Thanks to my sister Michelle McIlroy for designing the logo!

Welcome!

Ever since I was a child, I have been very interested in nature and the environment. I have a B.S. degree in wildlife biology, and have worked as a zookeeper, wildlife biologist, and ecologist. I am conducting a brief survey of world leaders, government officials, religious leaders, corporate CEOs, environmental groups, wildlife experts, and others regarding nature and the environment. I am also very interested in religious views, customs, and beliefs from around the world, and the interactions between religion, culture, society, and the environment. This is something I am doing out of personal interest, and is not connected to any group or organization. I have been working on this project since the summer of 2006, and hope to eventually turn it into a book and/or documentary. I am hoping to make this into a global project, with responses from all segments of society. Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions or comments. If you have not already done so, I hope that you will consider taking part in my project, and please spread the word to anyone you think might be interested! Thanks for stopping by!

TAKE THE SURVEY ONLINE HERE http://tinyurl.com/nx4ng7

August 24, 2006

Lorenzo Sympson

Veterinary Medicine- Sociedad Naturalista Andino Patagonica

Today's Date: 24th.August,2006

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

Growing up among horses, living with them.

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

Yes, the clear streams & mountains of Cordoba, Argentina.

Now? The clear streams & mountains of northwestern Patagonia.

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

Eagles & condors, because they represent the utmost freedom, far from zoos where we try & put everything!

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?

Demographic pressure. In the future…..more & more people using up the limited natural resources.

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

Birth control, use the world sparingly.

Otte Ottema

Ornithologist at STINASU (Foundation for Nature Conservation Suriname)

Today's Date: 24/8/06

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

the discovery of a new species of bird

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

Yes, the dunes in the Netherlands

Now? Yes, Augustus falls

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

Great Crested Grebe, I studied its behavior for 7 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?

I see one challenge now and in the future, that is bringing our level of consumption back to normal and keeping it there.

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

Trying to discover and to realize that our happiness is not depended of a materialistic level but instead of a spiritual one.

Endre Knudsen

PhD fellow, Department of Biology, University of Oslo

Today's Date: August 24, 2006

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

Hard to say - maybe the year in childhood when we lived far, far away from home, in East Africa. Close to twenty years later, when I was fortunate to visit the region again, it smelled, looked and felt just like home, though it was not even the same country.

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

I remember playing in the mysterious woods behind my friend's house. As my feet grew, they took me up into the mountains or fishing along the fjord.

Now? The woods of my childhood do not appear so large anymore, but I keep on dreaming about fishing in those mountain lakes. I also long for the roaring waves and smell of salt and rotten kelp.

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

Apart from my late dog, I am very fond of birds - in general, but seabirds in particular. They are the 'outsiders', solitarily roaming the seas, but gregarious when needed. However, my own species still shows some promise as well.

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: Getting mankind to realize that we really are in a hurry and need to take actions quickly. Future: Human-induced climate change

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

Listen to the birds - we have a lot to learn from them.

Ryan Watson

Blue Macaw Coordinator, Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, Qatar

Today's Date: 24.08.06

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

Hand-rearing Echo parakeets for release back into nature, seeing those birds surviving in nature, behaving like wild birds.

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

Glen Forest, Western Australia

Now? The South West of Western Australia.

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

Emperor penguin - Their deep-sea diving abilities and commitment to each other and to raising off-spring in such extreme conditions is truly remarkable. Watch Attenborough's "Life in the Freezer" and you will be left awestruck by this 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?

Global Warming and Global Warming!!! There are many important issues facing the world we live in today and the in the future, however, all the big issues combined such as terror, famine, aging population, extinction, unemployment, human and animal welfare, habitat destruction etcetera, all pale into insignificant if the world we live in is uninhabitable.

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

Make your vote count! Changes at the levels required to reduce and hopefully one day stop global warming, will only eventuate when the issue becomes the number ONE issues to voters and therefore the number ONE issue for our elected officials. If you live in America, Don't vote for the Republicans!!! The best thing that could happen for the future of Planet Earth is for Al Gore to become President, lets just hope he decides to run!!!

Anonymous

Department of Environmental Biology, University of Delhi, India
Today's Date: August 23, 2006

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

In my childhood my father encouraged me to be in the outdoors. went out to the jungle with him. as a child had a mini zoo in my home. loved the zoo from very early on as well as nature. I guess this had the biggest impact on me.
2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

no one particular place but i liked ponds, with lotus flowers, reed beds, trees in the neighbourhood etc.
Now? there are a couple of places in and around the city of Delhi that I frequent. one of them is the delhi zoo where a wild colony of storks has been nesting since 1960. I am studying that, as a researcher.

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

strangely, i dont like mammals- furry creatures very much. I am terrified of rats and mice. so my favourite animals are certainly not mammals. I like birds.

I was once in charge of a zoo myself- a snake park. although I am not a reptile man myself (and have a healthy fear of snakes) I find this group of animals fascinating.


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?

certainly the human pressure on resources and how to check it is the biggest challenge. Everyone knows that but the challenge is how to conserve it, without drastically cutting on the human consumption, because I feel, it is impossible to cut down on the consumption of resources (such as in western societies).

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

I really don’t want to give advice. But Mahatma Gandhi once said: “There is enough for every man's need, but not enough for every man's greed". I guess that sums it up.