Tenzin Tethong

President – The Dalai Lama Foundation

Today’s Date: 19 December 2007

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

I used to ride a horse called Tara for many years in Darjeeling, India, when I was young. Even then I would sense that Tara knew me and we “communicated” somehow.

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

Up in high mountains on rocky perches

Now? Just in the backyard with a little bit of nature

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

Dogs & horses because they seem so close to humans and because they interact & communicate.

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

-water shortage, waste, & misuse
-car pollution & industrial pollution

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

-each person & every small unit, a shop, a school, a business has a big role to play


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Tenzin Tethong is the founder of key Tibet initiatives in the U.S. including the Tibet Fund, Tibet House-New York, and the International Campaign for Tibet. He is a former Representative of H.H. the Dalai Lama in New York and Washington, D.C., and former Chairman of the Kashag, the Tibetan Cabinet. Mr. Tethong currently serves as Chairman of the Committee of 100 for Tibet and as a visiting scholar at Stanford University.

Taken from http://www.dalailamafoundation.org/members/en/founders.jsp#tethong

Cosmas Nguya

Executive Officer - Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania, Arusha Branch

Today’s Date: 18 December 2007

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

-Through study tours to the national parks
-Looking at various pictures and movies about animals and nature

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

No! I did not have a favorite place in the great outdoors.

Now? Yes! Now I have such favorite places.

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

My favorite animal is a giraffe. Giraffes are very polite and are rarely heard although they have a variety of sounds. Giraffes sleep for a very short time – hardly for 12 minutes in a day and they normally sleep standing up (interesting).

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

The greatest environmental challenge facing us now is global warming/climate change. The greatest challenge in the future will be the environmental destruction.

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

People especially youth should be aware of and respect and care for the environment to make the world a better place for living. The spirit and dedication to making this world a better place for all of us to live is an essential or a must. Good environment for good living.


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Besoeker

Private Citizen

Today’s Date: 30 December 2007

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

Dogs probably. Farmer's boy so we had cattle, sheep, chickens, pigs etc.
But the dogs get your trust and yours theirs.
Send a brace over a hill out of sight and they come back with the flock. Time after time.

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

Mile Hill.

Now? The Sahara. Remote and desolate, but indescribible as an experience. The Great Karoo gets runner up for me.

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

Dogs for the reasons in point 1.

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?

Warming.

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

Go nuclear.


Posted at http://www.theenvironmentsite.org/Forum/viewtopic.php?p=111400#111400

Wowbagger

Private Citizen

Today’s Date: 30 December 2007

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

I have a very neutral and emotionless relation with nature and animals, but I also have a very neutral and emotionless relation with myself and everything. Therefore, I give the same value to myself as I give to all other forms of life. This is this system of values that has the biggest impact on myself and in my relation with other forms of life.

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

I've never really been aware of places, as I've always been watching at the ground when I walked. It sounds ridiculous, but it's true, I missed a lot of scenery because I was watching the ground.

Now? Now, I rarely move away from my computer, but the favorite places I go to happen to be in my dreams.

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

Squirrels are pretty funny. I like them most.

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?

Without mentioning the catastrophic scenarios that could cause much environmental destruction like a nuclear war, I would would say that we aren't really facing any environmental challenge. Of course, human activity can be detrimental to us, but not enough to be challenging. When the water of or oceans will raise, we'll simply move away from it. Other species than ours are going to face real challenges however, and this is the real challenge for us, which s not environmental, but ethical. I'd be very surprised if humanity ever overcome this ethical challenge however.

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

Tell yourself that our existence today is only possible because during our long evolution in ancestral times, there wasn't a species like ourself that had great destruction powers but took no responsibility to restrain it.


Posted at http://www.theenvironmentsite.org/Forum/viewtopic.php?p=111400#111400

Zoketsu Norman Fischer

Everyday Zen Foundation (www.everydayzen.org)

Today’s Date: 19 December 2007

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

Solo backpacking in the High Sierras of California

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

Open field behind my house

Now? The ocean & headlands north of San Francisco I can see out my window

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

My two cats, such lovely friends

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 – we will have to figure out how to be less selfish & to live with appreciation on the Earth

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

Be less selfish. Think of how your life impacts other beings on the Earth. To do this you need to be more quiet.


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Mark S. Hanson

Presiding Bishop – Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Today’s Date: 20 December 2007

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

Being married to a woman of the prairies has opened my eyes to the mystery and beauty of land and space. Now my travels throughout the world are a constant reminder of the intricate beauty and inter-dependence of nature and the tragic reality that we as human beings are putting the creation on the verge of eco-cide.

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

In our early years of married life we loved to camp at the Upper Roughlock Falls in Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills. As a child it was our summer trips to Mount Carmel Bible Camp on Lake Carlos in Alexandria, Minnesota.

Now? Driving across Montana beholding the majestic beauty of mountains and prairies

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

Our 12 year old Tuxedo who challenges my patience yet is a constant companion

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 personal and national refusal to alter our consumptive living and develop alternate renewable fuels and live as stewards of the creation. We fail to live with a sense of accountability to God, to others, and to future generations.

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

To paraphrase Joseph Sittler, “grace is the giftedness and wonder of life.” May we repent of living that is contrary to God’s grace and become stewards of the marvelous, fragile gift.


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David Richard Shepherd, OBE, FRSA, FRGS

Wildlife artist

Today’s Date: 17 December 2007

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

This is undoubtedly the year 1960 which was the catalyst in my life. I painted my very first wildlife painting and it had a profound impact on my career and changed my life. I have never looked back from that moment. More importantly, on that first visit to Kenya, I came across a waterhole which had been poisoned by poachers, finding 255 dead zebra on the ground. I suddenly realised at that moment what Man is capable of doing to his fellow creatures; we are without a doubt the most lethal and dangerous, stupid animal on Earth. A great thrill in my life as you may possibly know that through my efforts by donating paintings to the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (www.davidshepherd.org), I can put something back to the wildlife that has brought me all the success that my wife and family have enjoyed since.

