Fred Scherlinder Dobb

Rabbi, Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation (and board member, Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life)

Today's Date: 12/31/06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

No one interaction actually stands out; I came to ecological awareness and sensitivity more from the theoretical than the experiential side.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Not really

Now? Many! One top pick is Timna Park in the Arava desert in southern Israel

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

bottlenose dolphin: grace, intelligence, kindness, beauty, 'soul' -- and if those weren't enough reasons, a starring role in Douglas Adams' "Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy"...

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Clearly it's anthropogenic global climate change, and its attendant extirpation of species and cultures. Alas, that one will be around for quite a while....

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

In all matters and decisions, take the long view -- as do the Bible (cf Exodus 34:6-7), Aldo Leopold ("thinking like a mountain"), the Iroquois tradition ("seventh generation"), and Creation/nature itself.

Scarlet Colley

South Padre Island Dolphin Research and Sealife Center, Texas

Today’s Date: 12-12-06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Researching our wild dolphins of South Padre Island

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Yes, I lived in Germany, Connecticut, Arizona, Texas and Massachusetts as a child and love the outdoors in all those places. I was very fortunate to have parents who loved the outdoors and were horse whisperers.

Now? I spend everyday on the waters of the Laguna Madre Bay with my wild dolphin family and thru our sealife center our mission is eco friendliness.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

My Dolphins are my passion

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Saving habitat is the greatest environmental challenge we face now and will be greater in the future as human demands increase on natural resources. Eco tourism can be the answer for many who are now exploiting their natural resources to preserving them.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Teach the Love for nature and how to take care of it above all to the next generation.

Henri Roca, MD

Round Table Noble Order of Tara

Today’s Date: 12/6/2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Receiving my medicine shield and then being visited by the animals who agreed to serve as medicine. All my life I have sought out nature as a mirror which can reflect life and its edges back into my awareness in ways that can easily be acknowledged

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Hot Springs, Arkansas - magical and healing

Now? The Spiritual centers of continents - Uluru, Mt Kailash, Grand Canyon, Amazon,...and of course Hot Springs, Northern California, the whole State of West Virginia

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Jaguar - my spirit teacher and dream guide - fast, stealthful, unseen and so can see all

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Global warming but as a manifestation of species-based arrogance and consumerism. Consumerism and technology will never fix the problem. Only by self-regulating ourselves as individuals and as a society can this rapid march to the brink be averted. Keep in mind that we will not destroy the planet - we will only destroy the ability for life as it currently exists to co-habitate the planet.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Consume less
Be mindful of resource utilization with every choice - where to work, what to buy, where the kids play soccer, etc
Respect the earth and the rock people as living entities
Ask for permission
Walk mindfully

Reah Janise Kauffman

Earth Policy Institute

Today's Date: November 30, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Although we had pets, the outdoors had more of an impact on me, being able to play for hours in the hills and woods near my home.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

No one spot, just all of it.

Now? The nearby trails for biking/running/walking as they follow a small stream and woods.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

The big cats, but I don’t know why exactly. Perhaps the way they move and run.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Two challenges: population growth and climate change.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Consider the future generations who will inherit the choices you are making today.

Dr. Chudamani Joshi

Ecologist/ Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, Nepal

Today's Date: 29 November 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

As a child growing up in Nepal I played hide and seek with woodpeckers and I could gaze for hours at a pair of vultures building a nest.

I enjoyed the natural world around me when I was young. Yet as a boy I did not realise that this was slowly but surely disappearing due to population growth, landuse change and habitat loss. I witnessed this happening in my home country Nepal and decided to take action.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

An Adina cordifolia tree near my house having a whole in its huge trunk and appeared some short of cave was my favorite place when I was young.

Now? Almost none. In this busy and fast growing city, hardly anyplace left to go.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Wild chicken, they are very colorful.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Landuse change and global warming in future

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Think globally, act locally

Olivia Robertson

co-founder, Fellowship of Isis (www.fellowshipofisis.com)

Today’s Date: 17 November 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

A wolf

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

A wilderness

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Dogs- loyal, loving

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Global warming

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Share the Earth with ALL her inhabitants

**sent via postal mail**

Manisha Gutman

The views expressed here are purely personal and should not be taken to be the views of Kalpavriksh.

Kalpavriksh Environment Action Group

Today's Date: 18 Nov 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

When I first started exploring issues of the environment I was living in a spiritual community near a big city in India. Periodically I would have to travel into town for work. On the route to the city, there was an area where a road was being widened. Flanking the road were two huge and majestic trees that may have been a couple of hundred years old. I soon realised that eventually they were going to be sacrificed for the sake of a few extra meters of road. Everytime I went into town I looked out for them and began to develop a love for them. One day after a long day in the city, I was returning back to the community, and saw that the deed had been done. The large tree lay cut in pieces by the side of the road. It was almost as though a dear friend of mine had been massacred heartlessly. What was worse was that the reason seemed so absolutely meaningless - those few extra meters were not really needed on a road that did not have much traffic in the first place.

I reached home and must have cried for nearly an hour - deeply moved by the helplessness of the tree and the stupidity of humanity!

This episode was a turning point for me. Although I had already read a lot of books and understood the logic behind the environmental movement - this event was a heart connection to nature. After this I found myself speaking to trees, nurturing plants and animals spontaneously.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Not really. I grew up in a big city and our contact with nature was limited. The only real natural element near us was the sea and even though we visited it often it was really more of a leisure activity than anything else. However, in the spiritual community I lived in, Nature was deeply respected, almost worshipped. My teacher was an avid lover of nature and the environment of the community was lush and energised.

Now? I don’t really have any one favourite place yet I love being in nature.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

I would say that I have several favourite animals. The Indian cow to me is the epitome of elegance, grace and beauty. The elephant I love because of the gentleness that emanates from it. However I have never really had the chance to know either of these intimately. In the past few years I have had several dogs and cats in my life and I am grateful to them because they have taught me how to love. I have often experienced a psychic connection with the cats in my life - telepathic communications and uncanny coincidences. The cat has taught me that it is indeed possible for humans to communicate with other species as clearly as they do with each other. The dogs I have known on the other hand have been generous with their affection and joy.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

I feel that the inner disconnect between humans and nature is the source of all current environmental challenges. This could possible be because most of us are also disconnected from our own inner selves, unable to control our thoughts and emotions, making choices out of fear and discontentment.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

My advice to folks would be to learn to love nature. To keenly observe her and relish the beauty and grace of all things natural. Once peoples hearts have opened to the immense beauty and compassion that nature embodies, conservation will become a priority for them in their own personal lives but also in the choices they make as professionals, government officials or corporate executives. The links between conservation and human survival will become clear - because even though these issues seem complex and entangled - they really stem from a simple truth - that we do not love nature anymore.

