joni aka Karen Kluger

Author

Today's Date: Jan. 31, 2007

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

Two. Eagles and dolphins.

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

Yes, the gardens the city provided for residents to grow vegetables.

Now? The coastal life oaks near my former home in Southern California. Love those trees. The woods in the Pacific Northwest that I enter only 250 feet from my home.

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

Dogs. I'm inclined to agree with the saying that dogs are here to teach us how God loves us and cats are how we respond.

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?

Hands down...global warming. Plastic bags and prescription drugs whose particles end up in our rivers and streams as the water makes its way to the sea.

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

Read "Lessons Under the Oak Tree." We categorize the natural world as though it is separate from us. The things on the earth are there for us to use and abuse. Readers say the book changes the way the reader looks at the world, gently showing how intimately we are connected to nature in ways not taught in school. If we only knew how much we are interconnected with all that is on earth, we would think twice before destroying it.

Vincent Carlisle Espínola

Protocol and External Relations - University of Alcalá

Today's Date: January 31, 2007

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

My first visit to Iguassu Falls, before moving to Europe--walking next to the immense waterfalls was definitely a breathtaking experience. There, I was also able to walk through the tropical forest and encounter pumas, koatís, and other animals up-close.

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

Yes, a wonderful hillside/valley full of coconut trees and pine tress, with a cascade cutting through the hills.

Now? No. It is difficult to find "great outdoors" in Europe. I enjoy any piece of land, even the smallest one, and don't expect "great" outdoors... in doing so, I enjoy being outdoors always, and if I do encounter something "great" in Europe, I'm even more pleased and in communion with nature.

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

Macaws. Their brilliant-colored plumage and ability to speak on repetition, apart from the fact the I used to have a couple of macaws as pets when I was young.

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 nowadays is to make the government of the USA comply with the Kyoto Treaty. It is outrageous that the country that most pollution creates is precisely the one who was not signed, nor ratified, nor respects this environmental Treaty.

The greatest challenge (now and for the future) is to make people more conscious of the need to recycle. The populations of the so-called "advanced, first world" are those who most trash generate in the world (especially in the USA), and therefore it is essential to create collective consciousness that a) space is finite (and so are dump plots); b) a great percentage of our trash can be recycled; c) excessive trash and debris damage our ecosystem, and we can reduce this damage by recycling.

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

Try to reuse things as much as you can, since resources are finite. If you can't reuse them, then recycle!

Abdulrahman A. Alenezi

Instructor/ Public Authority of Applied Education, Kuwait

Today's Date: 30 Jan. 2007

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

Trapping birds alive when I was 6 years old, just outside my house, were mostly Wheatears.

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

Open desert 500m from my home, Kuwait Zoo also 500m from where I live.

Now? I drive to Jahra East sewage outfall for birding.

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

The lion as it is the strongest.

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?

Destruction of wildlife habitat. We should stop urban expansion, and limit land use.

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

We should have a decent respect regarding the environment and land use and should stop trading in wildlife animals for ever.

Irene Sanz

PhD student in the University of Alcalá, Spain

Today's Date: 30th January 2007

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

Well, two years ago my sister brought a kitten which was very sick. Vets told us that she may not recover but now she is quite fine and I love her. I could not help crying when I saw her for the first time, she had temperature and some diseases, besides she was quite weak. Well, she has just jumped on to my legs.

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

I used to go with my grandparents to a pine wood next to our city. We used to bring omelettes and spend there the afternoon talking and playing. And also, in front of my former house there was a park where I used to go with my mother and then with some friends.

Now? Well, I am not sure. I like being in contact with nature in general, in a forest area, having a great sight and with some friends. Four months ago I went with some friends to Cercedilla, a village with some mountains to practice trekking and I had a great time. It was a bit hard for me, but I loved the experience of being in contact with nature.

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

I used to love dolphins because they are so nice and at the same time intelligent. Now, I think cats are also very interesting animals and in relation to cats, I would like to give a special place to the iberic lynx, an endangered animal that lives only in Spain

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?

Just one challenge? Well some politicians should start thinking seriously about Kyoto. Apart from CO2 emissions, we have serious problems with deforestation and everything is related with the climatic change. We have left the nuclear problem behind, at least that it is what we think but maybe in the future we should start thinking of new energies.

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

Well, I would tell them to think as Native Americans do regarding nature, if you treat the natural world with the same respect you treat human beings, then, there will be some hope. Natural resources do not last forever, neither do we.

Frank Roulstone

General Manager, National Trust for the Cayman Islands

Today's Date: 29 Jan 2007

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

Growing up in an unspoiled tropical paradise I was continually surrounded by nature above and below the water. It has given me an appreciation for all living things. Seeing this paradise continually destroyed has had the greatest impact on me.

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

My grandparents had a summer home in Bent Mountain, Virginia. When we visited them we had lakes, streams and mountains to explore that we did not have at home.

Now? I am continually amazed that even with the small size of our islands we continue to make new discoveries of plants and animals! So I like exploring my home best but am constantly looking for new unspoiled places to explore.

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

I have always been obsessed with flying so birds and butterflies hold my interest. The tiny blue butterflies (Pygmy Blue, Lucas Blue, Cassius Blue) always catch my attention.

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 overpopulation of the world. All other challenges are directly related to this one issue. It will continue to be the greatest challenge until nature corrects itself.

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

Help organizations set some of our planet aside for conservation. Habitat conservation is the only way we will save what is left.