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

(long before I even thought about painting or wildlife) we used to go down to the Kent coast to build sandcastles on the beach. This is probably a very boring answer because in those days that is all most of us did do but I like to hang on to the past because I think that this modern age is getting more trashy and cheap as we make so called progress into the future.

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

Very easy, the elephant, the animal by which I am apparently known to some degree from my paintings of these marvelous gentle giants

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?

No answer given

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

No answer given


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To learn more about David Shepherd, visit http://www.davidshepherd.org/david_shepherd/ds_becoming_a_conservationist.shtml

Dr. Gerald Schroeder

Scientist and Author (www.geraldschroeder.com)

Today’s Date: 6 December 2007

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

My parents’ home was about 40 miles from NYC – a very rural area. We had an apple orchard. Pruning these trees each winter shows the helix, spiral nature of existence – each year comes the winter but each year existence has changed.

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

Our orchard

Now? The back porch that looks out on Eucalyptus trees and the sky (Israel)

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

We had cocker spaniels (3) in my youth. But my favorite animal are/is people.

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

Current challenge – warming and related pollution
Changing from petroleum driven vehicles to electric
Radioactive contamination due to nuclear war

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

Be modest in your demands for items & comfort. Cut back on owning stuff just because you “want” it even though no need.


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Silvia Geser

Scientific Assistant – World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (www.waza.org)

Today’s Date: 26 November 2007

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

10 days training course in a reserve in Switzerland during my studies

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

Yes, forest

Now? Yes, the same

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

I don’t have a favorite animal, but like beetles and saurians very much.

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, and will be, too many people on this Earth, and the challenge is and will be to feed everyone properly without destroying or exploiting our environment.

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

Learn!


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Dr. Richard E. Leakey, FRS

Chairman - Wildlife Direct (www.wildlifedirect.org)

Today’s Date: 7 December 2007

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

Watching elephants in the wild

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

The Serengeti Plains

Now? Northern Kenya

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

Elephant – the complex behavior

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

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

Reduce your own carbon footprint.
Reduce waste – water, energy, and food.


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About Dr. Leakey: Internationally reknowned paleontologist and conservationist. Formerly Director of the National Museums of Kenya and the Kenya Wildlife Service, Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of Public Service, Kenya. Kenyan, residing in Nairobi.
Taken from http://www.wildlifedirect.org/about.php

Peter Waterworth

Governor of Montserrat

Today’s Date: 26 November 2007

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

Seeing a humpback whale playing in the waters of the British Virgin Islands

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

The mountains of Mourne, Northern Ireland

Now? British Columbia, Canada

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

It has to be the humpback whale. Powerful, elegant, and graceful.

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

Global warming, now and in the future.

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

Listen to the scientists, consider the evidence and act out before it is too late.


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Arjia Rinpoche

Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center (www.tmbcc.net)

Today’s Date: 12 December 2007

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

Horses. I grew up in Eastern Tibet and loved to ride horses.

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

The mountains. I loved to play in the fields and look up at the mountains.

Now? I still love the mountains.

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

The horse is my favorite animal because I love to ride horses. I also like other animals like pets – cats and dogs.

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 is very dangerous. We have to control climate change that countries make. We have to watch our actions.

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

Be careful. The Earth is our home and we should take good care of it, or else we will suffer.


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Arjia Thubten Lobsang Rinpoche – A Brief Biography

In the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism, "Rinpoche" is a title given to a tulku--a reincarnated being of a previous holy person. When he was two years old, Arjia Rinpoche was recognized as the incarnation of the father of Lama Tsong Khapa, the great thirteenth-century Buddhist reformer, and, as such, became the Abbot of Kumbum Monastery located in eastern Tibet.

It may seem a bit strange to think of a two-year old child becoming a monk, but among Tibetans and Mongolians, it is a very high honor to have your child become a monk and receive a Buddhist education.

For twenty years, beginning in 1958 when he was seven years old, Rinpoche was subjected, as a member of the “exploiting class,” to the humiliations forced upon all established citizens by the Chinese Communist Party. When the "Chinese Great Leap Forward" occurred, Rinpoche was only eight years old, and he had to disrobe and attend a Chinese school. During the following five years, he was indoctrinated in the Chinese Communist ways, but due to his teacher's influences, he secretly maintained his Buddhist identity.

From age twelve to seventeen when the Chinese policies slightly eased, Rinpoche studied at Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse, the monastery of the Panchen Lama.

From seventeen to twenty-eight, which was during the Cultural Revolution, the political situation got much worse again, and he had to work in the fields at hard labor with other lamas and monks.

In 1979 he was reinstated as Abbot of Kumbum Monastery and advanced in the governmental hierarchy. In 1998, he was about to become leader of the Chinese National Buddhist Association but felt the noose tightening around his own personal and spiritual freedom. In a crisis of conscience, he escaped from Beijing to Guatemala and, with the help of the Dalai Lama sought asylum in the United States.

Rinpoche settled in Mill Valley, California where he established the Tibetan Center for Compassion and Wisdom. In 2005, His Holiness the Dalai Lama asked him to become the director of the Tibetan Cultural Center in Bloomington, Indiana. He moved to Bloomington in February 2006 and has been working to renovate the center and establish Buddhist teachings and Tibetan/Mongolian cultural events.

taken from http://www.tmbcc.net/info/Main.aspx?Page=Rinpoche

Susanne Hare

Communications – First Nations Environmental Network

Today’s Date: 1 December 2007

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

Same experience with wolves (see prior post – Steve Lawson)

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

beaches and beachcombing, woods on grandparents’ farm

Now? Florida and West Coast

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

wolf & bear – closest to humans of the mammal species never to be in a zoo (I don’t agree with zoos)

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

Greatest environmental challenge now: stop deforestation, especially all evergreen trees.
In future: survival

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

Stop deforestation; live simply, conserve water, & energy sources of heat, light, power. But most importantly immediately stop the logging of old growth forests and evergreen forests. The Earth’s canopy and buffer zone is almost gone. What are we to breathe? What will make the soil? What will keep the moisture in the land? What will make the clouds and what will balance temperature? What will offer habitat and protection to the animals and birds? We need to enhance immediately the forests of the land & the seas for our survival & stop any harm that may jeopardize these. DO NOT HARM.