Joan Brown, osf

Franciscan sister, president of interfaith non-profit, Partnership for Earth Spirituality (http://www.earthspirituality.org/)

Today's Date: November 17, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

I am from a farm in the bluestem prairie land of Kansas. My family still farms. My life there growing up still forms and informs my personal choices, lifestyle and ministry. My relationship with the earth and sky are significant, ie. seeing the stars at night, watching thunderstorms build in summer, walking to catch the country bus and feeling the ever present winds of Kansas on the plains (not a favorite element, but formative), the smell of soil plowed, standing in fresh rainwater streams and rivulets in our dry region, being part of the immense sky with sunrises and sunsets of firey colors. The sensual engagements of living within the earth community on the farm is significant.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

A pond where I could see sunrises and sunsets, watch the stars at night and hear the frogs croak in the summer...I felt such an intimacy and being known by the Holy One and being part of a large sacredness of life.

Now? I live in the city and it is my backyard in this arid region where we live on one of the original acequias from which we receive water from the Rio Grande and irrigate fruit trees, flowering plants and provide habitat for birds, turtles, frogs, a pair of cooper hawks, numerous finches and woodpeckers, bees....we have a year round garden, chickens, ducks and bee hives...

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Deer. Deer has come to me often in times when I needed spiritual wisdom for decisions. She teaches me much and has a deep tradition within scripture such as the psalm "AS a deer longs for running streams, so longs my soul for you my God."

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Global warming, global warming and helping people feel a connection with the natural world, seeing themselves as part of a Sacred Earth Community, not outside of nature.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

If we do not care for the earth, we are not caring for our own souls and we do not really care about God. It is vital to know ourselves in an integrated way as human beings and so important to live this out in our lifestyles as a gift for the children. This is the most important action and must be part of addressing policy issues.

Charles Hall

Professor - State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Today's Date: Nov 15 06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

All of it --- probably the fish of my childhood ponds was what got me started – I was fascinated with everything about fish.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Everywhere – probably my uncle’s farm in Western Massachusetts

Now? Patagonia

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

How can I say? All of them

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Now --- development and population growth. In longer view global climate change, population growth, the end of cheap oil

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

There are very serious limits to what humans can do and should do and “Mother nature, in the long run, holds the high cards” i.e. we must in time work within Nature’s rules.

László Bartosiewicz

Lecturer - Loránd Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary

Today's Date: Nov. 14. 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Two dogs kept (consecutively) on the 2nd flood of an urban apt. building.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

The hills around my home town, Budapest.

Now? The same and Lake Balaton in Hungary.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

They are hard to compare. Dogs and cats for companion, but I have always adored moose and okapi for looks.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

CO2 emission rates and the storage of nuclear waste.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Optimize the use of energy and water.

Jim DiPeso

Policy Director, Republicans for Environmental Protection

Today's Date: November 9, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

My work as a journalist covering Lake Tahoe turned me onto a path dedicated to taking good care of the natural endowment that takes good care of us.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

The sunny, mostly empty beaches in Morro Bay, California.

Now? Anywhere near saltwater. Must be genetic. My ancestors were fishmongers in southern Italy.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Any member of the cat family. Their sleek grace and solitary nature open doors to a mysterious world where human vanity is a fleeting, irrelevant abstraction.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Global warming now, global warming decades from now. It is the most vexing, complicated, all-encompassing problem ever confronted by a dominant species that, for the sake of self-preservation, must learn new habits of foresight and self-discipline that are contrary to eons of wired-in and cultural drivers.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

To borrow a thought from John Muir, everything is connected to everything else. Whatever we do, for good or ill, radiates outward in astonishing ways. Think carefully, act wisely.

James Siegel

PhD candidate Anthropology Univ of Georgia, Biologist with Yakama Nation in Toppenish, WA

Today's Date: Nov 5, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Had large ornamental pond in my childhood in the backyard with fish and frogs. I lived in the suburbs of New York City. It was like having an aquarium in the backyard you could fall into.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

The Roslyn Duck Pond in Roslyn, NY, A Victoria era public park with ducks, geese, gulls, and terns. Lots of fish and salamanders in the area.

Now? My favorite place right now is a BLM Umtanum Creek, off the Yakima River in the Yakima River Canyon between Ellensburg and Yakima, WA

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Turtles by far – any kind land or water turtles.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

I think the loss of biodiversity is the present problem and global warming will be the future huge problem, if not now. The Arctic regions will be particularly vulnerable.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Although most environmental problems today seem biological in nature, they are actually cultural and social problems having to do with land use, economics, environmental decisions and cultural models of nature. All the environmental problems flow from sociocultural conditions. The solutions are as much cultural as biological.

Lynda Collrin

Cherry Brook Zoo Inc.

Today's Date: November 5, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Having lived in a zoo since 1979 it is difficult to single out one animal that has had the biggest impact on me. As a primatologist at the beginning my area of expertise was of course primates but working in a small nonprofit facility I have worked with every species from hoofstock to carnivores. Perhaps the defining moment was in 1981 when our Celebes Ape rejected her baby and it was brought to me to hand raise. There was not much information on hand rearing at this time and the baby was not doing well, I knew that the life of this tiny primate was in my hands and my decision to change it's diet from the standard one made me responsible for whether this animal lived or died, but having it look straight into my eyes and feeling the complete trust this animal put in me it was to me a milestone in working with animals. I am happy to say that my diet worked and the primate went on to be reintroduced back into another troop. My masters thesis was on working with these primates having hand raised five of them and finding out how to reintroduce them back to their own kind (this was not done prior to my research).

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Yes, the small family farm before they became large conglomerates and put small farmers out of business. My favorite time was hand milking the dairy cows in the early morning in the barn before letting them out to pasture.

Now? The Cherry Brook Zoo - mostly before the public is in or at night when I listen to the sounds of the animals through the night. The zoo is a noisy place and I guess not many people live withe the sounds of a zoo at night. I am one of the lucky ones.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

That is truthfully a question I cannot answer - each animal has it's own unique personality and though I can't say I love them all I can say I respect each and every one of them - all animals deserve to be respected for what they are, not because you can pet or feed them - we have no feeding allowed and there is no petting area in our zoo. We want to teach children that animals are worth something for their place in our environment and not because you can pet or feed them.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

I believe our greatest challenge is over population of our planet, the loss of habitat, the loss of animals and the decline of our oceans is a direct link to over population and our course to reaching a level that our planet will not be able to sustain.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

We must recognize the ties between our global environment and how they affect all of us. We must realize that what happens in another country does affect us and most importantly that one person can make a difference. By reducing our use of everyday products such as gas, lights, etc and reducing the amount of waste one person can make a difference, and if we approach it on a personal level then one person will affect another and hopefully it will have a domino effect. I also believe that our governments can do more but at this time they will still give money to save the painting of the tiger rather than support those facilities working to save the animal itself. Preserving the works of man and not funding the preservation of the works of nature.