Joni Spigler

PhD Candidate, Department of the History of Art, University of California, Berkeley

Today’s Date: January 28, 2007

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

When I was a little girl I had a horse named Cinnamon. We lived in Mesa, Arizona at the time, near the dry Salt River bed, and in those days I could ride my horse from the little stables down the road to Arizona State University without ever seeing another human being. Of course I wasn’t allowed to ride so far, but I was secretive and rebellious. I loved the silence of the desert, and seeing the lizards and roadrunners darting and flitting across path ahead of us as I rode. You become very aware of your surroundings while riding, because anything can spook a horse. I told Cinnamon all my secrets and learned to read in her movements her desires and fears. I loved the way the sunlight hit the earth in those days, and remember looking down on the bleached bones of many animals. It was wonderful to gallop down powdery paths with a combination of sheer joy and terror. And there were little “oases” where Cinnamon could wade in shallow ponds and drink or nibble grasses. Some years the Salt River would flood and my friends and I would watch as whole houses and trucks would be washed down river in front of our eyes. When I was a child I wasn’t really thinking about economics or human displacement, but I was always awed by how sublime nature was, whether seeing what a river could do or just encountering the vastness of the desert.

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

The desert.

Now? I live in the Bay Area, and so I really do love to walk by the water and watch the lapping waves and changing light. I love tide pools and their little ecologies.

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

I love my cat Kabuki. If I could *be* an animal I’d be a dolphin because they are smart and playful...or an otter because they are *always* playing. I think octopuses are fascinating to watch. I feel sorry for the elephants. And I love tigers. Jane Goodall’s “Chimpanzees, So Like Us” made me cry.

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?

Well, maybe this is the popular answer, but global warming. I understand that the big challenge will be to find a way to control global warming and its effects while not limiting the resources and technologies developing countries will have access to. But I also wish that, globally, we would learn to want something other than this world we are creating now.

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

Capitalism works under the assumption that resources are unlimited, but they simply are not. Our current economic philosophies and practices underlie most of the damage we are doing to our environment and we need to find a way to channel our innate desires into something other than the competitive struggle to have bigger and better stuff and “lifestyles”.

Mr. Fayyaz Rasool

Deputy Manager (Marine Environment Unit), Marine Pollution Control Department, Karachi Port Trust, Karachi, Pakistan

Date: 27th Jan 2007

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

It was the story of those days (mid 80’s) when I was student of high school. One-day on my return from the school I found that one of my relative visiting our family. He was serving in the Para- military troops of Pakistan and was posted at the border areas of Pakistan and India of District Bhawalnagar. This area is semi desert and flourish with Xeric type of floral communities. The deer, Hares, Foxes, jackals and peacock are the common wildlife of the area. The area is inhabited and only military post and installations are placed there. The Pakistan and India are two major rivalieries of the region but their army has one common thing that both of them killed wildlife on the borders brutally.
I was happy to see him because whenever he visited our home we had to listen many new stories of that area, especially the encounters among the forces, tact to avoid the encounters etc and wildlife thrives there. He also told us about the lives of peoples dwelling in the deserts.
This time when he visited our house he was not alone. He brought a baby deer with him. I was amazed to saw this little wild beautiful creature sitting at the corner of our courtyard behind a flowerpot.
Our guest told us that the army personnel’s of India and Pakistan keep close watch on the herd of the deer’s. They spotted the pregnant deer and shared the information with each other. When this female left the herd for delivery they rushed towards the site and pick the newborn leaving the mother helpless. This type of newborn was usually gifted to seniors in the agencies and it was meant as a high precious gift. Along with this the newborn chicks of the peacocks are also include in this categories.
This time he brought this gift for us. I was astonished to listen this terrible story behind this gift and automatically love has been emerged in me for this little creature who have been thatch from her mother without any crime. However my late Father told him that he did a brutal action and in future never bring this type of things for the city dwellers.
So in my family I was younger then my two brothers and the responsibility were given to me to take care of this little creature. As I was used to be the nature lover therefore my father selected me.
Recalling the entire event still I remember the loneliness in the eyes of this little baby deer. I knew I couldn’t brought the happiness in her eyes and can’t bring her mother back but I took optimum care and protection. She was so closed to me that she felt me as her mother. I know I can’t be her wild mother but I tried my best to keep her alive. But after a month she died and left me alone. I wiped that day when I buried her in the backyard and not listening to the words of my friends that “boys don’t cry”
This was my first shocking encounter to any wildlife. I don’t know until now how many wild babies have been thefts from there. I don’t know. I don’t know. However this incident leaded me to take a degree in natural sciences and my GOD ALLAH has provided me an opportunity to restore the mangrove forest. Now I have restored good amount of mangrove forest area in my country and feel proud that I have given something back to nature.

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

I was born in Multan a famous city of Province Punjab of Pakistan. Punjab means the land of five rivers. Multan is located near to one of the river. So the river banks and their wilderness (variety of grasses, herbs, shrubs, small passerine birds, rodents, fishes in the small ponds, tadpoles in the small water holes etc) were my favorite places. I still remember the coldness of the soil after flooding of the river in these areas on below of my foot.

Now? I have been grown up and moved to the Karachi – a metropolitan of Pakistan. Now coastal areas are my favorite places and especially the mangrove forest ecosystem in which I did M.Phil.

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

All animals are fine but the Snakes all of their kinds are very near to my heart. Their way of crawling on the stones around them behind then along them and climbing on the tree trunks is gorgeous. The shedding of their outer skeleton, nice colors all are amazing. The black color is usually not seems good but the color of the black cobra has its own beauty. The way the snakes erect their muscles to enter into the holes is really amazed. The animal made by the nature to control the rats and rodents etc aren’t it amazed otherwise we have to use rodenticides to pollute our 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?