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Steve Lawson

National Coordinator – First Nations Environmental Network

Today’s Date: 1 December 2007

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

A wolf on an island on the west coast came to me and walked with me all day and would meet me whenever I visited the island. Sometimes it would bring other wolves who would howl, one of two might join us and lay down at my feet. They were wild wolves and wanted to teach me things. They did this until they were killed by a “conservation officer” not wanting human and animal encounters.

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

Getting away to the mountains every spare moment I had. I would walk up with skis, overnight at an old lodge, then ski all weekend – Fri. nights and weekends and holidays and every chance I got. It wasn’t commercial like it is now and very few people would walk up like I did.

Now? Anywhere along the wild open coast of North America. Anyplace that isn’t spoiled by logging, mining, or pulp mills. Islands, inlets, river valleys with bears, wolves, eagles, cougar, elk, and all the wildlife – especially wild salmon rivers – i.e. in Clayoquot Sound & on Van. Island’s west coast.

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

It’s hard to pick a favorite animal. The killer whale is one of the most beautiful, intelligent creatures I have come across – also I pick them because they are greatly in harm and danger by pollution & loss of food and natural habitat that is clean and pure.

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: altering the human mindset away from fear and greed to simply caring for life in all its forms.
Future: If we dealt with the challenge above, I think our future would be fine. If humans would not base their ethics on fear and greed, perhaps they would see the greatest value of all – diversity and beauty of life around us.

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

Make decisions as though we lived on the most beautiful and diverse planet in the known universe.


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Philip Carr-Gomm

Chief of the Order – The Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids (www.druidry.org)

Today’s Date: 2 December 2007

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

After 18 years living in a city (London) I lived in the countryside in Ireland at age 18 years which opened me to the magic of the land.

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

The trees in our local park

Now? Many favourites, but locally the landscape around the Long Man of Wilmington in Sussex

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

an ibex, for its elegant and extraordinary horns

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

Overpopulation & global warming - now and in the future.
Greatest challenge in the future – food production & coping with results of climate change

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

That we all have to aim not for reduction of carbon emissions but zero emissions. This is possible – Google “zero carbon.”


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Emilie Della Corte

Caritas Internationalis (Vatican City)
(www.caritas.org)

Today’s Date: 12 December 2007

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

I never had any pets but I have a bad memory of being attacked by a swan as a child

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

I liked being up in the mountains (is summer as well as on my skis in winter) where I felt free but at the same time small in front of the immensity of the mountains.

Now? I still like the mountains best

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

My favorite animal is the giraffe. I enjoy watching and admiring the elegance of this animal.

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

For our humanitarian work at Caritas, we consider climate change the greatest environmental challenge facing us now and in the future. Just in the last 6 months, we have noticed a very notable increase in number of natural (weather-related) emergencies requiring Caritas’ response.

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

An obvious advice would be to recycle whatever can be recycled; & to push for the expansion of biofuel production to replace petrol & diesel in any way you can.


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Norma Bustos

Wildlife Program Specialist – Hawaii Division of Forestry & Wildlife

Today’s Date: 13 December 2007

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

I grew up on the windward side of the island of Oahu next to the ocean and would say that the ocean has had the biggest impact on my life. Living in an island state, I have much appreciation for the ocean and what it provides our islands in terms of stable weather, food resources and recreational opportunities. As a paddler, surfer, diver, snorkeler, and swimmer I have respect for the power of the ocean and the beauty of it. As a zoologist, I admire its creatures and enjoy the diversity of life found within its realm.

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

My favorite place outdoors during my childhood was Kailua Beach. I can vividly remember the many afternoons spent with family and friends playing on the sand, in the water and lying under the coconut trees watching the clouds go by.

Now? My favorite place is still the ocean. I love going for a paddle past the Mokulua Islands and surfing out at my favorite spot on the west side of the island of Kauai.

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

My favorite animals are the Hawaiian Honeycreepers. A subfamily of forest birds found only here in our islands. From a single finch ancestor dozens of species evolved to fill the different ecological niches. Unfortunately, these birds are one of the most extreme examples of extinction resulting from human activities. Introduced rats, cats, disease and loss of habitat have contributed to their decline.

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 in an island State that faces an extinction crisis due in large part to introduced species I would say that invasive/introduced species are the greatest environmental challenge facing us now. From zebra mussels to exotic grasses to the brown tree snake, introduced and invasive species are causing billions of dollars in damage to both natural and man-made resources nation-wide.

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

If I had to give one piece of advice to everyone regarding the environment and our natural resources I would advise that people get involved locally. I love that saying “think global, act local.” If we all acted locally, the global problems might just work themselves out.


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Patriarch Mesrob II

Patriarch, Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul and All Turkey

Today’s Date: 7 December 2007

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

My dog Kuchig. Also since my childhood I have been visiting a village called Kiyikoy in Thrace where the nature is great.

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

The Bosphorus

Now? The Bosphorus

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

My dog Kuchig, who is always with me.

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

Global warming and global warming.

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

To limit the emission of gas from our cars.


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Dr. Helen Phillips

Chief Executive – Natural England

Today’s Date: 10 December 2007

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

Barnacles and limpets

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

Seaside

Now? Seaside

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

Hares in their white coats. Shows how well animals adapt to their surroundings.

