For the past 8 or 9 months, I've been trying to write about all my thoughts on diversity, but kept giving up. However, with the month of June starting with the terrible murder of George Floyd, there seems to be no better time to try again, and hopefully, finally, get into writing everything that's in my head...
In this blog post, I'm going to evaluate 3 questions; these are:
- Does the nature community actually have a diversity issue?
- Is racism the biggest factor in causing a lack of diversity in ethnicity in the nature community?
- And: What can we do to help make nature/birding/the environment more accessible to everyone?
First, I thought I'd start with a bit of background about me, and why I'm writing about this in the first place.
Like my parents, I've been lucky to grow up as a British Indian in South London, after my grandparents moved to the UK in the 1960s. Although I've always been someone that's loved being outdoors, my passion for nature and birdwatching specifically began when I was 7, when my mum got me to do the Big Garden Birdwatch after getting fed up of me talking about dinosaurs. From that day on, I was hooked, and trips to India in 2012 and Malaysia in 2015 strengthened what I'd even call a bond with the natural world. Though birdwatching and photography have always been what I've loved the most, I started to find the interaction between humans and environment much more interesting after visiting Malaysia, where I could see some of the impacts of human actions on nature for myself. As a result, I've become much more active in conservation and environmental campaigning. My fascination with the environment has seen me down so many amazing paths, and it's become more than a hobby, for which I don't regret at all.
Yet for the past 10 years, being a birder from a 'minority' background hasn't always been easy, which is why the diversity issue has felt so much more personal to me. In 2018, I finally decided to do a short 10 minute presentation about it at school, and it left me feeling hopeful, for reasons that I'll come back to later. Now, I'm lucky enough to represent various organisations including the National Trust, the BTO, #iwill campaign and Cameron Bespolka Trust; the platform I've managed to find myself with here is what I'm hoping to use to share my views and experiences about diversity, as a young birder/nature lover, with a particular focus on ethnicity.
One of my previous presentations from school
Does the nature community actually have a diversity issue?
This first question is fairly easy to answer, as it's a simple yes. However, it's also important to understand what diversity actually means, and why it's relevant. The Cambridge dictionary states that diversity means 'the fact of many different types of things or people being included in something; a range of different things or people.'
When applying this to the nature community, which I consider to be anyone with an interest in the natural world (birds, beetles, bats, butterflies, everything,) I think it may have a more specific meaning. Like Sorrell illustrated so well in her blog post before me, diversity is not just about race or ethnicity, but about creating an inclusive environment for everybody, regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic background, age etc. At the moment, it doesn't need to be made much clearer for us to recognise that birdwatching for example is not exactly inclusive for everybody - of the 4 factors which I've stated above, is birdwatching an accessible hobby for people in all of them, or even any of them? I don't think there's much doubt about the answer being 'probably not,' but is this even a problem?
Of course, it's a hobby that's not for everyone. Of course, making birdwatching more diverse isn't about forcing anyone into becoming a birder because, of course, we aren't all going to love birds or nature or the environment. I didn't think that need to be said, until I saw the responses to Black Birders Week, so I thought it would make sense to almost clear-up why I think it's an important issue to address.
As I've said already, it's not about forcing anyone to do something that they don't want to do, but opening up the opportunity for it to become a possibility or a more appealing option, but also something that's exciting and desirable to get involved in. To me, that's why it's so important to not only talk about it but also consider barriers faced by minority groups who can't access such interests as easily as others, with race being just one example of a potential barrier. Though this blog post is focusing on ethnicity, I've found discussions on gender recently just as relevant, and several of my friends have really helped me understand a lot more about it - I'd point people to my friend Megan's tweet in February (link here), which sparked an eye-opening thread.
Is racism the biggest factor in causing a lack
of diversity in ethnicity in the nature/birding community?