There are lot of environmental challenges and it is very difficult to figure them out however overpopulation in the world is one of the key challenge as the increasing population is demanding more food more forest land are being converted into the fields, the population is demanding for the places to live so flat plains are being converted into big cities with paved roads. I don’t know how much % of earth the establishment of the paved roads has injured.
In near future the key challenge will be how to clear the aftermath of the industrial poison induced into the earth, how to revert the changes made on the earth face.

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

My advice is “Be simple, try to spend the life in simple way and stop abusing the rights of others (whether they are humans, natural resources, earth, water, rivers, water, trees coastal areas etc)

Eglantine

Researcher

Today's Date: 27th January 2007

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

Association with the birds that come each morning and evening to my balcony to eat grains, rice & drink water and the cat that daily comes and mews for milk. The behaviour of birds, insects, reptiles, mammals, plants and beautiful scenes of nature which i read, see and experience have embedded me with a feeling of belonging, respect and care.

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

Now? Yes. In childhood it was the garden in the backyard of my house and now the beautiful valleys full of greenery.

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

Birds & why, maybe because i want to fly like them , exploring the beauty of nature from high sky.

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?

Climatic change and over population is the biggest environmental challenge facing us now and unavailability of clean potable water will be in future.

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

Keep u'r surroundings clean and don't waste water.

Lora Stone

Assistant Professor, Sociology, University of Saint Francis (Dr./Prof.)

Today’s Date: 26 January 2007

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

People noticed when I was a very young child that domesticated animals followed me around, approached me, or rested by me, and many wild animals - armadillos, birds, a young coyote, jackrabbits, feral cats and dogs - didn't seem threatened by my presence. The people who noticed these things told me that this was unusual and reinforced in my child-mind that this was a very positive attribute. When I told adults that I could hear what animals were thinking, they acted as though they believed me. So, the short answer to the stated question is: As a toddler, I was talking to non-human animals (and some trees) before I began having conversations with humans, I believed that the animals and trees spoke back to me, and the adults around me didn't discourage my behavior.

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

As a child, I loved the uncultivated section of my paternal grandparent's farm in West Texas. There were 50 acres populated by mesquite trees, jackrabbits, sun-bleached cow bones, coyotes, sometimes a few cows, and a few feral cats. A perfect day: wandering around looking closely at everything, finding a spot under a mesquite tree, checking for fire-ants, then sitting and watching the wildlife move around.

Now? The Jemez Mountains in New Mexico and the red rock semi-desert areas in the northwest quadrant of New Mexico. Also, Albuquerque in the spring when the emerald hummingbirds migrate right through the city, hovering within inches of my face as I walk down a sidewalk, and when confused (?) roadrunners come running into the house you are in. One time, I was visiting a friend in Albuquerque, and a roadrunner dashed in the house through the front dog-door, then trotted around the house, then went out the back patio sliding door that was open.

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

Usually the animals that I am living with....but I think you are asking about my totem animal. So, my favorite animal is the bobcat. They live wild across the US, yet most people do not see them. The have a beautiful face that communicates intelligence and extra-ordinary senses. They appear small, but are heavy and strong for their size, and have the confidence of a much larger cat. The bobcat makes me think of possibilities, rather than impossibilities.

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?

Lack of education for humans regarding sustainable lifestyles is a current challenge. The future challenge will be salvaging whatever biodiversity survives our current unsustainable lifestyles.

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

Immediate, global agreement that all humans should not exceed replacement level reproduction.

Dr. Michael J. Cohen - Project NatureConnect

Aren't We The Victims Of An Outrageous Lie?

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Dr. Michael J. Cohen, 360-378-6313
Email: nature@interisland.net
Website: http://www.ecopsych.com/

We Unnecessarily Suffer Stress And Disorders Because We Are Victims Of A Lie Perpetrated by Education, Psychology and Health Leaders.

In the tenth anniversary edition of "Reconnecting With Nature" (Ecopress, 2007), Dr. Michael Cohen, an Ecopsychologist, at the Institute of Global Education, demonstrates how a vast majority us are victims of a dangerous lie perpetrated by Psychology, Health and Education, professionals.

Cohen shows that our most trusted leaders help us produce the destructive stress and troubles we commonly suffer.

During our early childhood years our leadership emotionally bonds us to the idea that we live on the surface of Planet Earth. But we don't. We live 300 miles deep in our planet, imbedded in and nurtured by its biosphere. Since 1929, it has been widely known that Earth includes a biosphere zone where natural systems recycle and sustain all life on the planet, including humanity.

Nature produces no garbage because natural systems have the ability to correct themselves and as well as purify everything they flow through. The grace, balance and restorative powers of these systems stream through all of life, including the life of our psyche, of how we think and feel. This streaming is how nature sustains life, diversifies and grows without creating pollution or our excessive stress, violence and disorders.

Because we habitually believe our biosphere-separation lie, on average, we spend 98 percent of our time, thinking and feeling while disconnected from natural systems. This estranges us from their beneficial powers. They can't flow and recycle the contamination in our psyche. As a result, we suffer great personal and environmental disorders.

To reverse this detrimental habit, the sensory Organic Psychology techniques found in "Reconnecting With Nature" enable us to genuinely connect our thinking and feeling to natural systems. This gives us the ability to let the healing powers of natural systems help us remedy our personal and environmental dysfunctions.

