Young activist wins award for eye-opening discoveries about birds' movements: 'Mutually beneficial for people and wildlife'
A young activist who created Black Birders Week won a prestigious award from the North Carolina Wildlife Federation for her research on environmental volunteerism. Urban ecologist Deja Perkins received the honor of Young Conservationist of the Year.
The website Black AF in STEM describes Black Birders Week as "a bold and unapologetic reclamation of the Black community's role in environmental spaces."
This year, Black Birders Week is May 25-31.
Perkins created the event in 2020 after a Black birdwatcher named Christian Cooper had the police called on him by a white woman in Central Park after he asked her to leash her dog.
In response, Perkins, who was then working on a master's degree at North Carolina State University, co-organized Black Birders Week.
"Any one of us could have been Christian Cooper," she told Science News at the time.
NCWF's annual awards celebrate organizations and individuals who contribute to the protection and awareness of the state's natural ecosystem.
Perkins, who once thought there was no "more to nature than zoos," as Chicago PBS station WTTW reported, was recognized for her dissertation, titled "The Geography of Participation: A Geospatial Analysis of Socio-spatial Gaps in US Participatory Science." It analyzes how data about who volunteers for "environmental monitoring" can illuminate inequities and other societal factors.
"I am interested in using geographic information systems to look at past and current patterns to help plan for cities that are sustainable, resilient to climate change, and mutually beneficial for people and wildlife," she wrote on her website.
By observing where birds are present — or absent — she derives information about, as WTTW wrote, "an area's socioeconomics or historical systemic structures like racism."
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Perkins' early childhood in Chicago didn't include much nature until her mother signed her up for a conservation program in high school. She came to appreciate how even in urban areas, people work to maintain wild spaces and protect wildlife.
At Tuskegee University in Alabama, Perkins developed her love for birds and what they can teach humanity, majoring in natural resources.
Perkins, who believes in the power of local action, also started the organization Naturally Wild, which, according to its website, "empowers Black-identifying individuals and people of color to explore and engage with the wildlife and natural spaces in their neighborhoods."
On top of that, the seemingly unstoppable Perkins co-hosts the podcast Bring Birds Back. The podcast's website describes it as "a show about the joy of birds and the ways that humans can help them through simple, everyday actions."
"We are out here doing the work to create the change we want to see!" Perkins posted on Instagram.
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