Outside With Lira

Three films for your perusal.

If the only way we’ve ever connected is through my writing, then firstly - thanks very much for reading. And secondly - here’s a little bit about myself.

I like to keep to myself, mostly. I’ve never been the loudest person in the room. I care deeply about lots of things, and have a fairly black and white view of what’s right and wrong in the world, but I’m more comfortable writing and re-writing my thoughts than I am standing on a stage with a megaphone.

Others, however, are born for the stage. The environmental movement needs everyone, of all backgrounds, to champion nature for the good of the world and every one of us in it. Some people have a certain charisma that naturally draws in crowds, and Lira Valencia is one of those people.

If you’re not familiar with her, you can find her on Instagram as outsidewithlira where she’s racked up over 75,000 followers through her passionate exploration of the world around her.

A self-proclaimed city girl from Croydon, she’s doing fantastic things bringing urban nature to new audiences all over the world.

She also happens to work as a ranger for the London Wildlife Trust, which is where I first met her, and she agreed to take part in my documentary The Birdwatchers. The film is currently on the festival circuit and has been nominated for Best Short Documentary at Sunrise Film Festival (you can get tickets here if you’re up that way at the beginning of August - looks like there are some fantastic films keeping my little documentary company.)

But I’m not here to talk about my own film. I wanted to share something else.

Earth Minutes is an environmental communications organisation creating some really fantastic films on a wide range of topics. And they’ve recently put out a three-part series starring Lira that I can highly recommend.

I had the pleasure of going to the London premiere and meeting some of the like-minded nature enthusiasts working hard to give the natural world a voice. It was a real celebration of bringing nature into urban spaces, and how people have used nature to find meaning and overcome periods of struggle in their lives.

Urban communities need nature more than ever, and nature needs everyone to get on board and shout for it. With a new government taking the reins of the UK last week, it’s time to laser focus our efforts to bring our planet back from the brink, and there are more people than ever before working hard to make it happen.

Finding them, and building community, is carving a path through adversity.

Check out episode 1 below and the other films over at Earth Minutes’ YouTube channel.