Having amassed more than 6 million followers in under a month, the team behind Sir David Attenborough’s new Instagram account announced that they would not be posting on the social media platform anymore. Here, intersectional climate activist and presenter of the Bad Activist podcast Tori Tsui pens a powerful letter to Sir David, campaigning for the mic to now be passed to other environmental defenders, and for this huge platform to be utilised to amplify the voices of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour who have been on the frontlines of the fight for our planet:
Dear Sir David Attenborough,
Thank you for all that you have done for our natural world but it’s time to #PassTheMic.
Like millions of others you have inspired me from a young age to celebrate and advocate for our Earth and its inhabitants. A world which currently hangs in the balance and whose future seems so precarious and unpredictable during this time. I can’t imagine the weight of the world you must have on your shoulders as an ambassador for our planet and the environment. And you, more than most, can attest to the fragility and wonder of the world having worked in natural history for longer than I have been around. Your legacy inspires so many including myself, who even studied conservation and natural history in the hopes of pursuing a similar path.
But with that legacy we must understand that the load is not yours to bear. The platform you have created is exactly why it is so important to spotlight those who will be bearing the brunt of the world’s sixth mass extinction and climate crisis. I am asking you, and others of influence, to please #PassTheMic to environmental defenders who have been on the frontlines and activists around the world campaigning for the natural world that you have created your legacy on.