young people are spending up to eight hours in front of Zoom each day. Many of them don't have access to a park nearby where they can walk and de-stress. It's really difficult for them, especially for youth who do not have access to transportation. In Denver, I think about how close the mountains are and how a lot of the youth I work with have never been to the mountains because they don't have transportation. They don't have knowledge about the resources that are out there to get outdoors. That inaccessibility creates health disparities for many young people.

Can you tell me about the activities led by Groundwork Denver, in specific their youth program? 

I work with the youth program at Groundwork Denver. Most of these youth are in high school, with some in middle school. They are 13 years and older. Every summer we employ about 100 youth from around the Denver area. We have six to seven teams and they are geographical. My team is the Southwest Denver team. We didn't get to do it this year because of COVID-19, but in previous years we would take the youth outdoors. We would take them camping, hiking, and we would do activities like white water rafting. We address the barriers that young people face to getting outdoors, whether that is money or transportation.

We focus on urban farming, especially because a lot of youth don't have anywhere to grow their own food. We focus on getting local community spaces so that the youth can walk to their gardens. We have one big farm and we have smaller gardens around the city. We wanted to create green spaces that youth have access to.

Youth community gardens

Credit: Groundwork Denver

What motivated you to get involved in Groundwork’s activities to make green space accessible for young people of color? 

I work with the Sheridan team, where most of our youth are lower income people of color. A lot of the youth are immigrants, with many of them being ESL (English as a Second Language) students. They speak Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, and other languages. We have youth from so many different backgrounds. All of the youth come out of Sheridan High School which is the high school I graduated from. I found out about Groundwork Denver when I was working at a fast food place and I met some people from the blue team, which is the team that works on water issues. They would tell me, "We went hiking last weekend and we got paid." Just to hear that people from my community were getting paid to go up to the mountains—that was astronomical for me.

We work during the summer and every single time that we open up for hiring, we have more people than we can take in. It's such a cool opportunity for young people, because we are not only providing them with greater accessibility to nature, but also to education, resources, mentoring, and unconventional education, like herbal medicine classes. For some youth, it is life-changing.

What are some of the positive outcomes for youth engaged in the activities at Groundwork Denver? 

It is so rewarding working with youth, because you can see their growth over the years. For many of them, when they came in they were super shy and they could not talk in front of the group. Now, they are close to perfecting their public speaking skills. Also, a lot of them have developed an interest and a passion for green careers. I have one youth, age 16, and she really loves photography. She's been with Groundwork for about 4 years and she decided that she wanted to do nature photography. Before, she wanted to do portrait photography, but she decided that she loves to take pictures of nature. On all of our trips, she is taking pictures of nature. She's able to combine two of her passions.

I have one youth who had never grown food in his life. When we started our urban gardens, we had to till the soil and plant seedlings. For him it was life changing. He is very curious and now he has been asking me to help him find a job as a farmer. We've been able to find him opportunities to work in the field of agriculture.

Kids gardening

Credit: Groundwork Denver

In your opinion, what are some of the resources that environmental justice organizations need to sustain and expand their work to bring green space to young people?

Funding is important. Definitely funding. We always have such huge populations of youth that want to be involved in our activities but we only have so much funding to hire youth. One of the issues that we run into is that we get grants to do certain activities and we can't use that funding for other activities.

When we have partnerships with community organizations, we need for organizations to have respect for the youth, to really value the youth. In meetings, don't talk over me. Don't act like I'm not here. Treat me the same way that you would treat an adult. There needs to be a paradigm shift in the overall perception of young people today.

In terms of policy changes, I think there could be a policy in place to make it mandatory to include environmental programs in public education. Environmental education should be a part of curriculum in schools. We live in Colorado, so field trips to the outdoors should be accessible for every public school. Every school should have community gardens. Or, maybe having environmental experts come to visit schools. That would be great. I would have loved that in my high school.

Any last words for decision-makers? 

A lot of the time older people tend to think that they know what is best for younger people. I think that before decisions are made we need to practice what we preach when we say that we stand for justice and equity. In any decision-making process, youth need to be involved from the get-go. Our opinions need to be heard. We need to be at the table every step of the way.

This interview has been lightly edited for brevity.

This article was supported by a diversity grant from the National Association of Science Writers.

Banner photo credit: Groundwork Denver

A colorful variety of national flags hanging from a ceiling.

Trump administration eliminates U.S. climate diplomacy office amid State Department cuts

The State Department has fired its last remaining climate policy staffers, ending U.S. participation in international climate negotiations as part of a sweeping agency reorganization.

Jake Spring reports for The Washington Post.

Keep reading...Show less
A car driving through a flooded street with trees in background.

Texas flood response prompts scrutiny of FEMA delays and leadership

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the Federal Emergency Management Agency's handling of deadly floods in Texas amid criticism over delayed contract renewals and a policy requiring her approval for large agency expenditures.

Gregory Svirnovskiy reports for POLITICO.

Keep reading...Show less
A person's legs with their feet standing in water.

Trump’s FEMA cuts leave flood-prone communities without early warning systems

President Trump’s administration has scaled back major Federal Emergency Management Agency programs aimed at flood prevention and disaster resilience, forcing many flood-prone communities to cancel or delay critical infrastructure projects.

Anna Kramer reports for NOTUS.

Keep reading...Show less
Woman with calculator looking at bills.

Democrats shift strategy to blame Republicans for rising energy bills and power shortages

Democrats are reframing their energy message ahead of the 2026 midterms, accusing Republicans of pushing policies that will raise electricity costs and threaten the reliability of the U.S. power grid.

Zack Colman reports for POLITICO.

Keep reading...Show less
The Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon

Wildfire burns historic Grand Canyon lodge as toxic gas leak complicates response

A wildfire fueled by extreme heat and winds has destroyed the historic Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim and forced a season-long closure of the area.

Leah Sarnoff and Vanessa Navarrete report for ABC News.

Keep reading...Show less
Young Black man pouring a bottle of water on his face on a hot day.

UK scientists warn rising temperatures and rainfall now define the country's climate

Extreme heatwaves, heavy rainfall, and rising seas have become standard across the UK, according to a major new analysis of the nation's weather and climate records.

Damian Carrington reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
A man in a hard hat looks at solar panels in a golden landscape.

Pakistan’s solar surge is turning the energy system on its head

With power bills soaring and the national grid failing, Pakistanis are taking the energy transition into their own hands—and creating a bottom-up solar revolution.

Beth Gardiner reports for Yale Environment 360.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.