Whilst I recognise that I can't talk as easily about why gender may be a barrier to becoming a birdwatcher, I can talk about ethnicity and race with my own experiences, which means this is more relevant to me. Ever since I started out in the birdwatching world, it's been pretty obvious how few people 'like me' there are out there. It does make you wonder why it's like this, and it's been fascinating over the past few months seeing more and more people talking about it. At the same time, I've found myself disagreeing with people a lot (which I don't think makes anybody 'wrong,') so here's my understanding of the lack of race diversity
To me, there's no doubt that racism exists in the birdwatching world - this was clearly shown by what happened in Central Park (link) earlier in June, whilst I recommend reading Jonathan Nasir's blog here. I also know that from some of my own experiences - when I was 15 for example, a fairly well-known birder was racist to me, although it really made no difference (I'd seen a Twite in Surrey, nothing was getting me down!) While it's completely unacceptable, I really cannot stress enough that yes there are racist birders, and racist environmentalists, but I strongly disagree with anyone that says birdwatching is a racist hobby, because it's not. No matter what is said, I've never thought the nature community to be racist in itself, and the diversity problem does not stem from racism, at all. If it was a racist community, then I don't think we'd be talking about it at all. The very reason I and others with similar backgrounds to mine are able to talk about it is because the majority of the white population have supported me and nearly everyone else from similar backgrounds to me. Would I have the opportunities that I currently have without white people? Simply, I wouldn't, because throughout my time in the nature community, I've had much more support from white people than minorities.
Of course this is my opinion, from my experiences, and from the people I've spoken to; no doubt people will disagree, but that's how society should work. What I don't like to see is social media forcing people to become fearful of voicing their opinion or thoughts at all, in the fear of being called a racist or the like; but that's a whole different thing, and perhaps for another blog post...
The issue of racism, unfortunately, is a societal problem, whether people like to or want to accept it. There are very few places in society where racism doesn't exist, with some places being much better than others. This doesn't make it acceptable, and all humans should feel a need to fight until the day everyone can live without any racism at all. However, I want to say it's getting better, and I think it's something that we're only taking forward steps towards reaching. I've spoken to my family about this a lot, and it still shocks me what they - especially my grandparents - grew up with. For example, my grandma told me she was frequently spat at on the bus in the 1960s. Whilst this doesn't make racism acceptable in the current day, it certainly makes me feel a little guilty that my grandparents could do nothing about it, and yet experienced much worse than I ever have. It doesn't make it acceptable, but how easy is it to forget that we're moving forwards? Seeing social media now does even make me wonder, are some people too ready to accuse people of being racist? Recently especially, sometimes it feels that everything is linking back to something like this, and I've gradually become less keen to talk about it - sometimes I do ask myself if I'm overdoing it, and I only talk about it very occasionally...
So whilst I'm not passing off racism as an issue at all, I hope that's clear, I still strongly believe that it's not something exclusive to nature, and no matter what's said, it's completely wrong to say that birdwatching is a racist hobby. Admittedly, I do often feel a sense of discomfort in a room/hide when I stand out like a sore thumb, and I know many others have also voiced a similar feeling, but to switch that, could a lot of that be psychological? It's almost like now the first thing I notice is how few people 'like me' there are, which makes me suddenly feel a little self-conscious. Just because people look at me, that doesn't mean they find me to be a problem. So many times people have noticed me and become curious, wanting to talk to me. I've definitely overthought things like this before, and often it's just me being a bit cautious rather than anyone being racist. But if all this is true, why are there so few people from minority ethnicity in birdwatching?
Toby Carter's walk at Birdfair was one of my highlights of Birdfair - I felt so at home with this group, and hope I can revisit again.
Sometimes it feels like I'm all alone with this, and so seeing that others have said similar recently has been a massive relief if anything. I think that the reason for there being fewer people from minority backgrounds is largely due to culture, with this acting as a barrier. Again, this is something I can relate to, and so thought I'd explain it in some depth, as it seems to be something that's rarely talked about.