Kate Povey

Communications Officer, The Gaia Foundation (www.gaiafoundation.org)

Today's Date: 3rd November 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

One that I've remembered recently is being shown around an orchard by the owner when I was about 8 years old. The orchard was near to where my grandfather lives and Mum used to help pick apples during harvest time. She was getting a bit old and was said to be quite a prickly person! But she seemed to take a liking to me and showed me around the whole orchard.

The grass was very lush and dewy as it was a damp misty morning, and the apples trees loomed up ahead, field after field. We walked over an old stone bridge and caught a glimpse of a kingfisher - the first one I'd seen. The flash of brilliant blue and orange has stayed in my mind ever since, and I suppose you could say it had an impact because I've just moved back to Devon with my partner and we are about to regenerate an old orchard there, in order to conserve old apple varieties and do small scale fruit juice and cider production.

I love the heritage of the English apple - the folklore surrounding it, the powers such 'sacred' trees can hold - I don't want all this knowledge lost.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

I grew up in the countryside and had lots of favourite places. One was an old oak tree, in the field next to our garden. My friends and I would climb in it and sit and have picnics in it. Down the middle was a huge hole (probably struck by lightning) and once we'd lost our flask of orange juice down it. It was too far down to be able to rescue it! The roots of the tree were also exposed and were just high enough to help me get on the pony that a friend of ours kept in the field and could ride bareback around the field before it decided to stop and have a roll!

Now? Now, I am still discovering our new farm. We have a woodland of about 5 acres but I haven't yet explored it properly. The most relaxing spot is at the back of the cow shed in the evening, when the sun is going down and it's nice and warm and protected from the wind.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

The animal I form most attachment with is probably my cat! I don't know if you were talking about pets and domestic animals or prefer what wild animal is my favourite but I think cats I have most experience of relating to. I like any native British wild animal but you can't get too emotional about them as you see so much road kill nowadays and farmers have problems with badgers, deer, rabbits and foxes - it can be quite a sensitive issue in the country!

My favourite wild animal would probably be the blue whale or killer whale - such magnificent creatures with strength and grace to take your breath away. I haven't seen one in person though.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Climate change - has been my greatest concern for over 10 years, now hopefully everyone else is waking up to it too. I think it will dominate the future too - together with how we live, carbon emission, use of energy, transport etc - it really does affect everyone's whole lives.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Don't waste anything! People buy so much rubbish that doesn't last. Think about every little thing you buy and dispose of - and try to cut it down drastically. It is not just a matter of governments taking the lead with regulations and legislation, EVERYBODY has to think and act.

Berol Robinson

Environmentalists/Ecologists For Nuclear Energy (EFN). I am a member of the Scientific and Medical Committee and president of the affiliated EFN-USA. Website www.ecolo.org

Today's Date: 02 November 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

[no answer given]

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

I was a city boy. When I was young, Boy Scouts was the thing to do, and I was an Eagle Scout. That was the most outdoor thing I ever did, and it didn't take.

Now? I'm still a city type.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

I think penguins are real cool ! I watched them one day in the penguin house at the Detroit Zoo, and I could watch them forever. The recent film "The March of the Emperors" was very moving.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

The world's population is much larger than the Earth can support. We live in an economy based on cheap oil - not only for electricity and transport but also for the very food we eat. We have new crops which feed us - the so-called Green Revolution has changed India from a famished land to a grain exporter, for example. But those new crops depend heavily upon fertilizer - derived from petroleum. It is said that "the soil is a tool for turning oil into food". And the oil is now running out - reserves of oil and natural gas are estimated to last a few decades, and we are discovering new deposits at a rate much less than current consumption - so we are living up our diminishing capital of energy.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Another source of energy is at hand: clean, safe, reliable, economical, and almost inexhaustible. It is nuclear fission; the technology is mature but subject to great improvements in the next 20 to 40 years. My fear is that the energy of nuclear fission may be set aside - that we may refuse to use it - for essentially trivial considerations: fear of radioactivity and radiation, the non-existent "problem" of radioactive waste management (dubbed "insoluble" by many), and fear of another accident like Chernobyl.

The problem of nuclear weapons proliferation remains, but that horse got out of the barn a long time ago. Every effort must be made in international politics to slow proliferation, but in the long run it is inevitable. Civilian nuclear power must not be sacrificed on the altar of weapons non-proliferation.

Standingontherock

Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians

Today's Date: October 30, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Perhaps to many to mention.................Turkeys, owls, dogs, cats, eagle, chicken, horses, ants, butterflies, dragonflies, birds.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Grew up in the country in Southern Maryland on a farm.

Now? Still live in Southern Maryland, but the country is leaving fast........many farms are gone. Been blessed to live near my great great grandparents home with over 60 acres and we can go there to retreat from the cares of the world.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Elephants...........I can't say I know why maybe their size.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

1. The inability to listen
2. To break free from the system

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

All things created are apart of the circle of life; there is nothing Created that is separate from the other, but all things were Created to work together.....Destruction of one......... is the destruction of all. The earth and all non-human life cries out with a loud voice to the Creator to put an end to mans deadly grip, and so man must wake up from his slumber and cry out too!........for all things that were created to work together............will die together.

Ellen Evert Hopman

Druid Priestess, Order of the Whiteoak - Ord na Darach Gile (www.whiteoakdruids.org)

Today’s Date: 28 October, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

I live in an Oak forest in Western MA. I started writing when I moved to this house and the trees continue to inspire me, twenty years later. I now think of myself as a forest creature, just like the bears, moose, foxes, eagles, ravens and deer that visit my garden.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

We moved a lot when I was a child (State Department brat). I always gravitated to the wildest area near the house; the ocean, a forest, or a field filled with sheep.