Most of us know that a short walk in a natural area momentarily renews us as natural systems begin to flow through our psyche. Organic Psychology provides us with the means, online, to strengthen and prolong this worthwhile process. As we add its benefits to our personal and professional life, we increase individual, social and environmental well-being.

See some outcomes at: http://www.ecopsych.com/2004ecoheal.html

See a book description at http://www.ecopsych.com/newbook2007.html

For further information contact: Dr. Michael J. Cohen, 360-378-6313

Email: nature@interisland.net

Website: http://www.ecopsych.com/

Adwan Shehab

Researcher (General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research) - Syria

Today's Date: 25.01.2007

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?

(no answer given)

Now? (no answer given)

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

My favorite animals are Owls.

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 (in our region) is the war; its reasons and results!!

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

Please keep our environment free of mass destruction weapons, please save the souls of our children.

Ko Chang-Hoon

Chair/ World Association for Island Studies

Today's Date: January 24, 2007

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

Death of my favorite dog, Jerry

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

Seogwipo village port (South Korea)

Now? same

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

Dog which used to be familiar with my family as one of family member

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?

pollution

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

strong preservation consciousness, policy, and movement

Anne Gilbert

Writer --- self-employed

Today’s Date: January 23, 2007

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

Crows come to mind. There are lots of them around here, and I've seen them do some very interesting things. They are smart, too. As for "nature", when the sun shines around here, you can't fail to see Mount Rainier, which is a volcano.

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

One place my family was very fond of going when I was young was the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River near Darrington, Washington. It was, and still is, pretty rural. There are mountains all around, and the river is just wild enough, even in the summer, to be interesting. At one time, My family used to picnic in one part of what turned out to be a horse pasture. At one time I had a picture of the horse who used the pasture. I didn't know it at the time, but it turned out to be an Appaloosa with a particular, distinctive spotting pattern. Later, I think this influenced my writing(there is an Appaloosa-type horse who plays a part in the story I'm writing). Anyway, one thing I remember about the horse. The first time my family and I visited the place, she had recently foaled. She didn't do anything, but she was obviously very protective of the foal(she kept looking at us as if to say "don't get too close"). The following summer, the horse was so darn friendly that she came to our picnic table and tried to eat the picnic basket!

Now? Now, there are many places. There is an arboretum on the other side of the hill from where I live, and I like to walk there when the weather moderates (we've had kind of horrible weather for the Puget Sound region the past couple of months). There are lots of birds and trees, and in the spring, you can sometimes see hatched tadpoles in the ponds.

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

Wolves and cats, in no particular order. No, not dogs. Wolves. In their wild state. Because they are wild, and highly complex, social beings. Cats because cats are "domesticated" --- sort of --- but retain enough of their independence so that no cat, no matter how docile, is entirely predictable.

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?

Having just gone through the horrible weather patterns I mentioned earlier, I think the absolute greatest challenge we face at the moment is global warming. It's affecting everyone, in various ways. Here, it takes the form of increased rains and flooding in rural areas A story in this morning's paper, about Hmong farmers who lost most of their year's crop of flowers --- they depend on growing them for their livelihood --- rotting because of massive floods. These floods come almost every year now, and they are often quite damaging, and not just to Hmong farmers. And they come earlier, in November, or sometimes late October, rather than December or January as they once did. There has been less snow in the mountains (this year is an exception), so ski resort operators lose money. And the oceans are warming up so that what few salmon are left after overfishing, are now migrating farther and farther north. And that's just in the Pacific Northwest. The rest of the world has other, perhaps even more horrible problems caused, in part, by global warming. This will only get worse if we don't do something about it now. I have no particular ideas of what to do about it, only that we should all, every person, every nation, every part of the world, try to do whatever we can to deal with it.

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

If you see a problem "out there", don't keep quiet. Speak up. Do everything you can to see it fixed. Now. Tomorrow the problem may be incomparably worse. Or tomorrow, it may even be too late.

Hema Singh

Environment Tobago

Today's Date: 23/01/2007

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

Last October I visited Yosemite Park in the US, I stood before the grand rock structures and was so amazed at its beauty. Driving through the area revealed ponds and streams and snow-capped mountains of immense beauty, too perfect to be real.

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

Yes.

Now? Yes

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

My favourite animals are birds. I love their gift of flight and the freedom that is associated with that ability.

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, unfortunately, humans’ indiscriminate behaviour and irreverence for nature. If we understand that we are really stewards of the environment and change our attitudes to protect and live in harmony with our natural surroundings, we are in fact, creating a future for ourselves and our children. Failure to do this will of course mean that the greatest challenge to be faced in the future would be one of trying to sustain life on bare necessities with reduced land space, overpopulation and intense poverty to name a few.

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

That our environment sustains our life. If we mismanage it, we are by extension, toying with our lives and others in generations to come.

Godfrey Baldacchino

University of Prince Edward Island, Canada

Today's Date: January 17, 2007

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

I have never had pets, but I enjoy gardening.

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

Yes – a clump of olive trees which represented my space in the great outdoors

Now? – My garden

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

I have no favourite animals as such.

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?

Living sustainably

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

Respect trees.

Aimee Ingram (aka Rainbow Wolfstar)

private citizen (Australia)

Today's Date: 17.1.07

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

Ever since I could remember..... when my feet touch the ground I was home, when I lay on the grass it was love and when I breathed in the air I was free.... I lived in the bush all my life till I was 18. I was always going walkabout on my dad’s property..... gone for at least hours but sometimes longer.... I was able to track certain animals and I have had so many brushes with animals and nature that I can’t name anything specific.... but one thing that I was always taught by my family is take no more than you will use, and if you're not prepared to kill it then don’t eat it..... I was always there when my dad slaughtered the sheep for tea and the worst part was the throat cut.... still makes my skin crawl.... but from a very early age I learnt to respect all things living and I am now so grateful for being there when he slaughtered those animals because now I understand the value of life to give life.

