Alison Mariella Désir explores the Pacific Northwest with the change-makers who are reclaiming space, creating awareness and delivering access for the health and well-being of BIPOC communities in the region. Representation and diverse perspectives have long been missing from imagery and conversations concerning the outdoors. Diving into topics like the running boom, sundown towns, environmental racism, redlining, safety and representation, Alison examines the barriers between outdoor space and marginalized communities.
Rosa Hunter, lab manager at the Salish Sea Research Center, wants aspiring young scientists to know it’s never too late. Hunter dropped out of high school in the 10th grade and worked every job, from digging ditches to housekeeping, before jumping head first into college at age 32. It was there that she found her love for ancient organisms like tardigrades, trying to reveal their secrets. Her studies led to her work in the sea, where she realized that her grandmother’s guidance clamming as a child could inform her work identifying toxic shellfish in our oceans. “I was like, holy moly, my ancestors were scientists. I come from a line of scientists. That blew my mind,” Hunter said.
Our annual Mossback’s Northwest Special features a bunch of one-of-a-kind folks who exemplify our region’s quirky originality. It’s a fun anthology of Mossback episodes. Host Knute Berger and crew head to Seattle’s historic Smith Tower to film the show. The Smith Tower, with its pyramid top, is a true original on the city’s skyline and it fit our theme perfectly. We also get an inside look at the Smith Tower's Museum.