“It’s the wonder of the natural world that makes it worth fighting for. And if we solve the problems of the natural world out of wonder – rather than out of fear and panic, it will have a deeper and more lasting impact,” said Dara McAnulty, the 16-year-old environmental activist and author of the award-winning book, Diary of a Young Naturalist.
McAnulty was in conversation with Irish Times journalist, Freya McClements on Friday evening in one of the closing sessions of Winter Nights, the Irish Times online festival.
McAnulty said that he hoped people would retain the greater appreciation of the natural world that they discovered during the Covid-19 pandemic. “I hope people will take it into the future and see how it helps us with our mental health,” he said.
“When you are out in nature, take a few minutes to notice all the different things and how they are connected. Be amazed at how beautiful it is. And, once you notice the world around you, it motivates you to put pressure on politicians to protect it,” he said.
In the hour-long chat, McAnulty read extracts from his debut book, Diary of a Young Naturalist for which he won the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing and an Irish Book Award in 2020. McAnulty was also is the youngest ever recipient of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds medal for conservation in 2019.
McAnulty’s debut book chronicles his intense connection with the natural world as an autistic teenager, and how his love of nature brought him solace from mental-health problems exacerbated by episodes of bullying and online trolling.
“Going out into nature allows me to escape from the confusing, terrifying and busy world. I’m inspired by the all the details that work in a cohesive way. I don’t think anything else compares to its wonder and complexity,” he said, adding that he is lucky that his parents allowed him to explore outdoors, go wild and climb trees.
He also spoke about how writing is essential to his existence. “Before I started my blog, writing was an alternative method for communicating and expressing myself because when I was 13, I could hardly talk to anyone,” he explained.
However, over the course of his year-long nature diary, McAnulty moved from “being solitary to reaching out” and at the end of that year, he partook in the Extinction Rebellion protest in Belfast. “Even reading back over the book helps me learn more about myself,” he said.
He said that he had an “awkward relationship with social media”. “It’s a way I can express myself in an easy way instantly in short pieces and it allows me to be out there but not everyone is considerate and it can get really bad so I take breaks so that I can recover and rebuild my confidence to get back out there,” he explained.
He appealed to us all to be “a bit kinder to one another” and for greater awareness about autism. “We don’t bite – much,” he laughed.
McAnulty’s forthcoming projects include a children’s book, Wild Child – illustrated by Barry Falls and a book which explorations mythology and the natural world. “I love mythology and to write a book about it is a dream,” he said.
