We need to know with a fresh conviction that we all share a common humanity and that our diversity in the world is the strength for our future together.
— Nelson Mandela
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The Bay Area District DEI Committee’s goal is for the APLD to more truly represent the world around us: a world rich with diverse identities and experiences. We seek to provide APLD members with educational resources and practical tools to deepen their understanding of DEI issues within our profession, enabling members to incorporate this work into their own professional practices, growing a more just and equitable world.
How does the APLD define Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?
APLD recognizes and embraces the importance of being diverse, equitable and inclusive. We encourage our members and the landscape design community to participate in activities and education that will continually improve our efforts in this realm. Diversity, equity and inclusion should permeate all aspects of our relationships including professional colleagues, clients, vendors, and any others with whom members come into contact.
APLD defines diversity, equity and inclusion as follows.
Diversity:
All the many ways people define themselves including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, gender, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, education, physical appearance, varying abilities, socioeconomic status, ideas, perspectives and values.
Equity:
Ensuring resources are accessible to all landscape design professionals, regardless of varying abilities, backgrounds, economic status, or other identities.
Inclusion:
Creating an environment that embraces differences and welcomes, respects, supports, and values all people, while understanding our own unconscious bias and accepting the roots of our opinions and perspectives.
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Getting Started
Our list of resources and the following activities are meant to help members get started (or continue) on a path of learning and activism. Our committee acknowledges that we are by no means DEI experts, and we have our own biases that may shape the content provided on this page. We welcome your feedback and collaboration.
(Click to download PDF)
Click on the icon below to audit your business and determine how you can make equitable change in your practice.
(Click to download PDF)
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Resources
This list will continue to be updated and is open to edits. If you have a resource you would like included, please let us know.
Articles
“White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh
“Landscape Architecture Has a Labor Acknowledgement Problem” by Terremoto Landscape
“Black Landscapes Matter” by Kofi Boone
“Rest, Repose and Race: Leslie Bennett and Black Sanctuary Gardens” by The Planthunter
“How You Can Be an Ally Outdoors” by Neil Dhanesha
“Queer Ecology” by Priya Subberwal
“Liberated Roots” by Jey Ehrenhalt
“The Time Has Come to Decolonize Botanical Gardens Like Kew” by Alexandre Antonelli
“Racism Is Killing the Planet” by Hop Hopkins
“Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?” by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
“My Life As an Undocumented Immigrant” by Jose Antonio Vargas
“How to Be an Active Bystander When You See Casual Racism” by Ruth Terry
Anti-racism Resources to Support AAPI Communities
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Organizations
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Books
White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo
Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Black Landscapes Matter, by Walter Hood, Grace Mitchell Tada
My Garden Book, by Jamaica Kincaid
The Earth in Her Hands, by Jennifer Jewel
Black Feminist Thought, by Patricia Hill Collins
How to Be an Antiracist, by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson
Redefining Realness, by Janet Mock
So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, by Cherríe Moraga
With These Hands: The Hidden World of Migrant Farmworkers Today, by Daniel Rothenberg
Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Immigrants in American Society, by Leo Chavez
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Videos, TV, and Film
Inclusive Gardens in Unconventional Spaces
13th (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix
American Son (Kenny Leon) — Netflix
Blindspotting (Carlos López Estrada) — Hulu with Cinemax or available to rent
Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler) — Available to rent
I Am Not Your Negro (James Baldwin documentary) — Available to rent or on Kanopy
Just Mercy (Destin Daniel Cretton) — Available to rent
Selma (Ava DuVernay) — Available to rent
When They See Us (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix
The Other Side of Immigration by Roy Germano
The 800 Mile Wall by John Carlos Frey
Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary by Arturo Perez Torres
The Future of Food by Deborah Koons Garcia
The Harvest (La Cosecha) by U. Roberto Romano (Eva Longoria)
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Podcasts
See also…
Advocacy
Environment
Education
Legislation
Outreach
