Birdgirl' author Mya-Rose Craig on the importance of protecting the environment • FRANCE 24

Now it's time for Perspective and my guest today was just nine days old when she was put into the family car and taken on her first bird watching trip on the isles of Scilly southwest of the UK. She of course doesn't remember it but it was that first seed that led her to becoming a bird watcher or a birder. She has done so much more becoming really passionate about birding. She started her own environmental blog at just 12. She began public speaking as just a teenager at the age of 17. She became officially the youngest person to see half the world's birds and that same year she also became the youngest British person to be awarded an honorary degree and she continues her campaigning as well against major issues like palm oil, oil and plastic pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss as well. And her book Bird Girl first published in English two years ago it's now been published in French as well. I've got a copy of it in fact here with me on set. Well Maya Rose Craig joins us now. Thanks very much for joining us on the programme. Let's start at the very beginning then. What is it about birds, watching birds that you loved and you still love today? I've always thought birds were completely magical. I think they're so beautiful. I love the fact that they can fly. Like you mentioned they have such a personal significance for me in terms of my childhood but also I've become very appreciative of how birds are everywhere whether that's in the countryside or the middle of the city and I think it's so lovely to have access to nature wherever you are. And do you still get a lot of time and pleasure out of going and watching them? Yeah absolutely and I think as someone, I'll admit I'm very addicted to my phone for example, I think it's really good to just kind of go outside and breathe and kind of I suppose almost meditate in a way and also I just really like looking at the film as well. And you became very aware quite young didn't you though that their habitats are really under threat? Yeah I've been, I'm 21 so I've been involved in environmental campaigning for about 10 years now and you know I think I'm part of a generation that's always been very aware of climate change and environmental issues but I do think for me it was that love of birds and spending so much time outside that I became kind of aware through my own life experiences of just how bad these issues have become. And how bad do you think they actually are? I mean in terms of birds I've seen massive noticeable declines just in my lifetime and you know it's bad basically and I think we all know it's bad and so for me it's the most hopeful thing is that we do have solutions, we do know what we're doing, it's just kind of creating the public and political will to try and make it happen because I do think as well looking after our nature and our biodiversity is also preventing and helping to cope with climate change. I mean it's very impressive isn't it for someone, I don't want to sound condescending, but of your age to actually seize on that and really try and do something about it. I mean what can individual people, what have you been able to do to try and tackle the issue? Yeah I think getting involved in politics in any way is really important so for me I quite often write letters to my local politician to tell him that I'm unhappy with his environmental stances but I also think kind of getting involved in wider campaigning or activist groups is really important both in terms of trying to create change but also I think maintaining hope and reminding yourself that there are other people out there who also really care about these issues. Tell us about the book then, Bird Girl, what will people get out of it if they read it? I mean I originally wrote Bird Girl because I love birds and I wanted to be able to write a whole book about birds but it kind of became much more than that and in particular it has a lot about kind of growing up and struggling through your teenage years but also my mum has very severe mental health issues and kind of how we turn to birds and nature to try and deal with that. I mean it's quite a moving account isn't it, the way you kind of intermingle what happens in the book with going and watching the birds and how it turned to activism and that kind of thing. Yeah I mean my original idea when I decided I wanted to write something was kind of in response to the fact that throughout my whole life I've had people go but why birds of all things, why bird watching and I wanted to write something where people could read and kind of understand and I think the highest compliment is I've had people come back and say that they've tried bird watching just because they've read the book. And as if that isn't enough what we've already talked about you're also the creator of a charity it's called Black to Nature. You run nature camps for black ethnic minority children to help them see and understand nature. Why did you think it was really necessary to do something specifically for black and ethnic minority children? Yeah so there's a big issue to do with access to nature and engagement to nature within these communities to the point that it's just kind of given the fact that you don't see those people out in the countryside and I think I started the project when I was very young as someone who loved nature and wanted other kids to be able to experience that. I think partially from my own life experiences seeing how important nature was to my family when we were struggling in terms of my mum's mental illness. But I think also you know like we said the state of the planet is is terrible and I kind of increasingly realise that people who have never experienced or loved nature or the outdoors have no reason to care or understand why they should care that it's disappearing that it's dying and so we also spend a lot of time educating a lot of people about why they should care about environmental issues. And what do people get out of it do you think when they when they come on the camps? The camps are really special to a lot of these children and these communities as a whole and you know one of my favourite things is just watching you know a child or a teenager just fall in love with the nature of the course of a weekend who's never you know ventured out there before and you know this this project is a it's a place of kind of stability and safety for a lot of the children that we work with and so yeah we've never had a child come on the camp who hasn't kind of yeah fallen in love with nature by the end of it and wanted to do something to help her. And you mentioned a couple of times I noticed your mum's mental illness I mean is that something as well which you think has has led you to to go the way that you've gone in your life with sort of campaigning and helping and trying to help other people? I think so yeah it was very formative to me when I was younger and I think it's one of the reasons that I do like I said that I do love nature and birds so much but I think also it kind of taught me to go out and get what I want and do what I wanted and I've always said I think my greatest quality as a campaigner is that I kind of just carry on pushing and I don't let things go and I probably I'm a bit louder than that people want me to be and I think that kind of you know did come from as a kid I suppose having to cope with a lot of these things. Yeah well let's end on that though you say that you're going to keep being pushy what's next for you similar projects or something completely new? Yeah I suppose my biggest thing is I'm revising for my university exams at the moment that's probably my main thing but I think apart from that continuing bird watching obviously and I think sadly I'm going to be occupied by climate change campaigning for a long time yet although I wish that wasn't the case. I'm sure we all do as well. Myrose Craig thanks very much for joining us on the programme very much for joining us the book Bird Girl it's been available in English for a few years now but now out in French as well so if you're watching us you will read it in French it's a yellow cover this one for the French version thanks very much once again to Myrose Craig.