Now? I love waterfalls and visit all the local ones regularly.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Meerkats, because they are so civilized. They know how to co-operate. They take care of each others children, watch out for the group as a whole, and perform heroic acts of self sacrifice for the good of the tribe. For example they will stand guard and not eat or drink for many hours just to make sure the tribe is safe. If humans become extinct I am quite sure that Meerkats will rule.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Global warming. Instead of spending a billion dollars a week on violent wars to capture other nations’ oil supplies, we could be spending that money to re-vamp our entire energy infrastructure. We could be on a "war time" footing to convert to wind, solar, geothermal, biomass fuels sources. For $100.00 every car in the current fleet could be converted to ethanol. Farmers would benefit and we could cut our dependence on oil. It is time for an energy revolution, not more pre-emptive wars.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

See #4. War is the most barbaric, primitive and stupid approach to solving our energy needs. We need to be smarter than that. Oil is on the way out as a fuel (most analysts agree that we have already hit the peak of world production and it is downhill from here) what legacy are we leaving for future generations?

Karen Coshof

Stonehaven Productions

Today's Date: October 28, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

seeing the red sandstone Utah desert for the 1st time

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

any woodland

Now? my woods in Vermont

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

They are all my favorites, especially parrots, dogs, elephants and dolphins

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

CLIMATE CHANGE [Stonehaven Productions created and produced the new feature film The Great Warming, www.thegreatwarming.com which opens November 3, 2006 – JT]

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

[no answer given]

Charity Kirk

Climate Protection Campaign, ecobabes calendar (www.ecobabes.org)

Today's Date: October 26, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

I'm not sure. Looking at the insides of a turkey one thanksgiving and realizing where lamb came from started me on a path to veganism.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

The local creek where I played.

Now? Any place beautiful

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

When I was a child it was the snow leopard. Now, I'm very fond of dogs because I love interacting and experiencing them.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

The greatest environmental challenge is human apathy and selfishness. Also the current system we're in where it's very hard to change things.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Live simply and lighting. Enjoy the world rather than stuff. Think about the total repercussions of your choices, not just the immediate ones. Learn, learn, learn -- don't be afraid that it might make something you did in the past seem unnecessary or even wrong.

Steve Lawson

First Nations Environmental Network

Today's Date: October 25th, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Whales, bears and wolves. These are friends of ours. There are many stories about our interaction with these beings but in all the cases, they came to us for help. We spend a lot of time with them all in the wild and on the ocean here. We fought for the old growth forest sanctuaries which are habitat to so much to stop the logging but it is ongoing. What we do impacts everything and the animals know your intentions and it comes full circle. To be comfortable in this world, and that doesn't mean not being careful or cautious, one needs to have good relationships with all our relations.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Always loved the natural areas away from populations, industry and unnatural noise.

Now? The intact rivers where industry and resource extraction and human intrusion hasn't destroyed its essence. Especially in fall with the wild salmon and bears.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Favorite animal at this moment is wolf.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, human destruction of the forest cover of the earth and pollution of ocean plants that contribute oxygen, humans disassociation with the natural world out of greed and fear. and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future? alleviating fear and destruction, transforming fear into love

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Stop the destruction. Live in right relationship and love it. Find a way to connect with the natural world and make decisions based accordingly.

David Radcliff

New Community Project (http://www.newcommunityproject.org)

Today's Date: Oct. 24, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Trips to the Ecuadorian Amazon and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

The woods behind my house.

Now? Amazon.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Wolves. They are a keystone species, solidarity, yet given to community.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Global warming/U.S. consumption and oblivion.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Less of everything. Lower on the food/production chain. Love the earth as the Creator does.

Jackson Zee

International Fund for Animal Welfare

Today's Date: 4 October 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

When I was a volunteer I learned that I could have a place in the world, as a person who appreciates animals and nature, and that I could share that feeling of belonging and having a part of the responsibility of protecting our planet.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

I always loved green fields of grass and being on the beach as a child

Now? I still love being near large bodies of water but spent a lot of time in forests in Asia.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

I don't think I ever really had a favorite animal because I have learned every individual animal had its own personality and I enjoyed their individual quirks.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

I personally feel that the challenge is multi-faceted but in the basic essence if we can get all peoples to understand, identify and work towards a prioritized list of item then we can really consider having a future. Current issues that need consensus are: negative human population growth, greenhouse gas/global warming, water security, food security, energy security, societal development, global health and safety and preserving biodiversity.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Believe in hope and inspire action.

Peter Luscomb

General Curator, Honolulu Zoo

Today's Date: 3 Oct 06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

I spent five years as a child in Puerto Rico and during that time I had the opportunity to have horses. Horses gave me the ability and excuse to spend many hours out in the forest where I lived. It was during this period that I developed a love for exploring and enjoying nature.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

My fondest memories are of the Grand Tetons in Wyoming . What a beautiful location with wonderful wildlife.

Now? Kuper Range in Papua New Guinea.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Iiwi (Vestiaria coccinea) A beautiful bird with a charismatic and great personality.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

human population and the impact we have on our environment

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Conservation is about people and the impacts that they make on our ecosystems in the process of living. Many of our practices are exploitive, degrading and non sustainable. If these practices continue then the ecosystems we live in will be eventually degraded. As a conservation manager it is our responsibility to put value on maintaining an intact ecosystem, and encourage using the resources of that ecosystem on a sustainable basis.

The primary concerns are with habitat loss, ecosystem degradation, and exploitation of resources. Our work will need to focus on people, assisting them in developing sustainable practices that will allow them to meet their needs while preserving their native ecosystems.

VIKASH TATAYAH

CONSERVATION MANAGER, MAURITIAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION

Today's Date: 1st OCTOBER 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

BEING ON SERPENT ISLAND , THE MOST PRISTINE ISLAND IN THE MASCARENES AND AMIDST A MILLION BIRDS, ZILLIONS OF CENTIPEDES, INSECTS, SKINKS, SPINNER DOLPHINS SWIMMMING CLOSE TO THE ISLAND ON A TINY ROCK OF 40 HA. MADE ME REALISE HOW BADLY WE HAVE MESSED UP THIS EARTH

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

I GREW UP IN AFRICA, AND ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SPOTS WAS GOING OFF TO A SMALL LAKE TO LISTEN TO THE FROGS

Now? ROUND ISLAND , A PROJECT THAT I AND COLLEAGUES ARE MANAGING AND WHERE I AM DOING RESEARCH TOWARDS A HIGHER DEGREE

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

THE ALAOTRAN GENTLE LEMUR, BECAUSE IT IS JUST TOO CUTE!!

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, UNSUSTAINABLE USE OF RESOURCES, REDUCED SPACE FOR WILDLIFE, THREATENED ECOSYSTEMS and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future? THE SAME BUT ON A MUCH GRANDER SCALE, YET MORE UNSUTAINABLE EXPLOITATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

SLOW DOWN, THINK WHAT DAMAGE YOU ARE CAUSING AND TAKE ACTION NOW TO REVERSE THIS TREND

MARY WYKSTRA-ROSS

CHEETAH CONSERVATION FUND, KENYA PROGRAM DIRECTOR
www.cheetah.org

Today's Date: 1 OCT 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

MY FIRST RHINO SEEN IN THE WILD IS WHAT DREW ME TO CONSERVATION IN AFRICA.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

A WOODED AREA IN OUR BACK YARD.

