On where the idea to make a film about bird names came from

So Earth Tones, [which Aliya and I co-founded], is an environmentally-focused media production company. Part of our MO is: “how do we make environmental science accessible and entertaining for the mainstream?” One of the specialists in our network came to us with the initial idea. He’s a CBC producer who’s also a biologist by background. His name is Connel Bradwell. He’s the assistant director and one of the writers on this [film]. Being a bird expert from a scientific background, he knew about the American Ornithological Society name change [project]. We thought it was quite interesting that we didn’t know anyone who had done a film on this — and the fact that it has so much to do with equity, with marginalized perspectives [made it a great fit for] Earth Tones. 

On the importance of bird names

We had a pre-production meeting with [Mike Webster,] the ex-president of the American Ornithological Society. And he told me something really interesting. He said that changing the names of birds is incredibly important because birds are known as “the gateway drug to caring about the environment.” Birds are colorful, they’re pretty, they are cute — I mean, we’re fascinated by them from when we’re little kids, right? And they’re accessible even in urban environments. If people start caring about birds, then they’ll start caring about pollution, then they start caring about access to green space, they’ll start caring about keystone species and conservation, they’ll start caring about the environment. 

Having names of birds that are associated to racist, colonial legacies… it shuts off birding from an entire population that is gonna be highly uncomfortable with that reality. By changing these bird names, you’re making birding more inclusive. We hope that after everyone sees this film, they want to be birders and then they’re not stopping because they realize that they’re entering into a space that isn’t welcoming because these birds are named after slave owners or naturalists that tested their theories on Indigenous peoples. 

On why the renaming is important for her

So Aliya Jasmine, [my] co-founder at Earth Tones, is the film director, one of the producers and writer — and she’s my sister. We both have young daughters. And so she speaks a lot in the film about the future generations. My daughter is nine months older than hers. As a mother, I’m surprised to be falling in love with the planet through my daughter’s discovery of how magnificent it is — her first time seeing a bird fly and her reaction. I share the same sentiment [as Aliya Jasmine]. Beyond inclusivity for birders in general, it hits home to both of us because we both have two-year-old daughters.