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 one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

Teach your children to enjoy and respect the natural environment


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Ariel E. Lugo

Director – USDA Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry (Puerto Rico)

Today’s Date: 10 December 2007

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

I have fond memories of pet dogs I have had, but these are not the type that one would list as a big impact. However, a summer job in the rain forest in Puerto Rico, just after I graduated from my bachelor’s degree, did have a big impact in my life. It contributed to me becoming an ecologist rather than an MD.

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

No, but I cherished visiting my grandfather’s farm

Now? I love all tropical forests and wetlands.

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

My favorite animals are those construed to be ecosystem engineers or keystone species. For example, earthworms, leaf cutter ants, freshwater shrimp, etc.

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 present environmental challenge is the same one we will face in the future. That is, coping with environmental change. Environmental conditions are rapidly changing as human effects on the planet become increasingly global and ubiquitous. Nature reacts to these changes by self-organizing into new ecosystems that we need to recognize and conserve, even if they don’t have the same species composition as familiar ecosystems.

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

To become as familiar as possible with natural environments and ecosystems, learn to value the services we derived from these ecosystems, and contribute to their conservation.


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Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik

Government of Nunavut

Today’s Date: 3 December 2007

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

Respect and survival

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

Hunting & Fishing on our traditional lands

Now? Same

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

Whales, because it is my favorite food

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 will likely be our biggest challenge

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

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and show proper respect for our environment, it is our home and should be treated like one.


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Venerable Dhammananda

Abbot – Buddhasavika Foundation (Thailand)

Today’s Date: 29 November 2007

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

I travel often, when I return to the Temple, my dog greeted me. She would be jumping around & really happy that I return. This is the biggest impact, I never had this pure joy to welcome me home from any other human beings.

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

I love the sea. Every summer I would take my sons(?) to the beach.

Now? As an ordained person, I do not go to the beach any longer. Instead we do the chanting outdoors on the full moon night.

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

My favorite animals are dogs. They are clever, they express their love sincerely, openly. They never turn away from you even the times when they get punishment, instead they are very submissive and needy for punishment.

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?

Consumerism. We are urged in all ways to consume even when there is no need for it. The greatest challenge is when we have to look at ourselves, self-examination to see ourselves in a larger context to realize that when we consume carelessly many people starve on our carelessness.

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

We are nature. Destroy nature is destroy one’s self, one’s nation, future generations.


Received via postal mail

Rt. Hon. Rhodri Morgan AM

First Minister for Wales

Today’s Date: 30 November 2007

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

Swimming with or anyway near wild bottle-nosed dolphins in Mwnt, Cardigan Bay, West Coast of Wales

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

Beaches and rocks in Cardigan Bay, especially during seal pupping season of Atlantic grey seals

Now? Brecon Beacons National Park, including the famous Walk in the Dry behind the waterfall of Sgwd-yr-Eira

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

Bottle-nosed dolphins. They consume an awful lot of mackerel and other fish but always seem instinctively friendly to us human beings

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

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

Try to enjoy your own local environment and holiday locally if you can


Received via postal mail

His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche

Garchen Buddhist Institute

Today’s Date: 28 November 2007

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

The biggest impact with an animal was the realization of the Buddha’s teachings on Karma, the law of cause and effect. I have understood that the mind of an animal and the mind of a human are one and the same. There merely is a difference in intelligence and outer appearance. The Buddha has said that through the accumulation of myriad karma there exist a myriad of different sentient beings with a myriad of different bodies. Having realized these words to be the truth I was amazed and strong conviction arose in my mind. We all have the same mind in terms of wishing to be happy, not wanting to surer and our mental afflictions such as ignorance, anger, desire, pride, and jealousy are one and the same. Engaging in certain non-virtuous deeds will lead to rebirth in the realm of the animals. I have seen this clearly. Wisdom and intelligence can block the rebirth as an animal. Lacking wisdom and intelligence one is ignorant and fails to recognize the fault in it. But possessing wisdom one understands the fault in non-virtuous deeds and thus engages in wholesome deeds which will lead to rebirth in more fortunate existences such as the human realm.

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

My favorite places were the grassy fields, the forests, lakes, and mountains. I especially enjoyed the animals in the lake.

Now? Now the best places seem to be places of independence. Countries where human rights are observed and where people are free are good places.

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

There are different types of animals, some are gentle and some are vicious. Those who are gentle do not cause harm for others and sometimes also have a beautiful appearance and voice. Those are better. There are also vicious animals that are very aggressive and are harming others, those are not so good.

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 biggest challenge is that our mental afflictions are increasing and love and compassion are diminishing. Because the inner mind and the outer elements have a strong connection, the harm of the elements in the form of natural disasters will increase. The only way to dispel this is to cultivate love for all sentient beings and to have a good understanding of the workings of Karma, cause and effect. If everyone would love each other the inner mind of beings would be at peace and in a state of equanimity. Then also the outer elements would come to a balance, a state of equanimity, since there is this strong connection between mind and elements. Then e.g. fire element causing the globe to heat up would be balanced and cause no harm.

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

Of course we have to use natural resources but we must be careful with overusing them. If we use them in moderation we will be benefited, if we overuse them we will be harmed. We have to protect the resources and the animals, being very skilful. If we focus on cultivating love then this will benefit our environment since we have a strong connection to the environment. The best thing we can do is to improve our mind and cultivate love. If we harm others it will come back to oneself in the future. But people do not know that and therefore harm others as much as they can for their own benefit. But all suffering comes from this attitude. If we cultivate love towards others we will experience happiness. It is just that most beings don’t know this.


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His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche: A Brief Biography

His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche is a Drikung Kagyu lama who was known in the thirteenth century as the Siddha Gar Chodingpa, a heart disciple of Kyobpa Jigten Sumgon, founder of the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. In ancient India, he had incarnated as Mahasiddha Aryadeva, the lotus-born disciple of the great Nagarjuna. In the seventh century, he was known as Lonpo Gar, the minister of the Tibetan Dharma King Songsten Gampo.