Now? MANY PLACES IN KENYA – SAMBURU RESERVE IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PLACES TO GO WHEN I HAVE TIME. FOR A REAL BREAK I ALSO ENJOY NYALI BEACH MOMBASA.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

THE CHEETAH WAS THE FIRST ZOO ANIMAL THAT REALLY INRIGUED ME. THE EYES COUGHT MY ATTENTION THE FIRST TIME I WORKED WITH THEM AND THOSE EYES ARE WHAT STILL TELL ME THAT I HAVE MADE THE RIGHT CHOICES IN LIFE.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

HABITAT LOSS – HOW CAN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY BECOME DEVELOPED WITHOUT RAPING THE LAND?

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

THINK ABOUT YOUR CHOICES IN EVERYDAY LIFE – THE RESOURCES YOU USE, THE RECREATION ACTIVITIES YOU CHOOSE TO PARTICIPATE AND THE EFFECTS OF THOSE CHOICES.

Namory Traoré

Chef de la Section Promotion Communautaire de la Faune, Direction Nationale de la Conservation de la Nature, Mali [Community section head Promotion of Fauna, National Direction of the Nature conservation, Mali]

Today's Date: 26 Septembre 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Le jour où j'ai caressé un éléphant dans le Jardin Zoologique du Caire en Egypte. [The day when I cherished an elephant in the Zoological garden of Cairo in Egypt.]

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Oui: Une mare à 1(un) kilomètre de mon village [Yes: A pond with 1(un) kilometer of my village]

Now? Oui: Le village de Banankoro à 30 kilomètre au sud-ouest de Bamako, capitale du Mali. [Yes: The village of Banankoro with 30 kilometer in the south-west of Bamako, capital of Mali.]

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Mon animal préféré est l'éléphant. Ses dimensions énormes font de lui à la fois une curiosité scientifique et une curiosité touristique. [My preferred animal is the elephant. Its enormous dimensions make of him at the same time a scientific curiosity and a tourist curiosity.]

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Le défi le plus important de nos jours est la déforestation. Dans l'avenir, c'est la crise de l'eau potable qui sera le grand défi à relever. [The most important challenge nowadays is deforestation. In the future, it is the crisis of the drinking water which will be the great challenge to take up.]

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Eviter le gaspillage des ressources. [To avoid the wasting of the resources.

[translations done using Babel Fish Translations, http://babelfish.altavista.com]

PARK, Sung Jin

Graduate student, Wildlife Lab, Seoul National University

Today's Date: Sep. 23 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

My little house rabbits, which were brought from my maternal grandmother, raised in elementary school

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

a small remnant area near house where I could catch grasshoppers and nearby elementary school where I used to catch frogs, insects and so on.

Now? My rural house with a pair of tits inside of nest box nearby small stream and cliff

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Siberian Chipmunk! So cute and curious animal!

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Construction! Development! now and in the future. Immense habitats are being destructed and deteriorated!

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Please no more "waste" construction for election. Do not vote them.

Mrs. Madelaine Jay

Mount Usher Gardens, Ireland

Today’s Date: September 12, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Visiting the majestic Redwoods with their lovely bird and animal life

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Sitting on a great fallen hemlock tree with my dog in our Eucalyptus grove with the sun shining on my back!

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

A dog, because they are faithful, clever, courageous, and delightful companions

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Overpopulation, if nothing is done about this

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Do not waste water, us it as sparingly as possible

**sent via postal mail**

Bernard O'Callaghan

Program Coordinator - IUCN Viet Nam Country Program

Today's Date: 17 September 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

2. Did you have a favourite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Long summer evenings were spent on the rocky shores of coastal southern Australia. This lead to a love of the coast, rock pools and marine life..

Now? - Any wind-blown beach....

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favourite animal is, and why?

Seals...... So beautiful and graceful underwater..... On land a little goofy !! We all like familiar territory - but sometimes must spend some of our lives in places less comfortable...

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

- Greatest current challenge is the high level of consumption of resources in developed countries- with no change in sight. In developing countries, poverty / need for income for consumption is the greatest challenge......

- Responding to the change in the natural environment as a result of climate change due to over consumption...

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Tread lightly with a small footprint..

Harry Schram

Executive Director, European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA)

Today's Date: 13 September 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Perhaps early childhood in the immediate vicinity of Antwerp Zoo, and daily walks through the zoo on the way to and from home.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Depends on what you consider “the great outdoors”. A large nearby city park was quite “outdoors” to us, urban kids. It was where I first went looking for chestnuts in autumn, or went sleighriding in winter, and birdwatching a few years later.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

I don’t really have any favorite animal (or species).

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Now and in the future : changing the behaviour of people/consumers to make them act in a sustainable way, is our only chance for global survival!

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Always keep in mind that you have the power to make a difference.

Emily Sanson

Communications Department, the Jane Goodall Institute
www.janegoodall.org

Thank you for your interest in the Jane Goodall Institute. We would love to take part in your survey, however we simply do not have time at this moment and on short notice. Dr. Goodall is currently on a world tour, which makes things very busy here at the Institute. However, many of the questions presented in your survey are addressed in Dr. Goodall's books. It may be helpful for you to consult these books; they are available at all bookstores and our web store http://commerce.janegoodall.org/store/customer/. Reason for Hope would answer many of the questions you posed. Hopefully, this will provide you with some assistance. We apologize that we cannot be more involved at the present. We appreciate your interest in wildlife, the environment, and Dr. Goodall.

John Berry

Director, National Zoo

Today’s Date: 9/6/06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Scuba diving opened my eyes to the wonders of a whole new world.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Hiking along the C and O Canal and Potomac River

Now? The same

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Maureen, our 28 year old sea lion, who is the sweetest animal

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

current: habitat loss
future: availability of clean water for fish and wildlife

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

We should all work to make the world richer and more abundant in wildlife and natural resources for the next generation by living more carefully and sustainably.

**sent via postal mail**

Dan Mauger

Supporter Information Team, Friends of the Earth, www.foe.co.uk

Thank you for sending the survey. Unfortunately, because of the enormous pressures on time we are not able to answer each question in turn.

However, I can point you to the book Tony [Tony Juniper] wrote on a species that is very dear to him: http://www.amazon.com/Spixs-Macaw-Race-Worlds-Rarest/dp/074347550X

I can also say that the single most important issue we are working on is climate change or global warming. This is the biggest threat facing us and the lack of action by Government's and big business borders on a crime against humanity.

