Dragonfly’s tenth Diversity Cafe will take place on September 15, 2022, and features Germán Paredes, Aventureros Program Coordinator at the Vermilion Sea Institute (VSI) in Bahía de los Ángeles, Baja California, Mexico. Aventureros is a year-round youth program hosted by VSI that supports local students in discovering and caring for the marine and terrestrial worlds around them. In this talk, we’ll go through the particulars of this program and its importance for the Bahía de Los Ángeles, Baja California, Mexico.

Paredes’ interest in VSI came as an opportunity to link his academic experience in Anthropology with his passion for guiding outdoor experiences in Mexico. He has collaborated with a variety of community conservation projects in Mexico, Peru, and the USA. Through these experiences, Paredes realized that teamwork, community connection and nature-centered thinking is how we feel a sense of belonging with the biological world and a need to preserve it. Moreover, his experience in the study of the relationship between humans and nature and outdoors activities such as mountaineering, kayaking and as a Wilderness First Responder trained guide, plus Paredes’ multidisciplinary team, allow him to develop a program that shows the Aventureros what they are capable of, always questioning (for good) the ways they do things and to never quit learning.

• “Aventureros in the Bahía Paradise”
• Thursday, September 15, 2022 7:30-8:30 p.m. ET
• Register here
• Note: This talk may be recorded.

This Dragonfly Diversity Cafe is part of a developing series of virtual talks focusing on international conservation, urban and rural ecology, inquiry-based education, nature connections, and other relevant topics. Our Diversity Cafes aim to elevate marginalized perspectives on diversity, equality, and inclusion-related topics in an environmental and conservation setting. The invited speakers explore topical ideas, research, and experience in the first half of the Cafe hour. In the latter half, the Cafe will open up for discussion and audience participation to engage with the speaker(s) and their ideas.