Countryside Diversity

<p>Would seeing a variety of people in advertising materials make a big difference? How do we make the countryside more diverse? Is it a matter of people being excluded, or is it a result of cultural factors?</p> <p>Once again Stuart and William embark on a discussion prompted by a question from a listener, with today’s coming from Kenny in Little Wittenham, Oxfordshire, England. The question is as follows:</p> <p>“When out walking in the UK you rarely see Asian or Black faces, and I think we need to open the countryside up and make it more diverse. I’m aware when Asian people socialise and go out they go to each other's houses and share food, but there are also socioeconomic barriers too.</p> <p>So these groups in society stay more local to where they are when they go out. I also think there needs to be more role models for these groups to link with, for example in outdoor clothing marketing, the people wearing the clothes tend to be white people.</p> <p>Perhaps the models should be more diverse to encourage the uptake of outdoor activities with a wider range of people? Also there are only a handful of walking guides and leaders in the UK that aren't white, perhaps a wider recruitment process needs to be implemented?”</p> <p>During this discussion, among other topics Stuart and William talk about how growing up in a household that never took you out into nature could affect your likelihood of doing it as an adult, and are we always aware when we’re in nature?</p> <p>In this episode Stuart and William were again joined by long time listener Hedley Thorne, who was invited to take his place in the ‘Listeners Chair’, where he sat in and contributed to the recording, and gave his opinions on the topic discussed.</p> <p>To get your chance of appearing on the podcast and sit in the ‘Listeners Chair’, we have a stretch goal on our <a href="https://www.patreon.com/thepeoplescountryside"><u>Patreon page</u></a> where once we get to ten Beyond Stereotypes support tier backers, everyone on this tier will be entered into a q