Immediate past president, Mountaineer Chapter, National Audubon Society
Today’s Date: July 19, 2006
1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?
I am a retired biologist. There are many interactions over the years--barn animals including cattle and cats, fish, aquatic insects, birds in particular, also small mammals. I have particular attachments to Mourning Doves, Nuthatches, cats, and Voles.
2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?
My grandfather's farm in Indiana and a camp on Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire--especially the waterfront area at that camp.
Now? Yes--a rail trail in Preston Co., WV, and my own back yard and a walk along a ridge that starts there.
3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?
Probably house cats and meadow and pine voles. I've always tried to live with cats, and of all the rodents I have worked with the vole group seems to have the most appeal.
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--now and in the immediate future.
5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?
Get involved in the environment as much as you can and remember that everying is connected, one way or another, and if the environment doesn't survive, people won't survive either.
Thanks to my sister Michelle McIlroy for designing the logo!
July 19, 2006
Lauren Khoyi Noyes
Science Peer Tutor, Northern Essex Community College
Today’s Date: July 19th, 2006
1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?
Wild Edible Plants (teaberry, asparagus, raspberries, Phragmites, dandelion greens, mints, etc.), I find moss and ferns easy to grow and tend -- very calming, the sound of rain
2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?
childhood haunt: i built a sticks-and-leaves lean-to in my backyard as a kid and would make it the center of all my games with the neighborhood kids. it was our fort, it was a place to hide treasures (pretty feathers, fishing line, etc), and it kept us dry in rainstorms.
Now? in a canoe on a pond, in sand dunes, on the Great Marsh.
3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?
As a kid I was always impressed that a ring-tailed lemur could so well resemble a skunk and a primate: I called them "skunky-monkeys." Little did I know, huh? Now I dig the echidna.
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?
Present challenge: loss of habitat/niche. Especially for amphibians, it's astounding how quickly they're being decimated. How much longer will we have amphibians before they all succomb to chitrid fungal infections? ...anyways. Too sad. It's not just about rainforest habitats, but they're surely well publicized and many more well-explored habitats certainly pale in comparison when we think of how much we'll lose.
Future challenge: preservation and the energy crises that continue and will continue to confront us. Will we preserve more lands? Will we undergo an anti-Industrial Revolution to some extent? What's coming next as humans interact with the environment? We are the problem.
5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?
The world is bigger than us, that is for sure, but is more fragile. We need to become both parents and children of the land we inhabit: parents in that we'll wisely look after its best interest, and children in that we won't forget where we came from.
Today’s Date: July 19th, 2006
1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?
Wild Edible Plants (teaberry, asparagus, raspberries, Phragmites, dandelion greens, mints, etc.), I find moss and ferns easy to grow and tend -- very calming, the sound of rain
2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?
childhood haunt: i built a sticks-and-leaves lean-to in my backyard as a kid and would make it the center of all my games with the neighborhood kids. it was our fort, it was a place to hide treasures (pretty feathers, fishing line, etc), and it kept us dry in rainstorms.
Now? in a canoe on a pond, in sand dunes, on the Great Marsh.
3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?
As a kid I was always impressed that a ring-tailed lemur could so well resemble a skunk and a primate: I called them "skunky-monkeys." Little did I know, huh? Now I dig the echidna.
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?
Present challenge: loss of habitat/niche. Especially for amphibians, it's astounding how quickly they're being decimated. How much longer will we have amphibians before they all succomb to chitrid fungal infections? ...anyways. Too sad. It's not just about rainforest habitats, but they're surely well publicized and many more well-explored habitats certainly pale in comparison when we think of how much we'll lose.
Future challenge: preservation and the energy crises that continue and will continue to confront us. Will we preserve more lands? Will we undergo an anti-Industrial Revolution to some extent? What's coming next as humans interact with the environment? We are the problem.
5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?
The world is bigger than us, that is for sure, but is more fragile. We need to become both parents and children of the land we inhabit: parents in that we'll wisely look after its best interest, and children in that we won't forget where we came from.
Skott Holck
Private Citizen
Today’s Date: July 19, 2006
1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?
When I was a teen I found myself very depressed one night. I took a drive with no particular destination in mind. At one point, I got out of the car to look at stars. After gazing upward for a while I glanced down and discovered there were nearly a dozen rabbits all about my feet. They seemed completely un-timid around me. For a few moments we had this odd bond. Then they just sort of jumped off. Since that time, I have had a deep connection with rabbits.
2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?
I was raised in a very urban setting, but I did have a favorite tree in my great grandfather's yard.
Now? There is a small rock out cropping along the Oregon coast called Devils elbow. I feel very connected to the Earth whenever I am there.
3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?
I very much like the Sloth, I find its pace and relationship to the world around it representative of a relaxed state of mind.
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 humanity's attitude of separateness from the world to be its biggest challenge now and in the future. As long as mankind thinks of itself as being masters of the Earth, we will forever be at odds with it. We are as much a part of the Earth as the rocks under our feet. Until we realize this in a widespread manner, we will always have difficulty.
5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?
Treat the Earth as you do yourself. There is no division. WE are the Earth.
Today’s Date: July 19, 2006
1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?
When I was a teen I found myself very depressed one night. I took a drive with no particular destination in mind. At one point, I got out of the car to look at stars. After gazing upward for a while I glanced down and discovered there were nearly a dozen rabbits all about my feet. They seemed completely un-timid around me. For a few moments we had this odd bond. Then they just sort of jumped off. Since that time, I have had a deep connection with rabbits.
2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?
I was raised in a very urban setting, but I did have a favorite tree in my great grandfather's yard.
Now? There is a small rock out cropping along the Oregon coast called Devils elbow. I feel very connected to the Earth whenever I am there.
3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?
I very much like the Sloth, I find its pace and relationship to the world around it representative of a relaxed state of mind.
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 humanity's attitude of separateness from the world to be its biggest challenge now and in the future. As long as mankind thinks of itself as being masters of the Earth, we will forever be at odds with it. We are as much a part of the Earth as the rocks under our feet. Until we realize this in a widespread manner, we will always have difficulty.
5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?
Treat the Earth as you do yourself. There is no division. WE are the Earth.
Allan P. Drew
Professor, State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry
Today's Date: July 19, 2006
1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?
When a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa I was chased by a hippopotamus in Zambia. It taught me respect for nature!
2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?
Yes - the sand hills overlooking the Wisconsin River
Now? L'Escalier Tete-chien (snake's staircase) in Dominica
3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?
Chestnut-mandibled toucan, the largest toucan in Central America. The bird reminds me of the rain forest which is its habitat and an ecosystem most fascinating and most endangered.
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?
Controlling carbon emissions and reducing the global warming that is and will result
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 and be a good steward of it, realizing that however much we might try to separate ourselves from it and exploit it for our use, we are intimately interconnected with it and dependent upon it for our wellbeing and survival as a species.
Today's Date: July 19, 2006
1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?
When a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa I was chased by a hippopotamus in Zambia. It taught me respect for nature!
2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?
Yes - the sand hills overlooking the Wisconsin River
Now? L'Escalier Tete-chien (snake's staircase) in Dominica
3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?
Chestnut-mandibled toucan, the largest toucan in Central America. The bird reminds me of the rain forest which is its habitat and an ecosystem most fascinating and most endangered.
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?
Controlling carbon emissions and reducing the global warming that is and will result
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 and be a good steward of it, realizing that however much we might try to separate ourselves from it and exploit it for our use, we are intimately interconnected with it and dependent upon it for our wellbeing and survival as a species.
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