Queer Nature

Contact

queernature.info@gmail.com
https://www.queernature.org/
https://www.instagram.com/queernature

 

LOCATION/HOURS

The Bernie Hosie Building, Second Floor, South Unit

By appointment

Queer Nature is a project known for its focus on nature-based education and critical naturalist studies in the Northwestern U.S. and Intermountain West regions. The project envisions possibilities for queer ‘ancestral futurism’ and alternative approaches to modernity through mentorship in place-based skills, all while recognizing the post-industrial, globalized, and ecocidal contexts. The place-based skills encompass naturalist studies, interpretation, handcrafts, survival skills, and an awareness of colonial and Indigenous land histories. These skills are cultivated within a framework that prioritizes listening and building relationships with ecological systems and their inhabitants.

Nature-based workshops and occasional multi-day immersions are primarily designed for LGBTQ2+ individuals (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Two-Spirit) and QT BI & POC (queer and trans Black and Indigenous folks and people of color). Queer Nature aims to foster a sense of belonging for those who have often felt marginalized biologically, socially, or culturally and hopes to inspire the creation of similar spaces worldwide.

In addition to offering a diverse range of place-based skills and studies in affinity-based learning environments, Queer Nature stands out by integrating a rites-of-passage/transformational framework with detailed field observations influenced by the natural sciences. The project supports scientific initiatives that prioritize community involvement, local and Indigenous expertise, and an acknowledgment of the social and political dimensions of knowledge production. These insights underscore the importance of fostering communities that bridge personal growth, environmental activism, and ecological literacy. This approach is particularly vital in communities where movements tend to focus exclusively on non-human conservation or human social justice, rarely addressing both aspects. Queer Nature recognizes the need to center the other-than-human world and prioritize stewardship of non-human life, in contrast to many contemporary rites-of-passage frameworks that tend to be human-centric.

Queer Nature shares its knowledge through local public classes and also collaborates as guest or adjunct instructors with various educational institutions, including Colorado College, CU Boulder’s INVST Community Studies Program, and Weaving Earth.

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