Closing the Nature Gap: Why BIPOC Communities Face Barriers to Green Space
Closing the Nature Gap: Why Our Communities Still Struggle for Green Space
In 2024, the American Bar Association confirmed something our communities have long felt: 74% of communities of color in the U.S. live with a “nature deficit,” compared to just 23% of white communities. That means most families of color are cut off from the health benefits that come with safe and regular access to green spaces – benefits like lower stress, stronger mental health, and more opportunities to gather and connect.
In Houston, where BLK Beetles is founded, this issue is in plain sight. Almost half of the city’s streets don’t have sidewalks. For too many neighborhoods, a simple walk to the park or green space isn’t safe, or isn’t possible at all.
What the “Nature Deficit” Really Means
A nature deficit is more than missing trees or fresh air. It’s about missing out on health. Studies in Nature Scientific Reports show that just a few hours outside each week can lower the risk of heart disease, improve mood, and support overall well-being.
But when parks, trails, or safe walking routes don’t exist in your neighborhood – especially in low-income areas – those health benefits aren’t equally shared. This is where inequity deepens, and where the BIPOC outdoors experience reflects a long history of being left out.
The Weight of History in Outdoor Spaces
The nature gap isn’t only about missing sidewalks or safe parks – it’s also about history. For many BIPOC communities, outdoor spaces have long been tied to exclusion, displacement, and violence. That trauma doesn’t vanish; it’s carried across generations and shapes how people experience the outdoors today.
Research on historical trauma shows how oppression tied to land and access gets passed down. For Native, Black, immigrant, and other families, the outdoors hasn’t always been a place of rest and joy. Instead, it can hold reminders of segregation, forced removal, or even violence.
Public spaces like beaches, pools, and parks were once legally segregated in the U.S. And even after those laws ended, families of color often faced harassment or intimidation when they tried to enjoy them. These harmful experiences left scars that still shape how safe, welcome, and included our communities feel in nature today.
This layered history is why environmental justice has to go deeper than planting trees or adding playgrounds. It’s about undoing the systems that kept communities out of decision-making in the first place, and creating outdoor spaces where the BIPOC outdoors community can feel safe, seen, and valued.
Our Vision for Outdoor Equity
At BLK Beetles, we believe the nature deficit is not permanent. It is the result of inequity — and inequity can be changed.
Repairing the divide requires real investment in green infrastructure so sidewalks, parks, and trails connect neighborhoods instead of cutting them off. It also requires elevating representation, so more people see leaders, guides, and storytellers in nature who reflect their own communities. Just as important, it demands a reckoning with history, so that the outdoors becomes a place of healing, belonging, and joy for everyone.
Since 2021, BLK Beetles has been building culturally grounded, intergenerational outdoor experiences that help people feel at home outside again. Our work is part of a larger movement to expand opportunities for the BIPOC outdoors, proving that nature isn’t a privilege – it’s a right.
Every community deserves that right, especially those that have been left out for far too long.
Join BLK Beetles is its mission to create belonging in the outdoors by coming to a community hike, support our work, or simply share this story. Together, we can ensure that every neighborhood, every family, and every generation feels at home in nature.