Garchen Rinpoche was recognized and enthroned in eastern Tibet by the former Drikung Kyabgon Zhiwe Lodro. When he was seven, he was brought to Lho Miyal Monastery, which he administered from the age of eleven. Studying and practicing under the direction of the Siddha Chime Dorje, Garchen Rinpoche received vast and profound instructions on the preliminary practices (ngondro), the fivefold practice of Mahamudra and the six yogas of Naropa.

Then, at the age of 22, after completing a two and a half year retreat, he was imprisoned for 20 years during the political turmoil of China's Cultural Revolution. While in the labor camp, he received meditation instruction from his root lama, the Nyingma master Khenpo Munsel. Enduring hardship and practicing secretly, Garchen Rinpoche attained realization of the lama's wisdom mind. Since his release from prison in 1979, Garchen Rinpoche has made great effort to rebuild the Drikung Kagyu monasteries, reestablish the Buddhist teachings, and build two boarding schools for local children in eastern Tibet. Rinpoche is the founder and spiritual director of the Garchen Buddhist Institute in Chino Valley, Arizona.

Garchen Rinpoche is known for his vast realization, as well as for his great kindness.

biography taken from http://www.garchen.net/teachers.html

Robert S. Saulters

Grand Master – Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland

Today’s Date: 5 December 2007

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

When I was a boy into my teens, my father had a small holding as a past-time, more of a menagerie. We had hens, geese, ducks, turkeys, goats, cows, pigs, and a pony, and of course cats and always a dog or two. I enjoyed looking after them, I enjoyed seeing the eggs hatch or the young being born – I just loved animals.

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

Yes, the hayfield in the summertime and the bringing the hay in to the farmyard

Now? I just love to visit farms and to see the modern day milking parlours and the modern day equipment with the tractor the main work horse.

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

Very hard to day, I adored all the animals. I suppose in the latter years it would be the German shepherd dogs or Alsatian as sometimes known by. Followed by the horse and after that the pig. If it is a wild animal you mean, I would say the bear family.

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 melting of the ice fields
To save the polar bear

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

No more atom or hydrogen bomb testing and less destruction of fish stocks by governments ordering a quota of certain fish and where it is impossible to catch fish without the fish we are suppose to be trying to preserve. And they are dumped back into the sea for bird fodder. Fish in my estimation is a stop to whale hunting by all countries.


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Marty Stouffer

President, Marty Stouffer Productions Ltd (www.wildamerica.com)
(see also www.Wild-Mart.com and www.WildTent.com)

Today’s Date: 23 December 2007

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

It is very hard for me to narrow down the single interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on me. It would certainly begin with a childhood in rural Arkansas and with very understanding parents, who allowed us to keep, raise, and rehabilitate various wild animals - deer, fox, owl, beaver, etc. They also provided for us domestic animals as pets and also for husbandry. We had sheep, goats, horses, donkey, turkeys, chickens and hamsters by the thousand. At one point, we bred and raised hamsters for the pet trade as a family project. Also, as a family, we annually raised and slaughtered, cleaned and froze by the dozens, the turkeys and chickens we were to eat that year, etc. etc. We hunted and fished and ate all of that, as well. So, I began my life with a very hands on approach to wildlife and to all animals. I did not mention the dogs, cats, parakeets, monkeys, turtles, frogs, snakes, fish and etc. etc. that we also kept as "pets", since those were something that virtually everyone has and are nothing special... except the monkeys, but we even had a couple of friends with those as well (in the old days when the laws were more lax).

As I grew older, I spent time in both Alaska and Africa (Botswana) and those were powerful influences as is spelled out in the book "Marty Stouffer's Wild America". I will make no attempt to summarize here what is explained there in hundreds of pages. See note above re: Book is now online for free. [If you would like more insight, the entire Book I wrote... "Wild America" is posted on the Website at www.WildAmerica.com]

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

Regarding my favorite place in the outdoors, growing up in Arkansas, when our initial transportation was bicycles, go-carts and motorcycles, it was "the woods"... literally outside out back door, and several miles away along the banks of the Arkansas River. When we were old enough to drive, it was the nearby Fort Chaffee Military Reservation... a huge area that was completely off-limits to all civilians... and, as a result, a fabulous "de facto" wildlife preserve and refuge. Naturally, as somewhat adventurous and not-completely rule-abiding teens, it was our "Happy Hunting Ground", we knew every inch of it and were chased by armed MPs many, many times. After that, we came to know and love, forty miles to the north in the Ozark Mountains all of the land around the Buffalo River, later to become a National Scenic River.

Now? Obviously, for the past thirty years, I now live in the western U.S. at the edge of a wilderness area a few miles outside of Aspen, Colorado - the answer to my favorite place(s) these days should be obvious - it is where I have chosen to live. Having said that, I dearly love Yellowstone Park in late spring and late autumn when the tourists are virtually gone from there. I love the Baja down South. I LOVE everything about Louisiana... the pepole, their culture, the wildlife and their game recipes. Alaska is fabulous for more reasons than I could outline short of a small book, but I would never want to live there for just as many... and while I had tremendous and dramatic experiences in Botswana, Africa, the goods and the bads just about evened out over there.

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

My favorite animals are the Bighorn and the Otter and I go into great detail on that topic in the book. One is a noble animal in a beautiful environment and the other lives for fun. One could not go wrong with either approach to life.

