IN MY memoir, , I write about my experiences as a child birding with my family and how those days saved us, giving us a reason to live and a way to cope with my mother鈥檚 bipolar disorder, a mental illness with devastating lows and highs. These experiences reinforced in me why being in nature is essential for our mental well-being.
Growing up, I went birding with my white father, my British-Bangladeshi mother and my sister. I never saw people who looked like me. I was determined to change this, and by the time I was 14, I had run two nature camps; held a conference, Race Equality in Nature; and set up my charity, Black2Nature. I bombarded nature charities with ideas for how to connect with what I call 鈥� minority ethnic people who describe themselves as non-white. My mantra was, if I can engage young VME people with nature, so can you.
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We live in a village south of Bristol, UK, where racism only touches a few families like ours. Most people rarely mention Black2Nature, except to tell my mother (always her) that white boys from south Bristol are more disadvantaged than VME teenagers and so focusing our work on them is divisive and racist. They point to a charity that takes disadvantaged teenagers to camps in the countryside. Although it does great work, when I look at its photos, I don鈥檛 see equality 鈥� I see a sea of white faces.
According to a , 74 per cent of white British children visited green spaces weekly, compared with 56 per cent for Black, Asian and minority ethnic children. The showed that the UK鈥檚 national parks didn鈥檛 attempt to engage the high number of people who are of a minority ethnicity and living in cities by, for example, ensuring cheap buses.
A found that of environmental professionals, only 0.6 per cent are non-white, leaving them without the knowledge to engage VME communities. Through Black2Nature, we reach out to VME parents and their teenagers to gain their trust. We work with community leaders and groups, dealing with fears such as their children being given pork, so they let them attend our camps.
It is that going into a green space improves the well-being of both adults and children, reducing their chances of experiencing symptoms of mental illness. A found that how we connect with nature is important for how well we manage our mental health.
. of white British people had improved outcomes after treatment for anxiety or depression in 2018 to 2019, while only 61 per cent of Bangladeshi people in the UK did, something I could relate to with my mother. As Michael Marmot of inequity in healthcare, 鈥渁voidable health inequalities are unfair and putting them right is a matter of social justice鈥�.
Compared with white young people, Black and Asian young people are around twice as likely to be referred to mental health services via social care and youth justice systems than via primary care settings. It is clear that their mental health issues are only identified when society has already failed them. The disparity between VME and white teenagers is stark and so equal access to nature for all can make a real difference here.
It is essential for environmental organisations to work with charities such as Black2Nature, as well as with young VME people, to engage them with nature, improving their mental health and subsequent life chances. Access to nature should be a right, not a privilege.
Mya-Rose Craig is an environmentalist, diversity activist and author of
