Wildlife biologist and ornithologist Corina Newsome of the U.S. NGO National Wildlife Federation joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss how bird-watching plays a role in environmental justice for underserved communities in urban areas, and provides an accessible way for people to connect with nature and drives impactful change. “Birding is an opportunity [for] people to fill in data gaps where they live [to] help direct investments that come from the world of conservation … from federal to state to local levels that have usually been funneled away from their communities,” she says on this episode. Newsome says that birding changed her own life, and she’s hopeful it can also change the world, because bird health has direct implications for biodiversity health at large. “ What birds require of us will benefit us in ways that are far beyond bird conservation. We can work together to solve problems and think about the ecological emergency and environmental harms are taking place across landscapes, across boundaries,” she says. Newsome also encourages younger people and scientists to run for office at the federal, state and local levels in the United States. She says coordination and basic understanding of environmental justice are lacking, and urges people to visit runforsomething.net. “There are teenagers who would do better at writing legislation than some of the elected officials in Congress right now,” she says. “They need social scientists in there. They need scientists working in Congress. They need scientists running for office.” Find the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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