with the intent of leading diversity and conservation in publishing in Colorado and across the nation.
CRIBF advocates for reading that reconciles peoples and places for a sustainable future. It believes there is no one true way of writing about nature and place and that more voices need to be heard from ethnic-minority writers and from a wider range of identities and backgrounds.

CRIBF acknowledges that some of the most exciting thinking about identity and landscape seems to be happening in science fiction, speculative fiction, memoir, arts, and modalities other than the traditional nature writing.

CRIBF VISION

• To inspire diverse communities of all ages to love reading that forges environmental stewardship.

• To connect authors and readers through experiences that celebrates the culture of conservation and literacy, ideas, and imagination.

• To advance new narratives that are inclusive and offer new possibilities by expressing the complexity of our stories and the meanings we attach to them.

• To celebrate stories that improves us, much as nature does. Research shows that reading, and in particular “multicultural learning experiences” encourages creative thinking, exposes and breaks down barriers between “self” and “other” and between “nature” and “culture.” Reading makes us more empathic and more aware of others’ experiences. Reading inspires us to act on behalf of others, or the earth, or both.

 

NEED:  DIVERSITY

Too often we are offered another all-white list of recommended reading by major media outlets. The publishing industry is near 90 percent white. Last year, the environmental organization Green 2.0 surveyed 191 environmental non-profits, 74 government environmental agencies, and 28 leading environmental grant making foundations and found the racial composition in environmental organizations and agencies has not broken the 12 percent “green ceiling” that has been in place for decades.
Given that the U.S. is 40% brown this low percentage results in an overwhelmingly white “Green Insiders’ Club.” If our rapidly shifting demographics (by 2050 1 out of 3 people in the US will be Latino) continues on the path of not only being the most impacted by pollution but also the least integrated into the conservation movement, our ability to forge a safe and just world will be compromised.

The Colorado International Rewild Book Fair/ Feria International del Libro Verde is born out of a passionate 21st-century culture of nature and climate change awareness in need of cultural production that better engages the brown demographics of the country in a culturally relevant way and diversifies the traditional white environmental movement and pervasive mono cultural images of white males in the wilderness.

The Colorado International Rewild Book Fair addresses the need for multicultural literary renderings of human-nature connection-not nature as a remote place to recreate in tranquility, but nature as a place intimately connected to human habitation, culture, and identity.

CULTURAL & EDUCATION HEALH INDEX
Currently there is no other thematic book fair of this kind in the state or the nation. Furthermore, Colorado has lacked a book fair since the closing of Rocky Mountain Book Festival in 2005. From lessons learned CRBF will (1) emphasize literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry over genre writing and self-published authors (2) be hosted at an inspiring and central location (3) endeavor to involve all of Colorado’s university writing programs, literary magazines, and book organizations.

CRIBF's environmental central theme will advance quality and access to environmental interpretation and education and its urgent relevance in the 21st century. CBRIF envisions itself as a cultural platform providing resources for engaging people of all ages in learning about the interconnectedness among people, cultural heritage, and the natural world.

CONNECTION TO NATURE RX
In 2005 author Richard Louv published a book titled, Last Child in the Woods. In his book Louv coined the term, “Nature Deficit Disorder” and used it to describe the growing divide between children and nature. Last Child in the Woods raised awareness about the problems associated with too much time spent indoors, and people around the country took notice. Since then exciting projects across the nation have been launched at re-connecting children with nature. CRBF is one of them.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Close to 20% or 56 million plus Latinos call the Unites States home. Unfortunately Latinos as well as communities of color at large face impediments to access and stay in touch with nature. Most of our neighborhoods have not seen the investments needed to provide access to green spaces most other communities enjoy. At the same time a big segment of the Latino community faces health disparities. The significant lack of access to green spaces is a contributing factor but you factor in the disproportionate pollution impacts our communities also face and you have a toxic social and environmental justice reality. Over one million Latinos line in Colorado and over 32% of Denver County’s population is Hispanic or Latino. Latino students in grades 9-12 are three times more likely to be obese than White students.
 

• Hispanic children are 60 percent more likely to have asthma, as compared to non-­‐Latino whites and Latinos are 3X as likely to die of asthma; Latinos are 30% more likely to visit a hospital due to asthma compared to non-­‐Latino Whites

• Seven out of 10 Latinos conduct their daily lives in areas where the air is not up to the federal government’s safe air quality standards.

• Fifty percent of Latinos live in the most polluted cities

• Forty percent of Latinos live within 30 miles, susceptible to the negative effects of fine particle soot in the air

• Latinos represent the highest uninsured rates of any racial/ethnic group in the US.2 In 2012, 30% of Hispanics were reported as uninsured, compared to 10.4% of non-­‐Latino Whites

• 40% higher for nonwhites than for whites.

• Spatial patterns in environmental injustice and inequality for residential outdoor nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations in the US show NO2 concentrations are

Given the numbers above, access to parks and green spaces is more than an environmental justice issue, a civil rights issue.

Now, there is good news: Latinos are not only the nation’s largest minority group and the fastest growing population segment but nine out of ten Latinos want the Federal government to take action on protecting our land, air, water and all life making these more than policy priorities, core moral values. For the very 1st time The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) included cpnservation policy recommendations in its 2016 agenda. These include (1) support programs to recruit and train a new cadre of Latino conservation leaders (2)promote an inclusive system of national parks and monuments with which Latinos can identify (3)support the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and the Antiquities Act (4)Enact the National Park Service Centennial Act (5) Oppose efforts to privatize public lands

OUTDOOR RECREATION ECONOMY
Colorado’s nearly 30 million acres of public lands (45% of the total state land area) offers a perfect nature legacy and heritage to advocate for inclusive outdoors access, conservation stewardship values, and natural resources career pathways. 42 state parks, 12 national parks and monuments, 13 national forests and grasslands, and 54 peaks that soar above 14,000 feet help outdoors recreation contribute more than 34.5 billion statewide in annual economic activity while creating 313, 000 jobs. The industry promotes public health, tourism, environmental stewardship and efforts to connect more Coloradans to the outdoors. By the very nature of CRIBF’s mission, vision, and established needs it is and investment in the outdoors recreation industry.

In 2015 Governor Hickenlooper launched the Colorado the Beautiful initiative with the ambitious, key, unifying vision: That within one generation, every Coloradan will live within a 10 minute walk of a park, trail or open space area. This historic intent by a state to develop deeper connections with the natural environment sets Colorado apart as a special place. The Governor’s mission to link outdoor spaces and connect more people to those places by bridging gaps in trail systems and generating the most comprehensive outdoor recreation map ever created in the state, to include all trails, open spaces, parks and protected lands, by the end of 2016 lends CRIBF an inspirational solid home.

DIRECT SALES 
A new direct to consumer movement, with publishers building their own self-nurturing sales channels is on the ascent. An electronic or printed book sold through a publisher’s website is far more valuable than one sold through a third party online vendor. A book sold through the publisher’s site gives the marketer captured data and site analytics. An outlet such as a book fair for publishers to interact with consumers at large align with current trends statistics upon which to build successful selling strategies, the kind that can build community, and a customer family. Read more here.

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