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‘A break from scrolling’: how Gen Z fell in love with birding

‘A break from scrolling’: how Gen Z fell in love with birding

Science Weekly vor 3 Monaten

Madeleine Finlay hears from the writer Robert Macfarlane and from Jess Painter, a member of the RSPB’s Youth Council

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In the last 50 years, Britain has lost an astonishing 73 million
wild birds from its landscape, according to the British Trust for
Ornithology. Habitat loss, pesticides, disease, cats and the
climate crisis mean there are fewer birds than ever before. For
children and young people it can be difficult to appreciate the
scale of the loss due to a psychological phenomenon called
‘shifting baseline syndrome’, where each generation inherits a
degraded version of the environment, and therefore doesn’t notice
the overall decline. But Gen Z are bucking the trend. Thanks to
social media and the Merlin Bird ID app, birding has become cool.
To find out what we’re missing from the dawn chorus, and why young
people are embracing birdwatching, Madeleine Finlay hears from the
writer Robert Macfarlane and from Jess Painter, a member of the
RSPB’s youth council. Help support our independent journalism at
theguardian.com/sciencepod