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Black Botanists Week
Fostering a community of Black people passionate about plants!
© Kenneth Cole Schneider
In 2020, the first Black Birders Week celebrated the contributions of Black birders and called for greater inclusivity in the outdoors. Later that summer, the first Black Botanists Week premiered. Georgia Silvera Seamans, an urban forester, helped organize the event. Now in its third year, the week helps foster a community of Black people passionate about plants and highlights the importance of making green spaces accessible to everyone. Learn more about the event here.
BirdNote®
Black Botanists Week
Written by Conor Gearin
This is BirdNote.
In 2020, the first Black Birders Week celebrated the contributions of Black birders and called for greater inclusivity in the outdoors. Later that summer, the first Black Botanists Week premiered. Georgia Silvera Seamans, an urban forester, helped organize the event.
Georgia Silvera Seamans: We didn’t use the technical definition of botanist. We said, any Black person who loves plants. And so we knew that folks were out there, and to see the participation was really affirming, it was very special.
Now in its third year, the event helps foster a community of Black people passionate about plants and highlights the importance of making green spaces accessible to everyone.
Georgia Silvera Seamans: Black, Brown and Indigenous activists and researchers have been demonstrating that neighborhoods of color, poor neighborhoods, are park-poor, and they have low tree canopy cover.
A tree canopy isn’t just nice to look at — it has real health benefits.
Georgia Silvera Seamans: It traps particulate matter, so you have fewer trips to the hospital for asthma. It cools streets, it cools your building, it slows down surface runoff, and the list goes on and on.
Planting trees where people live can bring in the birds, too.
Georgia Silvera Seamans: Birdsong has been shown to be calming, so it’s not just seeing birds, it’s hearing them.
[Northern Cardinal song, ML 49062, 0:17-0:20]
Learn more about this year’s Black Botanists Week on our website, BirdNote dot org. I’m Conor Gearin.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Northern Cardinal ML 49062 recorded by G. Budney.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote August 2022 Narrator:
ID# seamansg-02-2022-08-01 seamansg-02
Kenneth Cole Schneider
Photographer