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

The clearing at the top of the hill at the back paddock, on my dad’s property or sitting by the river somewhere having a fish.

Now? Still the same.... but unfortunately don’t get there much anymore so I have to settle for out in the garden under the nectarine tree.

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

Probably the wombat.... it is a very fascinating creature to sit and watch.... fun to track too.....

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 and the shortage of water..... that's for both now and future! Everyday in everyway... use less water!!!

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

Don’t waste what you have... one day it might not be there!!! and like my family taught me....Don’t take more than you will use and if you're not prepared to kill it- don’t eat it!!!!

Mr. Jan Hearthstone

Facilitator - ModelEarth.Org

Today's Date: 2007.01.16

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

Too many to really remember a single significant instance--animals tend to be persons to me, many times being, somehow, better "people" than the real article, perhaps for being more honest? When there is a good communicational space, and the animals let me in, as if, - into their life sphere, I am always surprised to see complex social interactions.

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

Plenty!
A good place is that I can "grow" with, not always possible, the modern life tends to make it impossible by trying to control every aspect of existence, quite often.
Favorite trees, glades, brooksides, ...

Now? I am still a kid, no matter how deformed by the society-- the above happens still, albeit less and less often.

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

A "favorite" animal is one that lets me communicate with it-- I met a lot of those.

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 challenge is growing exponentially--a space in which this positive feedback madness can play itself out has to be found.

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

I think that to recognize and to defend the natural right to sleep of any- everyone would change the society fundamentally for better - just start thinking what would start being different, if this happened. A right to a fundamental home would mean more relaxed people. Having more relaxed people would lead to fewer mistakes being made (inclusive of mishandling most everything) ... I got a few articles on the subject at: http://www.modelearth.org/artics.html, if you got the while.

Tom Schum

non-affiliated (electronics technician)

Today's Date: Jan 14, 2007

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

I recall walking in Oakland in 1976, no job, no idea what would come next. Then I saw a chicken yard. I watched about 100 chickens for at least an hour, completely fascinated.

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

My brothers and I used to go to Mount San Luis in San Luis Obispo, CA (I grew up there). Later, I went on my own a number of times, and ate a lemon or two from a lemon grove at the highest foothill clearing.

Now? I like to get out on my bicycle and just go anywhere nearby.

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

I have always liked monkeys, but I think my favorite animal is the regular kitty cat (one of the few "companion animals" of humans).

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 global warming is the greatest environmental challenge. I think repairing it will be the greatest challenge of the future. We could repair it now, but so few people have died from global warming that nobody is really interested in doing any repairs. The situation will become far more dire, then people and nations will think more about fixing it.

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

Live gently.

Narena Olliver

New Zealand Birds (http://nzbirds.com)

Today's Date: January 15, 2007

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

birding

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

Paramata Harbour, New Zealand

Now? Ohiwa Harbour, New Zealand

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

Kokako for its wonderful song

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 - now and in the future

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

Stop breeding.

Alison Sheehey

Nature Alley (http://natureali.org/)

Today's Date: 1/13/07

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

A Heermann's Kangaroo rat had been brought to me by a neighbor whose cat had injured it. As I am apt to do when caretaking animals, I left her alone for the most part and only addressed her immediate wounds and fed her. I had absolutely no experience with Kangaroo rats and did not realize that they are adapted to a desert environment and do not need supplemental water. I tried to give the animal mostly fresh greens from outside and did not realize by giving the animal so much moist material that it would have a problem. The rat was in its cage (a 5-gallon water bottle filled with soil) and began to stare at me intently. I went over and picked it up and it conveyed to me that it was desperate to be let down. I let it down on the floor at which point it peed profusely. I then picked it back up and it shuddered and conveyed a thank you to me. (No, it did not talk but I felt a really strong emotional response). Later I learned that Kangaroo Rats cleave oxygen and hydrogen atoms off of complex carbohydrates and create what is called metabolic water. Seventy percent of their bodily fluid is created this way, the other 30% comes from moist food and occasional sips of water. So, what I had done to this poor animal was overhydrated it and being a fastidious creature it would not soil its home. It needed to urinate away from its cage and when I picked it up and somehow we communicated on a very basic yet spiritual level. It made me realize that although humans are the most evolutionarily developed species we are so poor at understanding the connection between all life (heck our species can't even get along with others of different colors of our species let alone different species).

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

The woods across the street from my home. It was our secret place to explore, play, skate, and otherwise just have fun being alive.

Now? Anyplace on this earth that is open, free and natural. The U.S. National Park system where no hunters or off-roaders are allowed to destroy the silence are some of my favorite places. I actually strongly dislike anything city-fied as it reminds me of how disconnected we are.

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

That is like asking who your favorite child is... there is no one answer. Every animal has its strengths and weaknesses but as a whole they are all unique in their spirit (not just species but individuals). I respect the life within everything. My favorite groups of animals are the fluffy and feathery for the most part, but even insects provide countless hours of joy in studying how they are put together and how they behave.

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 overpopulation.... Human overpopulation.... Human overpopulation.... Global climate change.

