A new generation of activists are changing how we think about sustainability
A cohort of young women of colour are addressing climate change through educating and creating communities via social media
Mya Rose Craig
Credit: Oliver Edwards/Oliver Edwards
In recent years, the question of sustainability has taken a singular approach – despite the success of the movement requiring people and profit-led initiatives to progress alongside planetary ones.
Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American lawyer and civil rights activist, understood this in 1989, when she coined the term “intersectionality” to describe how socio-economic factors (such as race, gender and class) determine the ways in which people encounter the world.
Hark! It s the rise of the twitchfluencer
Birds have enjoyed their time in the sun during lockdown – while those who watch them have become breakout social media stars
30 January 2021 • 5:00pm
Chris Packham co-founded the Self-Isolating Bird Club
Credit: Jo Charlesworth/BBC
It has been a year of deprivation in so many ways. But even separated from friends and family, with our horizons shrunk around us, there has been one ever-present joy: the birds.
The earliest days of the first lockdown were marked by a rousing dawn chorus so striking many people spoke of hearing the birds sing for the first time in years. And they have stayed with us over subsequent months of rolling restrictions.
Bird watching has soared in popularity during the pandemic
Spring 2020, and change is coming. As winter gives way and the sun re-emerges, there’s a heightened sense of wonder in the air. Trees blossom brighter than ever, and birds are noisier.
The pandemic has had a dramatic impact on our relationship with nature. Of course, those blossoms were their usual colour; birds have always chirped. But as millions were forced to stay home they started noticing their surroundings. A walk in the park replaced the rush to the station; a meal in the garden supplanted a visit to the pub.
A SOMERSET teenager has won a £2,500 grant to grow her innovative Black2Nature and Camp Avalon programme which aims to increase diversity in the nature sector. Bird prodigy and activist Mya-Rose Craig, known as Birdgirl, from the Chew Valley will receive the bursary from insurer Zurich UK, following a competitive application process. The 18-year-old will also benefit from one-to-one mentoring and guidance on securing additional funding from Zurich’s sustainability experts. Mya-Rose, who recently staged a one-woman climate change protest in the Arctic during an exploration trip with Greenpeace, will use Zurich’s grant to grow her Camp Avalon nature camps project.