You can read more about efforts in the US to get action on the issue at:
http://www.foe.org/globalwarming/index.html

Eric Hanquinet

Curator, Siit arboretum botanical garden, Philippines

Today's Date: September 6, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Impossible to select one!, I would say monitoring gorillas in Africa, witnessing the birth of a volcano, deep sea storms on small crafts..

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

The Mediterranean rocky coasts

Now? Africa (central and eastern)

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

I wouldn't know how to select one; it would be a lie..
The tiger because It is gorgeous
The gorilla because It is human with innocence
The whale because It talked to me

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

OVERPOPULATION, and the lack of love for nature, without a doubt, the total lack of education governments are giving to their populations to that effect, keeping it unconcerned for reasons of commercial, political and religious interests. (Developing nations mostly for overpopulation matters, developed nation mostly for their irresponsibility in international law making in saving biodiversity and control pollution)

In the future the challenge is similar, the materialist greed of men taking over respect for nature, their egoistic nature ignoring the better tomorrow for their descendents for their present enjoyment. Non existent sense of Ethics, self respect of our own species, someone has to tell them, education.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Get involved, because if you don’t now, there is no more time for those after you. The only substantial pride of being a human being that is left for you to have. Get informed, and talk around you, decide for yourself which environmental groups are worthy of your support, our governments are not interested in helping, we must pressurize them or we have to help ourselves.

For the least educated, and for the great majority of the planet's population, help them to see how to love nature, many don’t know yet there is something to love there..

Jaqueline M. Goerck

Director, BirdLife/SAVE Brasil

Today's Date: 04 September 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

When I started working for a bird-banding initiative at the University of São Paulo in 1985 and held birds in my hands for the first time, I realized how fragile they were and decided to dedicate my life to study and conserve them.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

I did not have a favorite place, I just loved being outdoors, observing small and big animals, enjoying nature.

Now? Still the same

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Such a hard question. I love to see bizarre animals in zoos. I think it is great to have national animals because most children or adults will never see these animals in nature. However, I think it is also interesting to see exotic animals (at least from my perspective), such as aardvarks and others, because it is unlikely that I will ever see them in nature myself.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Changing human's perception about the responsibility each individual plays in conserving the natural environment for themselves and for future generations.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

My advice would be that human beings should slow down, try to understand the importance of each one of their attitudes and avoid living in a frenetic rhythm imposed by the current society. This way they would be, perhaps, more likely to understand the consequences of their attitudes.

Les Carlisle

Group Conservation Manager, Conservation Corporation Africa, (CCAfrica)

Today's Date: 4th September 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Teaching 5 orphaned cheetah to hunt.

2. Did you have a favorite during your childhood?

Yes Cheetah, and Cape Buffalo.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Cheetah because of their vulnerability and speed, Buffalo because of their attitude.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Habitat remains the main issue, Space for wildlife needs to become a bigger priority, the future lies in Tran frontier park encompassing different ownership regimes of land. Private Communal and National Parks.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

We have to change the way we use our resources and the value we place on space. We must start using all land for the optimum use including changing some parks to food production and huge amounts of agricultural land in low rainfall areas back to wildlife.

Luis Palma

Wildlife biologist/University of the Algarve, Portugal

Today's Date: 1st September 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

The sighting of Iberian lynx at close quarters and its wilderness habitat while I was studying them.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

None in special.

Now? Boavista Island in the cape Verde Islands, West Africa

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

The Bonelli's Eagle because I've been studying it for the last 15 years.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Global Climate Change and putting pressure on the main responsible countries to sign international conventions that may help reversing it, especially the United States.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Fight for awarding the future of mankind and our accompanying biodiversity.

Christine Artist

Private Citizen - Australia

Today's Date: 04/09/06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

There have been many, but rearing a baby Pademelon was very satisfying.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Yes, the Kruger National Park (in South Africa)

Now? I live on a 100 acre bush block with lots of birds. Also pademelons, koalas, possums, bandicoots and the odd echidna. Also a visit to the Kruger Park whenever I return to S.Africa on a visit.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

To pick one is very difficult - I love All animals - probably beside man's best friend, my faithful dog, a Giraffe. I just love the giraffe - why, I'm not really sure - she is so tall and yet so graceful.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Technology - making things better and bigger - WHY???
Water - start recycling - you can't live without it.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Slow down - we're killing the planet (and ourselves) at a mighty rate of knots.
Start protecting what we have left - it isn't much.

Quote: When the last tree is cut, the last river poisoned, and the last fish dead, we will discover that we can't eat money

Dave Taylor

York Green Party

Today's Date: 1st September 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

I tried to keep a ladybird as a 'pet' in a matchbox when I was a really quite a young kid. I was fond of it but didn't know what I was doing and so naturally it died. I realised that I was responsible for its death and that the captivity that I'd inflicted on it was wrong.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

I lived in a town but loved to play in the green and open areas where there were trees and streams between the housing developments. Due to in-fill development these places no longer exist in my home town and are disappearing in cities like York where I now live.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Tiger. The majesty of these beasts and all the big cats really. I love my pet cat and occasionally think of the quote, "Why do we keep cats as pets? Because we can't stroke tigers."

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Global warming and other forms of climate change due to our unsustainable misuse of fossil fuels. The USA is already fighting wars for access to the last reserves of oil instead of working to reverse its dependence on the stuff. The problem will only get worse as China and India seek to emulate the USA's bad example.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Think global and act local. We have to change the world and this means making the worst polluters pay for their environmental crimes, however, we have all got to accept responsibility for this. It would be no use me criticising Bush and the Oil Barons if I were to drive around in an SUV, would it?

Bonnie Strawser

Supervisory Wildlife Interpretive Specialist, Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, (USFWS)

Today's Date: 8/30/06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Camping with my family as a child

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

"Buggs Island" near the VA/NC line (currently Kerr Lake)

Now? Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

River Otter- because they play for no reason except the fun of it.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Water quality; water quality

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Think globally; act locally.