Being from a fully Asian family, there are certain stereotypes experienced from a young age; it can feel like a strong word, but when explained it makes more sense. Take for example a relatively poor family coming to a city like London from India or Bangladesh, like mine did. In order to get to a position of economic security, a well-paid, secure job in the city is really the first thing that people think of - jobs or people with interests in the environment aren't too common in the city regardless. Due to this, many young people from backgrounds like that of my own often find themselves with an expectation to find a job like this. And there's nothing wrong with this at all, I'm not blaming anyone at all; I'm lucky to be in a position now where that's not the case, but so many have come here with so little that finding a well-paid job is much more important. As a result, even the thought of employment in the environment sector is quickly passed-off, as the perception that it won't be as useful as some other jobs. My parents, having grown up here, are much more open to me about almost everything, and perhaps over time more people may be more encouraging, like them, of a wider range of interests. I hope this makes some sense...
I did mention perception here, and the reason I feel so strongly about this is because of what I've experienced at my secondary school, from my peers. Birdwatching used to be passed off as a slightly weird hobby, but over time I realised people from similar ethnic backgrounds to me simply couldn't understand why I liked nature. For several years, every day or two I was mocked for it (wouldn't say bullied is the right word,) with even some of my closest friends making comments that maybe weren't meant to be hurtful, but built up over time. The reason I feel so strongly about racism not being the problem is that throughout these years, the majority of the people that have always supported me and even taken an interest at times have been 'white' people. Though I still have friends from minority backgrounds, now most of my friends, birders or non-birders, are from white backgrounds, and I have no regrets. In all honesty, I don't know where I'd be if it hadn't been for these people, as though the comments have stopped since I opened up to a teacher and to a few people about mental health, these were years of just feeling alone a lot of the time. So even the concept that racism is the biggest problem makes me uncomfortable, because the past years have shown me that if anything, the people from my own community have been the ones who've looked down on me or made me feel terrible about who I am, not white people.
Having said this, I don't think that people from minority backgrounds don't care. I know they care, even a little bit, and that's really why I keep talking about this. The past few years have been pretty terrible at times, whether that shows on social media or not, but there have been positives out of it as well. There's without doubt an opportunity, especially now, to make everyone from all backgrounds really understand the importance of nature, which leads me on to the next question.
What can be done to help make nature/birding etc. more accessible to everyone?
The following are only a few of many possibilities, as so many things could be done (which is why I'm so keen on campaigning for certain things.) Although once again it should be appreciated that some people simply won't find an interest in nature, trying to create an environment that anyone - regardless of race or gender or socioeconomic background - can feel a sense of belonging to would be a major boost, which is why I think 'normalising' birdwatching is so key to making the sector more diverse.
As a child growing up, my role models were David Attenborough and Steve Backshall, like so many others. What I did lack though was a family member to inspire me, and whilst my amazing parents have always helped me, I've never had that role model in the family that's a birder or naturalist. From talking to most others, a birding grandparent or relative acted as a major influence. From recent discussions, many people including myself - my Year 5 teacher was hugely inspiring to me as a birder - have mentioned how teachers are also role models. Now I do see more role models gradually coming through from minority backgrounds, which is a really good starting place. If someone from a minority background grows up seeing someone 'like' them on TV or writing books, then that's where an interest may be sparked. If a teacher is more open about things such as being a birdwatcher, maybe that could also inspire more people, regardless of race, gender or socioeconomic background. Harnessing these may be extremely useful in the future, as being able to relate to others may help more young people from minority backgrounds.
In January I briefly spoke to Steve Backshall about the diversity issue- that was enough to give me the determination to carry on talking about it.