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

Too many rats in the box. China is terrifying and America is just as bad. Too many consumers making too many babies and buying them all too much junk. Sure, I love my truck, my tv and my computer, but the future in which 10 or 20 billion people will ALL want that same "stuff", plus a bottle of Coca-Cola and a Rolex watch, simply boggles the mind with its impossibility. I do not believe that Al Gore invented the Internet, Global Warming or much of anything else except some political hype and b.s. Bless his heart. I do believe its in the right place... its his Ego that has me concerned. We can wring our hands and worry about greenhouse gas, or gasoline, energy, food, water, air and all the rest, but Nature will do just fine in balancing it all out. As for humans and our natural propensity for "more, better, different..." all I can say is "Good luck". I'm really not cynical about it... I just do not think that the future will be very much like the past, in which we pretty much had whatever we wanted and whenever we wanted it. In the long run, after we burn all the fossil fuel in the earth and eat all the fish in the sea, things will not be nearly as much fun as they were in the "good ol' days".

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

Here is my one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources. First a bit Rude, then a bit more Refined. Like I tell my verbose, self-righteous self-proclaimed "Environmental" friends who love to drive their internal-combustion vehicles to meetings to worry and fret about "saving the world"... if you really want to do something worthwhile... just blow your own brains out. Because You, and WE, are the problem. Without humans, there is NO problem whatsoever with "the Environment". Its not a Nature problem... its a People problem. But, thats too simple and to "Inconvenient a Truth" to even consider.

Instead, we talk about it all like Nature has something "Wrong" with it... acid rain and ozone holes and melting glaciers and dying species. Yes, of course, the U.N. and etc. etc. passes out medicine and pamphlets and condoms, but do the math. They are not getting read or used. At least, they have not limited population growth to any significant degree. Sex is still the most fun that a poor person can have. And, cruel or not to simply admit it, there are a whole lot of poor people in the world who like to have sex and who do not yet share the "first world" concerns with the environment. \

They are too busy killing things for food, or chopping things down for money or draining places to plant more food or etc. etc. Since no one actually IS going to sacrifice themselves for the Future of the Planet... (we as a species are MUCH too selfish for that grand gesture... I know for sure that I do NOT plan to do so, at least... ha ha.) and, to summarize on a more positive note, the simple answer is that we need less people on the planet...

So, to accomplish that... we would need Education/Contraception/Sterilization/Limitation ... i.e. whatever it takes to get LESS Rats in the Box. Other than that, I feel that all other efforts to even maintain the "World", much less improve it in any way... are a complete waste of time and money. But, for every family in America or even China with 1 or 2 children, there are many, many more with 5 or 10 and these days, many of them have the "first world's" donation of food and medicine to keep all of their offspring alive until they, too, are able to breed and reproduce prolifically. And on and on. Until Boom. Ouch.

Sounds a little Hitler-esque, I know to suggest ANY alternative to that, our current scenario... Human Freedom running Wild. Political correctness at its finest. And I do NOT mean it that way. Not in any sort of "Us instead of Them" cruel way. Starving and dying babies are a terrible thing. So, of course, that should be prevented at all costs. But, the answer is prevention, not perpetuation. The Catholic church still opposes contraception. That, to my mind, is beyond insane. But, I'm not Catholic.

I will stop now for fear of generating TOO MUCH additional hate mail... ha ha. Seriously, I would love for everyone to just go nuts and have sweet, sweet love with the person of their dreams, and then they could have as many kids as they wanted, and then grandchildren and great grandchildren and it would all be good. But, I am afraid that those days are over. And I am afraid that we, as the human species, have started a giant boulder rolling down a great long hill and it is now completely beyond our control. So, do I really think we will talk and plan and figure and work it out and avoid a disaster? No I do not. The last drop of gasoline will be burned by a half-drunk teenager peeling out of a parking lot in middle America. I think that the time will come when there is drastic overpopulation and human dieoffs, following on the heels of environmental destruction beyond our wildest imagination and then a hundred or a thousand years of Nature sorting it all out... and then... Life will go on. WHAT that Life will be is the question.

Rev. Ronald Kobata

Executive Assistant to the Bishop, Buddhist Churches of America

Today’s Date: 4 December 2007

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

Growing up with pet dogs, and then one of my daughters having a dog, rabbits, guinea pigs.

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

My dad was an avid fisherman. I have fond memories of our family joining my dad’s fishing buddy’s families going to the beaches in the area. The kids would be playing as the fathers cast their lines into the ocean and moms enjoying each others company while preparing lunches.

Now? I don’t think it qualifies, but my favorite pastime that occurs outside is golfing. Otherwise, I enjoy an occasional walk in the park or at the beach.

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

I’ve adopted the kangaroo as my mascot. This comes from a story I once read about how the animal got its name. It mentioned how the explorer Capt. Cook noticing the unusual animal, asked about it and got a reply from the local people “kangaroo.” Later it was determined that the expression kangaroo in English meant “What do you mean?” This impressed me as an important reminder of the role of religion in life as a search for meaning.

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 is human ignorance (arrogant ignoring) of the truth of our interdependent relationship within our natural environment. It remains to be seen if humans will be able to make the necessary adjustments to their actions in compliance with what needs to be done to turn around the environmental destruction we are causing.

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

Each piece is an important piece by virtue of its connection with all of the other pieces. This big picture must be realized to make us take personal responsibility for how we each impact each other and the world we are pieces of.


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Tashi Wangdi

The Office of Tibet (New York)

Today’s Date: 7 December 2007

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

Seeing the fast receding glaciers in Alaska two years ago

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

Large expanse of grassland and snow capped mountains in Tibet

Now? Green valleys with running streams

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

Yak. Hardy yet gentle by nature, useful companions

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

Global warming & scarcity of water

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

Act. Everything starts at the level of self.


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Lee A. Cockerell

Lee Cockerell LLC (www.LeeCockerell.com)
Executive Vice President (Retired) - Walt Disney World Resort

Today’s Date: 28 November 2007

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

I grew up on a dairy farm surrounded by all kinds of animals including my pet skunk which sprayed me when he/she became an adult. That has a lasting impression. I would say the other impact on my appreciation for the animal world and nature was a visit to Tiger Tops in Nepal where we interacted with elephants and saw many wild creatures in their own jungle environment.