Peter d'Aguilar

Marketing Officer - Bedgebury National Pinetum & Forest

Today's Date: 31st August 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Being on Safari in Zimbabwe. Also everyday sunsets, rainbows, the changing seasons.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

The Devil's Punchbowl in Surrey, UK (where I grew up)

Now? Still the Punchbowl, plus the Blue Pool in Dorset and Bedgebury (where I work)

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Rabbits. My family love them. They are affectionate, eccentric, easy-going.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Too much dependence on technology and machinery. Milking the planet dry of its natural resources

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Treat the natural world with respect

Dr. Mark Nicholson

Executive Director, Plants for Life International

Today's Date: 29.08.06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Our reforestation project in Kenya

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Aberdares Mountains

Now? Kakamega Forest

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Colobus monkey as it reminds me of the great East African Highland forests

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Deforestation and anthropogenic CO2 emissions leading to global warming. Response to global warming and predicting its long-term effects.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Conserve your catchment forests to protect water supplies

Ann Turner

Co-ordinator and Founder, The Mabula Ground Hornbill Research & Conservation Project

Today's Date: 31 August 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

I have been running a conservation project for an endangered flagship species of the savannah biome, which has hands on conservation management to stop the decline of Southern Ground Hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri). I live in the bush on a big five reserve and travel considerably throughout South Africa doing a population count, harvesting second hatched chicks (which always die) from wild nests, and releasing juveniles into non-viable groups in the wild, with erection and checking of artificial nests along the Limpopo River. Huge impact!

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Venezuela where I lived for 11 years.

Now? The bush in South Africa

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Elephants - in the wild - where they assume huge characters and way of life. Have an aura of soul and old knowledge and intelligence. Very hard for them to keep this when prevented from free roaming in their own habitat.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Now...the encroachment of human populations into new areas throughout the world thus killing another habitat. In the future...water.

We behave as though the environment is endless and sustainable. Our blithe use or rather misuse of water is terrifying....where I live huge rivers are dry except when the big rains come, and farmers, industry and populations take water along the rivers until they dry up in the most thoughtless and greedy way, thinking only of themselves. It terrifies me.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Respect. Teach and learn respect for what we have influence over.

Cheryl Kortemeier

Director of Communications and Administration, Trees Atlanta

Today's Date: 8/30/06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

I have fond memories of camping at Cumberland Island (Georgia) as a child. I can still remember seeing armadillos and alligators for the first time, and the smell of the air there was very “specific”—not unlike rotten eggs.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

The creek down the street from my house.

Now? AuTrain, Michigan. It is a beautiful area of the Upper Peninsula that offers lots of great spots for outdoor recreation and enjoying beautiful vistas.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Pika. I saw several while hiking in Colorado as a child, and they were adorable. I was fascinated by this “elusive” animal, because they do not live in Georgia.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Currently, I think air pollution is the biggest challenge. In the future, I think air and water management will continue to be great challenges worldwide.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Be respectful. Know that every action you take each day impacts the world around you.

Johnson Bradley Bridgwater

Director of Conservation Outreach, WildShare International

Today's Date: 8-30-06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

The first animal that resonated with me was the pileated woodpecker-- HUGE and so distinct. The first plant I remember was the Yellow Lady Slipper. Both of these were in my own backyard, as I grew up in a woodlands outside of Apple Valley, Minnesota before it was developed. I spent every day and most evenings wandering the woods, often with my father who was an ornithologist and zoo director. As a testament to the area's natural power, I returned last year to visit my childhood home, and discovered the whole area had been preserved and set aside as part of a unique high school that specializes in ecological study programs.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Yes, the northern woods of Minnesota.

Now? El Cielo Biosphere Reserve in Tamaulipas, Mexico.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Owls. Apart from their piercing eyes and seductive calls, it is because they are present everywhere, and yet rarely seen. For me, this should be an ideal for humans-- make as little impact on the natural world as possible while doing your part for the ecosystem.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Plain and simple, non-sustainable development. Earth is one huge equation, and currently the input and output are terribly out of balance. This will continue to be the greatest challenge until an entirely new mind-set can be instilled in humanity.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

TAKE YOUR CHILDREN CAMPING, and ensure they have a deep connection to the land.

Kim Forrest

Wildlife Refuge Manager/U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Today's Date: 30 Aug 06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Releasing an endangered species back into the wild.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Back country of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, CA.

Now? That, and the Okavango Delta of Botswana, Africa.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Cheetah. I love cats, and this one is so unique and special!

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Development (both urban and agricultural); spurred by population growth.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Do everything humanly possible to protect what's left!

Patricio Novoa

Jefe de Horticultura, Jardín Botánico Nacional, Viña del Mar, Chile [Head of Horticulture, National Botanical Garden, Vine of the Sea, Chile]

Today's Date: 29 August 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Cuando tenía 10 años de edad, hacía vacaciones, en el campo de un tío en el sur de Chile y veia la destrucción de los bosques de Robles para abrir terreno para la actividad agrícola y ganadera y esa experiencia de vida en el campo y destrucción de bosques me marcó para toda la vida. [When it had 10 years of age, vacations ago, in the field of an uncle in the south of Chile and veia the destruction of the forests of Oaks to open to land for the agricultural and cattle activity and that experience of life in the field and destruction of forests marked me for all the life.]

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Curarehue, al interior de Pucón, en el sur de Chile. [Curarehue, to the interior of Pucón, in the south of Chile.]

Now? Pucón. [Pucón]

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

no tengo animal favotito. [I do not have favotito animal.]

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

La destrucción de los bosques tropicales y los bosques templados, el gran cambio será de tipo climático. [The destruction of the tropical forests and the forests temperings, the great change will be of climatic type.]

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Hay que socuializar el conocimiento de la naturaleza, de la flora, la fauna y su ambiente a nivel de detalle, especialmente la flora que esta demasiado "underrated" [It is necessary to socuializar the knowledge of the nature, of the flora, the fauna and its atmosphere at detail level, specially the flora that this too much "underrated"]

[translations done using Babel Fish Translations, http://babelfish.altavista.com]

Joep Hendriks

Director - Parque Cóndor, Ecuador

Today's Date: 08/29/06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Seeing a raptor flying.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Yes, moors, even till now.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

Peregrine falcon, because it has such a great way of flying.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Stopping the destruction of natural habitat; that will be in the future also the greatest challenge.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Respect your environment and don't waste our natural resources.

Emily Neidigh

Outdoor Recreation Planner / FWS

Today's Date: 08/29/06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

There was a creek that flowed under a railroad track near my parent's house. I thought it had such potential for wildlife - if only we could remove the tons of litter that seemed to cover it. We did a bit of work with what we could move and carry as kids. I guess that was when habitat restoration became a love for me - being able to remove some evidence of human impact and make the world look untouched - little miracles that even I can perform.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

My favorite outdoor place was in a tree. Any tree - any place. I read in them, climbed them, ventured to peer into nests and collected leaves as I believed a scientist would - to identify them all. I suppose if I had to choose a specific place, I would choose my grandparent's farm. It was my job to venture as far and through as many barbed wire fences as I could when we visited at Christmastime. I was an explorer - a discoverer – seeing and experiencing things written in my head as an epic journal which would inspire many.