I could probably talk about this next point all day, as I don't think there's anything more influential for a young person than early education and schooling. I'm excited that there will be a Natural History GCSE possible to be studied in the next few years, and without doubt it will be a boost to the environmental sector in the future. However, in order to inspire those from minority backgrounds, I think education from a younger age could be crucial. Reading Birdguides fascinating article (here) last year emphasised this to me; if young people find their biggest interests from around the age of 10, then would education about nature and the environment, perhaps linked with mental health and climate change, inspire those that previously would have been under pressure to go down a certain career path? Would children from all backgrounds be able to find it more accessible to reach nature-based interests if, as a 10yo, they were able to learn more about wildlife? I'm almost certain that it would; if young people from minority backgrounds were exposed to nature from this age, and were able to take part in activities like the Big Garden Birdwatch which inspired me 10 years ago, then it may change the mindset of so many. IF birdwatching became a more desirable hobby, that's perceived to be exciting, fascinating and cool in the eyes of any 10yo, not something that they'll get laughed at for, then maybe it could be seen to be something that all people might want to be part of...
I appreciate this post has been very long, but it's something that's always been close to my heart. This has always been something I've found difficult to talk about - it gives me a big mix of emotions, from determination to frustration. Nothing hurts more than people dismissing what I think, even my closest friends seem to push it back sometimes. Yet as Black Birders week showed last month, the majority - 99% or more - are massively supportive. Unless I'm missing something, the racist birdwatchers are a massive massive minority, and so I do believe that trying to focus on how we can make it a more diverse hobby, regardless of the racists, is key.
Everyone deserves a right to have an opinion, and I find it a little sad that the reason so many people from white backgrounds haven't spoken out is the fear of saying something wrong, by accident. On social media especially, it's so difficult to truly understand what people are saying, and it's not fair that the reason why people haven't said anything is in the fear that a tiny mistake will be misinterpreted, and someone is wrongly termed as racist. If you want to share your view, and you want to help then please say! I'm always happy to hear what people have to say, on a private message or publicly, as I know most people only want to help. If you think you have a privileged position - which I don't exactly agree with as a concept, being born as who you are shouldn't be something that anyone has to feel guilty about, you can't change it - then maybe that means that you have a voice. The highlight of my year has been getting to know some incredible friends who listen to me, and treat me just how I want to be, like any other human. I've also loved working with organisations such as the BTO. Being on their Youth Panel makes me so hopeful, as it's clear that all the people I work with have been trying to make a difference to the environment as well. Sometimes I don't think it's fair for organisations to have to revolve around diversity - if someone deserves a job or position, then surely it should be on merit, not their race, gender, age or anything else? Sometimes I even get a little tired of talking about it, there are so many things I want to do for the natural world. However, seeing organisations even talking about ways to move forward makes me realise people do care, and are trying to make a change.
I've been quiet on it for a long time, which has given me time to really reflect on all of this a lot more - I didn't want to just jump in because I felt like I had to say something; I do hope that all readers see this blog post as my opinions, thoughts, experiences and understanding of diversity. I didn't meant to offend anyone and if you disagree or want to criticise anything I've said, then I'm happy to discuss it further, or receive constructive advice. But if you want to drop a comment that serves no useful purpose and is with the intention of being nasty, then just think twice about posting it...
This may seem like a slightly odd way to end this blog post, but having had a number of discussions about diversity and birdwatching recently, there was a line that really stuck with me from one of my birding mates Matt Lonsdale. He said something, and he meant in a really really good way, along the lines of "I find this interesting, and at the end of the day I just love birdwatching. I don't want to be seen as a young birder, or off of my gender, race or anything else." He continued to talk about it so well, and I really want to say this now. I don't fully enjoy talking about diversity; I love the natural world for so many reasons, for my mental health, for the excitement of finding a new bird and capturing the moment, all the way to simply spending time in it with my mates.
Whilst it's important to talk about it, I don't want to talk about it all the time. I more or less want to be seen as me; whilst birdwatching, conservation, environmental campaigning makes me who I am, I don't want to be seen for my race or age or anything like that. I love the natural world, that's really it. I could write about this for much longer than I have in this blog, but I hope that we can find a balance between promoting diversity and not overdoing it - because there's always time to step back into nature and remember why we all need and love it.
Me in my natural habitat - birdwatching at Spurn
Thank you for reading, and I hope people take this on board well :)