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

The woods in and around our Oklahoma farm where my brother would spend the whole day hiking around and swimming in the local lakes and ponds with our dog whose name was Karo.

Now? We enjoy hiking and canoeing in France in the woods where we now spend the summers.

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

I would say elephants since we have seen them born at DAK (Disney’s Animal Kingdom) and also because of spending a week with them in Nepal and seeing how smart they are.

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?

In both cases population growth is going to always be the main challenge. Not sure the Earth can sustain Billions more. Man to survive for the short term will continue to destroy the Earth. In my opinion this will be a bigger issue than solving the carbon issue. Reproduction will not be so easily resolved as carbon emissions even though this is a huge issue. Lack of food and clean water is our biggest issue, I think.

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

Birth control


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Robert Poulson

President – National Energy Foundation

Today’s Date: 5 December 2007

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

Having pets (cat & dog) as a child was a great source of companionship.

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

No

Now? Yes, log home near Lava Hot Springs, ID

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

Cougar: I had cats as a child and think felines are a beautiful animal

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

Balancing the demands on our Earth for recreation, energy use, agriculture, etc.

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

Treat it as if it were yours alone. i.e. don’t waste any of it.


Received via postal mail

Jonathan F. Fanton

President – The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Today’s Date: 4 December 2007

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

Observing Mountain Gorillas up close in Uganda

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

Chesapeake Bay

Now? Bhutan

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

My Labrador Retriever – a source of unquestioned love

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

A major challenge is seeking alternative fuel sources and finding a way to make nuclear power safe (control the fuel cycle).

Also need to predict the impact of climate change and adapt and mitigate on a local level.

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

Take steps to conserve energy in every day life and get involved in the political process.


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Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman

Kehilat Kol HaNeshama (Jerusalem, Israel)

Today’s Date: 20 November 2007

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

Outward Bound (Minnesota) 1976

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

Riverside Park in New York City

Now? The Sea of Galilee

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

Humans – I feel I have the most in common with them

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

Not a clue…

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

When God created Adam, He led him around the trees of The Garden of Eden. “Look at what I have made! See how beautiful it is! All that I made, I made it for you. Be careful not to mess it up or to destroy my world. If you mess it up, no one will come and fix it!” (Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:13)


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Kent Hovind

Founder – Creation Science Evangelism (www.drdino.com)

Today’s Date: 30 November 2007

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

Our family had over 300 pets of all kinds as I grew up. Interaction with animals is an essential part of the learning experience.

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

We lived at the edge of a large (several thousand acres) wooded area in Illinois. I spent countless hours there growing up to love nature.

Now? I have been blessed in that my ministry causes me to travel extensively- I’ve been to all 50 states and 37 countries. I enjoy the variety more than 1 spot.

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

The dog. He wags his tail and not his tongue.

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?

Government intervention and ownership of property causes the biggest threat. Private property ownership is a large part of the solution. About ½ the area devastated by Mt. St. Helens was privately owned. They replanted immediately before erosion took its toll. Go see today what works best. Socialism & communism destroy the environment.

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

Pro 18:9 Lazy and wastefulness are brothers. Proverbs is full of wisdom to maintain your property.


Received via postal mail

Dr. Ian Robinson

Emergency Relief Program Manager – International Fund for Animal Welfare (www.ifaw.org)

Today’s Date: 4 December 2007

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

The geese which flew over my house morning & night every winter day as they flew between their feeding & roosting grounds

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

My local river estuary – full of wildlife!

Now? The same, it’s just a different estuary.

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

The harbour seal – the ….? beach bum!

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

1. Global warming/climate change
2. Human population growth, combined with increased consumerism in growing economies
- even if we tackle climate change we will create new challenges!

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

Value them while you can, because however hard we try to conserve it, our biodiversity will probably never be greater again than it is today
-and value the environment around you- wildlife is everywhere, not just in remote, exotic locations, and make room & tolerate wildlife around us, in our yards & on our streets and our local pond/park, etc.


Received via postal mail

Stephen Corry

Director – Survival International (www.survival-international.org)

Today’s Date: 21 November 2007

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

Being in mountains

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

Spout Hills, Holt, Norfolk, England (Estimated altitude: 20 metres)

Now? Alps/Himalaya

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

Domestic cats
Domesticity requires not an iota’s loss of “cat-like nature”, yet prehistoric “man” also gains (protection of stored grain from rodents). It was & is a “win-win”.

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?

Tyranny of man

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

To thine own self be true


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Paul R. Reillo, PhD

Director/Founder – Rare Species Conservatory Foundation (www.rarespecies.org)

Today’s Date: 27 November 2007

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

Witnessing deforestation from the Genting Highlands, Malaysia in 1988

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

Yes – the unspoiled forests of northern Appalachia

Now? Oceanic rainforests in the Lesser Antilles

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

No single favorite – but partial to psittacines & callithricids

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?

Stemming & regulating human population growth. All environmental issues hinge on reducing human populations to sustainable levels – 3.5-4.5 Billion

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

Nullify your impact on the Earth, for as long as you live


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Anonymous

Forest Stewardship Council (www.fsc.org)

Today’s Date: 27 November 2007

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

Generally growing up in the countryside. Being close to both nature and animals (friends lived on/by farms) and we could be with the animals.

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

Yes, all outside of my house – forest, fields, etc.

Now? Ocean, and forest

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

It used to be pigs, and bears. I don’t know why :) !

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: Acting accordingly to the fact that cars are not ok.
Future: Same as above, as well as major consumption

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

No answer given


Received via postal mail

Jo Luck

President and CEO, Heifer International (www.heifer.org)

Today’s Date: 24 November 2007

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

When camping in Yellowstone National Park and a bear visited our campsite!

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

When I was 12 years old my family started at the Grand Canyon and camped for 2 months following the Rocky Mts. into Canada

Now? The Arkansas River whish is just outside my condo balcony. I love the barges, the wild geese, and the hikers and bikers on the trail.

