Words by Smiley Team
There's no denying there are a lot of issues in our world, but Jeff Knott, the RSPB's youngest director, believes we should stay hopeful for the year ahead when it comes to nature and our climate.
“For every year of my life, there’ve been fewer birds at the end of the year than there were at the start," he says. 2021 has been a big year for the fight for nature and climate. While global surveys found that 60% of young people said they felt worried about climate change, world leaders were meeting at COP26 to discuss climate targets that will span the years to come.
But this doesn’t exhaust Jeff, who is responsible for the work of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds across the Central and Eastern areas of England. Instead, it emboldens him to be, in his own words, “fearless and fun”.
“We have to remain fearless in the face of the nature and climate emergency," he says. "I’d rather we fail trying, than accept a slow and steady decline of the wildlife and greenspaces we love.”
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Jeff’s a big advocate for red kites, a bird of prey found in the UK thanks to a series of successful reintroduction projects carried out by the RSPB and partners, starting in 1989.
Working alongside an army of determined conservationists, Jeff’s fearlessness has seen him involved in ground breaking projects from the creation of the UK’s largest reedbed at Ouse Fen to the fight to protect RSPB Minsmere from the threat of EDF’s new nuclear power station.
“I remind myself daily that I must relish the joy that nature brings, because we mustn’t let the nature and climate emergency dampen our spirits," he says.
While the fight of environmentalists continues, Jeff says it's own young daughter that inspires him to keep hold of his own childlike excitement for the nature around him. “We must try our best to retain the simplicity with which a child views the world, and the sheer wonder that wildlife and nature can bring them. After all, the young people of today are the guardians of tomorrow’s natural world.”
There is no denying that young people have created a groundswell movement when it comes to the nature and climate emergency. For Jeff, it’s all about getting more people to become passionate about the wildlife on their doorsteps and having fun in the process, wherever their interest might come from.
“We aren’t going to tackle the nature and climate emergency by being perfect in isolation," he says. "We’re going to need millions joining us in doing it imperfectly. That’s how we’ll make a change.”
The growth in everyday appreciation for our environment is what keeps Jeff hopeful. Wanting to ensure that conservation is a topic everyone feels they can get involved with, he says there’s a lot to thank social media for in welcoming people from all walks of life into the conversation.
“A key moment of hope for me this year was seeing 1 million people take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch for the first time ever," he says. "It’s amazing to think that during one rainy weekend in January, so many people took an hour out of their day to record the birds they saw and send their results to the RSPB so that we can monitor bird trends across the country.”
To find out how you can add your voice to the conversation around nature and climate, follow the RSPB on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and sign up to take part in their free Big Garden Birdwatch this 28 – 30 January at rspb.org.uk/birdwatch.
