Mya-Rose #mixedmonday
This weeks #mixedmonday is Mya-Rose Craig @birdgirluk. Mya-Rose is a 21-year-old British-Bangladeshi birder, race activist and environmentalist. Mya-Rose campaigns for equal access to nature, to stop climate change and biodiversity loss and to ensure global climate justice, all of which she believes are closely interlinked.
In June 2022 Mya-Rose’s memoir Birdgirl, in which she shares how she found her voice and joy through birding during a deepening family mental health crisis, was published by Vintage Books and has recently been nominated for the Jhalak Prizes. Her first book, We Have a Dream, highlights 30 young global environmentalists of colour and her children’s book Flight will be published on the 15th June 2023.
When Mya-Rose was 11, she started her popular Birdgirl blog and at age 14 she launched the charity @officialblack2nature, which focuses on engaging Visible Minority Ethnic communities with nature. At age 17, she became the youngest person to see half the world’s bird species, and also to receive an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Bristol in recognition of her pioneering campaigning work. In February 2020 she shared a stage with Greta Thunberg in front of 40,000 protestors and in September of that year she travelled to the Arctic with Greenpeace, for whom she is an Oceans Ambassador, and took part in the most northerly Youth Strike for Climate. In November 2021 she spoke at COP26 on a panel with Emma Watson, Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai.
The other causes closest to her heart are connecting everyone to nature so that they can use it to manage with mental health and care about fighting to avert the climate crisis. Mya-Rose is an Ambassador for Greenpeace and Oxfam.
How would you describe your ethnicity?
I would describe myself as British-Bangladeshi. My maternal grandparents, my Nanabhai and Nanu came to Bristol in 1955 and 1961. My dad's parents are Liverpudlian, with all four of his grandparents being born in inner city Liverpool. My older sister Ayesha has a different dad, whose family were from the Mendoza area of Argentina and we look quite different.
Has your mixed-ness influenced your career in any way?
I think being mixed heritage has had a huge influence on my life, especially as a child. I felt that I did not fit in, experiencing racism when I was at school and feeling like I did not fit in with Bangladeshi people, even my cousins. In my memoir Birdgirl, I wrote about growing up with my mum having severe bipolar disorder and my childhood, writing "I felt, like so many children from immigrant families, as though I was growing up between two cultures, never fully belonging to one or the other. But my identity crisis was resolved each time we visited Bangladesh. There I am treated as one of their own".
We were a family of birdwatchers thanks to the influence of my White British father, something that set me apart from my Bangladeshi relatives. So my work as a birder, conservationist and environmentalist came from the influence of my father whilst my work in anti-racism and diversity came from the influence of my mother and her sisters.
If you could describe your mixed identity in one word, what would it be?
Rich.
What is the best thing about being mixed heritage?
I think that being mixed heritage gives you a deep understanding of two or more cultures and religions, enabling you to bridge the gap between them, which is what I try to do with my charity @officialblack2nature.
