Founded by Dr Mya-Rose Craig (also known as Birdgirl), Black2Nature is dedicated to connecting *Visible Minority Ethnic children, young people, families and communities with nature.

Eleven years ago, in January 2015, when she was 12 years old, Mya-Rose noticed that there were no nature camps for children and young people in the UK like the ones she had read about in the US, so she decided to organise one herself. Being a fan of feathered creatures (you don’t get the name ‘Birdgirl’ for nothing!), the camp focused on birds with activities such as birdwatching, bird ringing (where you put metal rings on birds’ legs for science, courtesy of the British Trust for Ornithology), bird photography and sketching, and other bird and nature activities.

When Mya-Rose realized that none of the young people who had signed up for the camp looked like her (they were all affluent and White), she reached out to Bristol’s Visible Minority Ethnic communities and found five young boys who wanted to join (or were at least prepared to give it a go!).

Making nature relatable

It was at this first-ever camp that Mya-Rose began to understand the difference in the experiences of the Visible Minority Ethnic young boys compared to their White counterparts. They were excited to play football, set up camp, and tuck into the BBQ, but when it came to connecting with nature, it was clear that they felt this was not for them.

That was until one of the volunteers started to talk about the speed of Peregrine Falcons. He compared this bird of prey’s speed at which it drops before it goes in for the kill to the speed of a Formula One race car. Suddenly, nature was mysterious, dangerous, and cool. They were mesmerised and interested in what they were hearing — nature was something they could relate to. From then on, they loved it, and we understood this was the key. After all, if you can’t relate to nature, how can you connect with it, enjoy it, or protect it?

This is now fundamental to our approach. We always find a way to make nature and the environment relevant for every child or young person who attends our camps. We do this by offering lots of different activities, so that there is something special for everyone.

Nature by stealth

Many young people from the inner city have a preconception that going out into nature is boring. However, once they are outdoors, there is always something in nature that captures their imagination.

‘Nature By Stealth’ is a phrase coined by our Founder, Mya-Rose Craig, back in 2015, and is the idea that if you convince children and young people to go outside with the offer of an activity they are already interested in, you can then use that activity to connect them with nature or environmental issues.

For example, in 2016, we organised a film-making workshop in an inner-city park. As lots of children and young people are interested in making short films for TikTok and YouTube, over 30 children and young people attended. Icon Films came and taught them about making films, but using the nature of the park as the backdrop. We were really successful in tailoring the young people’s experience of nature around their interests. Mya-Rose called this ‘Nature By Stealth’. 24 of those young people came to the next nature camp a few weeks later.

We have been engaging Visible Minority Ethnic children, young people, and families at our nature camps ever since, talking to them about the environment, climate change, and global climate justice, and what they can do to help save our planet, and tackling issues of racism and mental health. We’re always looking for ways to get more people connected with nature. We continue to run camps, walks, tree-planting, day-trips, and other events for children, young people, families, and our communities. We use our events and connection to nature to educate about coping and managing mechanisms for racism. mental health resilience, increasing poor educational attainment, and mentoring on university applications, social issues such as reducing involvement with gangs and knife crime, and young people entering the criminal justice system.

*We use the term Visible Minority Ethnic as we believe it is equally inclusive of all racially minoritised groups.

Find out why we do what we do >