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

Two is company 6.5 billion is a crowd, spay or neuter yourself and the one's you love today. If everyone continues to believe that destroying life of our fellow humans through famine, thirst, and war is more humane than just using our brains and conquering our overwhelming need to procreate, then we are not the superior species we think we are. If on the other hand we start taking family planning seriously, then heaven on earth is a real possibility. One child per couple per lifetime until the population drops down to sustainable levels will allow us to fix all of the environmental problems we have and will continue to create, if not then we will go the way of the dinosaurs and what a waste that will be!

Michiyo Fujimoto

Japan Environmental Exchange

Today's Date: Jan 13 2007

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

Food
Everything we eat is lives, so I want to thank every time I eat. But it's so easy to forget!
Woods and a river near my neighborhood - Less and less, no more fish :-( sad

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

Hiking up the neighbor mountains, play around near rice fields and a river

Now? Try to hike, but not much time, so at least walking along the river, see mountains, touch the soil while planting some flowers or so

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

Cats; they look like living very free from anything. following what they want to do in a day. same as all other animals, though. so I like looking at animals. and kids also!
Horses; beautiful

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?

To make a balance with nature; we human beings had taken too much from the mother nature. we are not only living creature on the earth. I think that's why to make a balance to balance the unbalanced reality, the earth is sick. The greatest challenge now is that more should realize the reality that the earth is sick and if this situation continues we can't live. And at the same time and the future we should know really we are a part of nature and living together already. If we know that then we each know what to do for the future.

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

Do what you can do now. Live your life with joy! Do what your heart feels fun!

Anonymous

2006-7 Fulbright Scholar, Philippines, affiliated with the University of San Carlos in Cebu City

Today’s Date: 13 January 2007

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

I find this question difficult to answer because it implies a dichotomy between people and nature, which my training in anthropology has mostly expunged. Thinking dichotomously, though, I have to say the most meaningful interaction I have had with a non-human animal was with the Yellow Lab our family had when I was growing up. That and other friendships (?) I have had with domesticated animals over the years have led me to the belief that pets truly can improve one’s quality of life. Other than that, I think hiking is always an amazing experience, especially in unfamiliar surroundings. My ability to think clearly and abstractly is at its best when I’m in a secluded wood surrounded by nothing but “nature.”

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

My childhood home was located beside a watershed at the edge of the Coronado National Forest just outside Tucson, Arizona. Although I now wish that construction had never taken place anywhere near the area, having a mixed desert/riparian ecosystem at our doorstep was a real treat. After the monsoon, when the risk of flash floods was gone, we used to take our dogs down to the creek and attempt to build rafts out of sticks and small logs. Some of my most treasured memories are imbued with the sights of cottonwood trees, prickly pares, and the occasional bobcat; the sounds of cicadas, coyotes, and rushing water; the touch of warm sand and silty creekbeds; and the smells of creosote and wet dog.

Now? I feel like it changes all the time. I still love the Coronado area, and Sedona, AZ, is of course peerless. However, living as I do in the Philippines’ “last frontier”, I’ll have to go with El Nido, a municipality in the northern reaches of the province. One just can’t beat the quadruple coincidence of turquoise seas, white sands, limestone cliffs, and primary-growth rainforests. Not to mention some really unique creatures and a seemingly boundless inventory of beautiful flora.

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

That darn dichotomy again. My favorite animal is taxonomized as Homo sapiens sapiens. Yes, people. Why? Because they can talk and write and sing and dance and cry. And argue and grow vegetables. And it’s easy to find them “in the wild.”

As for non-human animas, I like water buffaloes or karaboa as they’re called here. In this part of the Philippines, they are the primary beasts of burden. Yet, of course, they are ignored by the eco-tourism firms in their celebration of the mouse deer, cockatoos, and whale sharks. I’m thinking of starting a Save-the-Karaboa foundation to free them from their servitude, which surely must be an enemy of biodiversity :)

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 willful ignorance and apathy are the greatest challenges. I offer the US government and most of that country’s consumers, including myself, as my evidence. As long as oil, defense, and other military-industrial oligarchs are seen as viable political leaders, we will never make the switch to renewable energy sources or tackle the fundamental problem of global inequality that is driving environmental degradation in the developing world.

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

You are the problem, but you also have the potential to be the solution. Just don’t wait for the government to tell you how to start your transformation.

Alexandre de Lichtervelde

Belgian Federal Ministry of Environment

Today's Date: 11 January 2007

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

Watching blue whales and sperm whales in the Arctic Ocean.

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

Woods and rivers.

Now? The ocean and the mountains in South America.

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

Dogs for domestic animals because they stay with you when you are studying; wild horses for their beauty and liberty.

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 now and biodiversity loss in the near future.

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

Go out everyday and try to connect yourself to nature to get inspiration. Open your eyes when traveling: so much is happening regarding the environment.

Paula Fitzsimmons

PJ Publications and Gifts (http://www.pjpublications.com)

Today’s Date: 1/10/07

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

I have had several, but one that particularly comes to mind is the first time I saw dolphins swimming in the ocean. It was early morning, and the sun was just coming up, and they were very close to shore. I was in awe of the magnificence of the ocean and the dolphins.

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

I grew up in the city so there were not a whole lot of outdoorsy places, aside from forest preserves and public parks. I liked it when our family would take rides in the country.

Now? Not really a favorite; there are several.

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

Parrots.. because they are a link to our natural world; their beauty; their intuitiveness; their flying ability; their intelligence; their sociability.

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 many, but I would say global warming is a big challenge now, and will continue to be in the future. It will have many repercussions on our environment, animals, and us. Great damage has already been done, and I believe it will take a lot of effort on the part of our government and business, to stop the damage we have done. Although we are being made aware of global warming and its effects, I'm not sure much is being done to remedy it. A second major challenge would be extinction of species, especially of birds.