Now? I relied on a lot of different wild places when I was in college – as fortresses from the city. Now I live in rural America and find myself without just one place to choose.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

I love the dragonfly. Any dragonfly really, and almost any insect. I suppose the overall reason for loving an insect is because so many of them are misunderstood - not being "cuddly" or controllable. Really very fascinating creatures with simple - but powerful - construction such as the dragonfly to the more technical and acrobatic flies. The smallest difference between each species' wing veination indicating their place in the world. And dragonflies.. well, there's a time when that seemingly fragile flier can eat a small fish with alien-like techniques. Such things are fascinating and offer a challenge to the viewer.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

There are two things - and it can be difficult to accomplish them both. We need people to care about the resources enough to conserve them. But we need people to understand the difference between conservation and management techniques such as harvesting. I think Leopold said it best when he said "One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise". We need to convince people that economics don't matter if the natural world falls apart. Everything is linked and we need to look far enough into the future to at least try and see what investment will make the most difference.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

When I visit a place that doesn't have the resources to teach children the arts, I feel pain for those children and the beauty that they are missing. I hope that they will be able to develop an appreciation for those things if they ever get the opportunity to experience them. The same is with the outside world. There is something so refreshing - so timeless - so healing - about the outdoors. And everyone should get the opportunity to experience it. So, take the time. Get outside. Consider the life of the ant - of the tree - of the antlion waiting for a meal to slip into their funnel. When you walk a trail - don't focus so much on the wildlife you see or don't see - but imagine the wildlife that's been there and what they may have been doing.

Robert A. Ritchie

Parks Naturalist, The Niagara Parks Commission

Today's Date: 29.August.2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

My parents exposed me (and my siblings) to nature of all sorts through the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. My father is/was interested in birds so in searching for birds in the trees for him to observe and identify I was more interested in the beauty, friendliness and sheltering of the trees. It has only been in the latter half of my life that I have come to realize that the web of life that radiates out from “my” central core of trees is really what it is all about, for me.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

In 1956 when I was 8 years old my parents moved us out of Toronto (even then it was a metropolitan area) to a small “hobby” farm north of the city (it was farming country then but is subdivisions and wealthy estates now). I remember thinking it was the worst thing that could happen, leaving all my city “chums” behind, moving from a big city elementary school to a one-room country school with eight grades taught by one teacher; but it was the best thing that could have happened to an 8-year-old boy. The adjacent forest became my favourite place and I got to know about 1000 surrounding acres very intimately – every pond, lake, forest, field, hill, valley, etc., and all the occupants therein. Then came puberty and a driver’s license………………………..!

Now? “Be Here Now” – no one favourite place, but I do spend a lot of time in the Near North of Ontario, especially inside the polygon bounded by Parry Sound, North Bay, Algonquin Park and Huntsville.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

As I get older I search for the inherent beauty in each and every species (flora and fauna) regardless of the labels and attributes (both positive and negative) that human beings ascribe to them. What makes each of them tick and where do they fit into the greater scheme of things (the web of life)? As a child I had a “koala bear” and a “fuzzy rabbit”; I still have them (hidden away safely in my blanket box, along with the first shoes of my children), although the Koala bear is getting thread bare from love.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

The greatest environmental challenge facing us now is getting human beings to live within their means as it relates to the overall Carrying Capacity of our individual environments and the planet as a whole, and the survival of all the other species that we threaten with extinction. The greatest challenge in the (immediate/pending) future will be our own survival as a species when The Correction (my emphasis) plunges our burgeoning population to well below the Carrying Capacity that the environment and the planet ascribe to us.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Examine your “wants” and your “needs”, don’t give in to needless advertising and marketing, give up something each day that you don’t need, “live lightly on the E(e)arth”, and “teach your children well”. “You can’t always get what you want but you just might find you get what you need.” But my favourite quotation is: “Faith is knowing there is an ocean because you have seen a brook.”

DeeVon Quirolo

Co-founder/Executive Director, REEF RELIEF

Today's Date: August 29, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

I was born in South Florida and my earliest memories feature swimming at the beach as a young child; I have always lived near the ocean.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

see above

Now? The coral reefs of the Florida Keys were an incredible underwater world when I first saw them in the 1980's. That beauty and diversity and joy made living in Key West at that time an exceptional experience. I could walk around a nearby island to harvest enough conch for dinner in those days and the water was "gin-clear" as they called it.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

My favorite is the sea turtle; wise and slow and ever moving forward, voyaging around the world.

My other favorite is the dolphin, spritely and free, expressing the joyful abandon of living in the ocean.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

The decline of our oceans that support our food chain, atmosphere, economy, and quality of life.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Every journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step; so be the change in your own life; make a small difference every day by adopting an ecofriendly lifestyle that respects all the diversity of life around you and encourage others to be respectful as well. Resist the mainstream mindset that accepts the notion that it is ok deplete all our natural resources for our immediate short term pleasure.

Kani Meyer

Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, Kentucky

Today's Date: 8/28/06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

Perhaps the most moving experience was the sight of female leatherback turtles struggling to haul themselves up a beach in Trinidad to lay their eggs. The thought that this action has been going on for thousands of years (perhaps millions) and that these habitats are now endangered by humans made it a particularly poignant experience.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

Growing up I had the wonderful experience of spending summers on an island in Maine. We hiked mossy trails, boated to nearby islands to rock hop around their perimeters, visited remote fishing communities and just had the time and interest to learn the plants and birds of the region.

Now? I am on that island as I write this. I am the 8th generation here so the roots grow deeply.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

I really have no favorite...I love and respect all animals except, maybe the tick...

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

Human population and the pressure it puts on all the other organisms with which we share this planet is the biggest threat I see today. We need to realize that the planet is not here to serve us but that we are here due to the nature that surrounds us and that has informed our evolution.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Humans are causing the largest environmental changes that are happening today. We must remember that life on Earth will go on, but that we as a species may not due to our impetuous misuse and misunderstanding of how Earth systems work.

E. Rushing

President/Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance

Today's Date: August 28, 2006

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

The biggest impact on me has been with nature and the work that I am currently doing at the Garfield Park Conservatory and really understanding the impact that plants have on every aspect of our daily lives.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

My favorite public place was the park or just anywhere outdoors.

Now? Now I love being close to the water any lake or ocean.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

My favorite animal is the lion. Everyone and everything reveres the lion.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

The greatest challenge now is global warming and recycling. I don’t think any of us can tell what it will be in the future other than catastrophic if it current environmental issues are not addressed now!

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

My advice to everyone would be do your part now to protect the environment and our natural resources and teach your children to respect nature.