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

Understand that we humans are a part of nature, not separate from it.

Tamara Dormer

Dog Caregiver, Best Friends Animal Society

Today's Date: 01/10/07

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

seeing a coyote in the wild for the 1st time

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

not really, my front yard (which was huge)

Now? The trail where I walk dogs on the sanctuary, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Johnson Canyon, UT

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

Well, I love dogs, cats, and horses. But my favorite animals in the wild are polar bears and wolves. Polar bears as they are just so beautiful and massive living in such an extreme environment; wolves, because they are so close to dogs, yet are so mysterious and beautiful.

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 the over-use of fossil fuels. Also polluting our earth and air. Both now and in the future, if we do not cease and desist using the earth for our playground.

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

Please, please be careful and gentle. Use just the tiniest bit you can, and replace it many fold over if possible. Respect every living thing.

Barbara Moscato

Accountant and Bird rescue volunteer

Today’s Date: 1/10/2007

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

When I was naive enough to purchase a cockatoo, this lead to all kinds of awakening within me about pet stewardship, wildlife, the environment and the world that we all must share and protect.

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

Yes, down at the shore in Connecticut, I used to spend hours searching out animals and trying to befriend them. Once my folks were searching and calling for me at the beach but I could not answer because I did not want to startle the duck that I had gotten to sit on my lap. It took a long time to gain his trust so that I could pet him!

Now? I love the Adirondacks in New York. This is the most pristine area I've been to. If you like solitude and nature, this is the place to go.

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

I love birds, all kinds of birds . They fascinate me with their beauty and intelligence. My cockatoo will live 80 years or more, longer than me. My greatest challenge is keeping him happy while I go through hoops trying every toy, bell, whistle, ball, whatever to keep him engaged and as happy as possible, while avoiding loosing any fingers. He has taken over my life! But I love all my birds! I have 9 of them, each has their own special 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?

Our greatest environmental challenge is stemming the threat of global warming to our planet. We must act quickly to change our energy usage to some other form that does not continue to pollute our atmosphere with more greenhouse gases. We must stop the deforestation that is occurring all around the globe. This not only is eliminating vital habit at for so many species but we need the trees to keep carbon dioxide in check! As far as the future is concerned, and if we can control global warming, I think our future challenge will be to feed the planet. There are very simply too many of us for the earth to support. Eventually demand will outrun supplies of water and food.

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

Love the earth, enjoy its beauty and diversity and leave it better than you found it. Live and let live, do not harm any living creature large or small.

Rosemary Roberts

graduate student in anthropology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec

Today’s Date: January 10, 2007

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

This is difficult to answer, as there have been many such interactions in my life. I have always loved animals and being outside in nature, and had many important experiences with both.

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

I have always loved the forests of the Pacific Northwest, where I grew up and where my family still lives. There were several spots in the temperate rainforests of the region that I would have considered my favorites. One in particular that stands out is a section of real old-growth in the Olympic National Forest of Washington.

Now? More recently, I have explored other parts of the world, been on the tops of mountains, and in hot, dry deserts. While I had incredible experiences in various places, I still consider the forests of the PNW to be my real home.

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

I have always had an affinity for cats, both large and small. I've had cats as pets off an on throughout my life, and find it gratifying to live with them. In terms of non-domesticated animals, I have always really liked bats. But it's tough, as I've never come across an animal I didn't like.

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?

Right now, the greatest challenge is getting the people and the government to realize what we are doing, and to start taking steps toward more sustainable living.

I hope that this will not still be the greatest challenge a few years down the road. We will need to put our resources into finding alternatives for when the oil runs out, and for when we have no more fresh water. Those seem to be the most pressing depletions facing us.

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

Well, right now I am trying to tell everyone I know about cleaning with alternatives to harmful chemical products. In particular, I recently found out about uncloging drains with baking soda and vinegar instead of drano, which is toxic and pollutes the water system.

I can't just leave it at one; my other mission at the moment is sharing information with the women I know about alternatives to tampons and pads. There are several companies now making reusable products, which are environmentally-friendly in that they don't use paper resources, take far less energy to produce, and don't end up in the landfill, and woman-friendly in that they don't import harmful chemicals into our bodies, and cost us a lot less over time.

I believe that the most effective way, at this point, to combat the destruction of our planet and everything that lives on it--including us--is by sharing ideas with each other on the little things (which turn out not to be so little) that we can change in our lives. It's great to say "drive less" and "recycle more", but when people are presented with a viable alternative to something they use, I think they are more likely to make the change and to stick with it, which then makes a difference in the world.

Kathleen Garness

principal, KMG Fine Arts

Today's Date: Wednesday, January 10, 2007.

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

The opportunity to observe orchids in their native habitat and to become involved with their conservation.

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

Gardens planted by my neighbors - we lived in a very small apartment and I definitely was starved for the outdoors! Illinois Beach State Park in Zion IL, a National Natural Landmark, is a very close second or a tie for favorite.

Now? I steward a forest preserve in the Chicago region. I LOVE it there, tho I have to be careful of ticks, snakes, deer, wolves, coyotes and bobcats. And poison ivy and unsteady trees... Perhaps the element of danger, unsuspected and always around the corner, adds an element of excitement to my time in the woods doing management and monitoring...

I also love the Chicago Wilderness community of scientists and fellow stewards, and really enjoy helping them out on their workdays.

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

I think the horse. They are so regal, so beautiful, and have such an intimate history of involvement with the human species and its progress. I was recently at the Field Museum of Natural History where I saw how horses evolved from the size of terriers, with little toes, to what they are today! Amazing! I would love to see the native and wild horses - zebras, and others - in their native habitat someday.
Lovely!

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 right now is our urge to acquire, to compete with others about the goods we have or desire.

Our discontent with the humble reality of our lives. We seek social validation and status from our possessions, when in reality our greatest possession is our ability to care for one another, to be in relationship with one another, and to use our minds and hands in a creative, thoughtful manner. When we are bored with something, when it no longer gives us status, we discard it, whether or not it has come to the end of its useful life. We take no thought for how its disposal will poison our water or soil for the generations to come.

Also, I think that the majority of the world's population is struggling to find socially useful and truly meaningful work, and are becoming increasingly more disconnected from the sources of their food and from nature. This is one reason for social unrest over the ages. The global trend that moves people from agriculture and home industry to crowded urban conditions seems very unhealthy to me. We are rapidly becoming the serfs of the megacorporations, in the service of our appetites, and that disturbs me greatly.

The greatest challenge facing us in the future is undoing the past one hundred years of environmental damage while preserving the freedom to continue to do so, and to work toward social justice at the same time. We need to create a sustainable future for the human race or WE will be on the Threatened/Endangered species list next. We are currently in the sixth period of massive extinctions in the earth's multi-billion year history, and it is all due to man's inability to work together and find sustainable solutions for the challenges inherent in technological progress.

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

Protect it carefully from development and be thoughtful about what you purchase and eventually dispose of. Insist that cities be built up, not out, capitalizing on already-available space and infrastructure. Protect our natural resources, especially freshwater resources, for our grandchildren and the generations after them.

Insist on preserving biodiversity in our public lands. Aldo Leopald once said "The first principle of intelligent tinkering is to keep all the parts." Well, that's several pieces of advice, all rolled into one: Protect our environment and irreplaceable natural resources with all your heart and mind and soul.

Cheryl Schachter

High School English Teacher and Wiccan

Today's Date: January 9, 2007

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

The interactions with animals which have had the biggest impact on me are my relationships with domesticated animals: horses, dogs and cats. Animals have always been a part of my existence. Co-existing with them has added joy to my life.

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

Definitely the beach. I lived my entire teenage years at the beach and in the ocean.

Now? Still the beach except now I am in Northern California so I hunt for agates and take long walks rather than my Southern California youth when I laid in the sun and swam in the warm water.

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

Wild horses, they are majestic, free, intelligent and beautiful.

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?

Our greatest challenge is to change our current behavior to reflect the needs for the future of the planet. In the future we will be challenged with a lack of fresh, available water.

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

One person CAN make a difference.

James Lowen

Private Citizen, Argentina (http://www.pbase.com/james_lowen)

Today's Date: January 9, 2007

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

Aged 3, seeing a Common Buzzard in SW England - prompted my interest in birds.

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

Yes: my local reservoir in Yorkshire, N England, and local migratory watchpoint on the Yorkshire coast.

Now? Probably the Galapagos, a dream destination that I finally visited a few years a go.

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

Probably the pale-winged trumpeter, an amazonian chicken-like bird. Because of a fabulous close encounter with it in Ecuador a few years ago. The bird has personality, man!

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. Water shortages.

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

Cutting greenhouse gas emissions now will save money later.

Jean-Michel Pavy

World Bank - Zambia Country Office

Today's Date: 1/8/07

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

adventure hunting in Mali going down rivers in canoes with friends.

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

Mali. Mont Mandingues

Now? Kafue NP, Zambia

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

Bushbuck, because it resists everywhere to environmental degradation

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?

Land transformation & global warming

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

Your behavior matters ...

Don Bosch

The Evangelical Ecologist Blog (www.evangelicalecologist.com)

Today's Date: 6 Jan 07

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

Growing up I felt as many youth do - I was on the outside of life looking in and disconnected from the Christian home in which I had been raised. I was on a high school church youth retreat to the Oregon Coast. That evening I heard for the first time that Christ loved me, died for me, had a purpose for my life, and would return some day to judge the world. I sat the next day on a high Pacific cliff and was overwhelmed by how small I was and how immense the ocean before me was. At that moment the Lord spoke to my heart and reminded me that while He had created all of this He still loved me personally. I responded by giving my heart to Him. I have no doubt God used that moment in nature to bring that realization of how much He loved me. That thought has become a hallmark of what I try to do with The Evangelical Ecologist and as my calling in life in general.

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

The mountains around Puget Sound, Washington State. My dad took us hiking every summer, sometimes in the North Cascades along the Pacific Crest Trail, sometimes in the Olympic rain forest. Unforgettable.

Now? Fell in love with east county San Diego near Lake Cuyamacca while living near there recently, and I can't imagine living anywhere away from the ocean.

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

Hard to pick a favorite - our gang loves zoos and all the critters in them. Have had a membership at the San Diego Zoo for years. My favorite is probably reef aquariums. We loved our years in Guam and the chance to dive on miles of reefs. Could sit and stare at a reef tank for hours.

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?

It's the same challenge - working with the emerging second- and third-world (the Middle East, China and Africa specifically) to skip the pollution we created in our industrial age and move directly into cleaner, more sustainable energy. We have to do this with sound economic development policies, and without creating global bureaucracies that sap resources.

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

God created our beautiful, amazing world, and desires that mankind be careful stewards of it. Regardless of political leanings or geo-economic situations, we can get a lot of good things done in ecology if we keep this notion of stewardship (vice ownership) foremost in mind, and remember that we need a relationship with Christ if we're going to have the wisdom to succeed in this.