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

Panda because of its significance in China where I have traveled often

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! Climate change!

Future: access to water!

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

If you are able, ride a bike. Don’t let the water run while you brush your teeth. If you can, buy a hybrid. “Green” your home as much as possible.


Received via postal mail

Dr. Sein Win

Chairman and Prime Minister, National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (government in exile)

Today’s Date: 27 November 2007

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

I had many cats as a pet (one at a time). I am a cat-lover. They teach me to be patient, etc., but they also give back their love in their own way. (That’s during my childhood).

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

No. But I would like to visit lake side to be able to walk (stroll) along the bank.

Now? The same

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

I like to look at big cats- I am interested and amazed by the animal kingdom

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, extinction of endangered species, over population

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

Need to push government to take action
Also active in any way possible


Received via postal mail

Peter Illyn

Founder and Executive Director, Restoring Eden (www.restoringeden.org)

Today’s Date: 24 November 2007

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

1,000 mile llama hike where I encountered a majestic herd of wild elk

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

Age 7-12 – woods a block away
Age 14-17 – swimming hole in Savannah River
Young adult – meadows around Mt. Adams Wilderness

Now? see above – young adult

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

Bison & Musk ox – for their ability to survive harsh winters
Wolves/dogs – their loyalty within a pack
Elephants – for their family units & reported grieving over loss

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

1. Over consumption & a global economy based on unsustainable extraction industries
2. Global warming & destruction of habitats & biodiversity

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

Develop a relational theology – one where we
love – nature appreciation
serve – environmental stewardship
protect – environmental activism


Received via postal mail

John Clayton

“Does God Exist” Educational Ministry

Today’s Date: 25 November 2007

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

Canadian canoe trips in wilderness

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?

Canines- positive interaction with 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?

Pollution, for both

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

Learn what is going on – education is the key


Received via postal mail

John McCarter, Jr.

President, The Field Museum

Today’s Date: 21 November 2007

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

Summer employment work of Death Valley & climbs in Sierra including Mt. Whitney
My dogs & cats

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

Forest preserve along Des Plaines River in river forest

Now? Madagascar, Peru

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

My golden retrievers

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

deforestation
ocean warming, pollution – coral reefs warming

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

We can make a difference


received via postal mail

Sir Paul Haddacks

Lieutenant Governor, Isle of Man

Today’s Date: 23 November 2007

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

Owning cats

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

The beach

Now? The beach

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

Cats, because they de-stress me!

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

Global warming

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

Don’t drop litter!


Received via postal mail

General Shaw Clifton

The Salvation Army

Today’s Date: 20 November 2007

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

Walking among the hills and lakes of England’s Cumbria

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

The seaside

Now? Caldbeck, Cumbria

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

The elephant, because you can see him coming

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

1. Wasting natural resources
2. Deforestation

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

Respect!
Economise!
Save it!


Received via postal mail

Rev. Dirk Ficca

Executive Director, Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions

Today’s Date: December 18, 2007

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

My senior year in college I lived in a two-story apartment house that had had a fire. Consequently I spent a lot of time on the front porch studying, eating my meals, and just sitting. This gave me an appreciation the changes throughout the day - from dawn to noon to late afternoon to evening. The house was across from a park, and I watched the trees change as summer gave way to autumn and then into winter

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

Summer camps at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Now? The riverwalk in Melbourne, Australia. The mountain hike up Chipinque ecological park in Monterrey, Mexico.

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

I'm fascinated by gorillas, in part because of their size and strength, but also their intelligence and social life.

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

Certainly climate change is the most dynamic and far-reaching environmental challenge at the moment. The need for clean water is already a crisis in many places in the world. Wars fought over oil today will be fought over water in the next decade.

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

Find those one or two things in your own life that you can do to preserve the inhabitability of the planet. Use them as both a practical contribution to the future, but also as a spur to think more deeply and broadly about the ecological implications of everything that we do.

Frank M. Rabauliman

Director, Division of Environmental Quality, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

Today’s Date: December 11, 2007

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

All kinds of fish, pigs, dogs, and goats

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

Yep, my farm up on the mountain

Now? Still the same place

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

I love fish because they're not only good pets, they taste good too and they're healthy.

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 is the greatest environmental challenge we are facing now and it will still be the greatest challenge also in the future.

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

Enjoy it while you still can.

Roy Speckhardt

Executive Director, American Humanist Association (www.americanhumanist.org)

Today's Date: 6 December 2007

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

During my first camping trip hiking along the Appalachian Trail, I entered a clearing and came upon a family of eagles flying just above me. The sereneness of my surroundings and the majesty of the eagles filled me with a sense of awe and wonder. I was surprised to find that I can have such peak experiences without a belief in God or other supernaturalisms, and it led me on my path to humanism.

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

In childhood, I very much enjoyed a large garden that backed into a small stretch of open woods. In thrilled at finding my own spaces in the trees and bushes there and exploring the life that thrived there.

Now? Today there are so many beautiful places of such diversity that I've experienced that the only way to choose a favorite would be to first settle on a particular mood, set of companions, and state of mind.

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

Similarly, today it is a challenge to settle on a favorite animals, so I'll have to say orangutans for their fascinating reflections on humanity tempered by something positive that engenders respect.

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?

Today's greatest environmental challenge is grappling with how to raise worldwide standards of living in an equitable manner, while simultaneously addressing the steadily diminishing environment, upon which our very existence happiness depends. Some say that the capacity of the land to support the people has already been exceeded, so what are we to do?

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

We need to act quickly on broad scope measures that will impact our negative global trajectory. Behavior changes are needed (such as eliminating incandescent bulbs, switching to biodiesel, and reviving public transportation) so that we can reduce our ecological footprint. And global lifestyle changes are needed (such as addressing population growth through family planning and boosting women's rights) so that we lessen the burden on our planet and live better lives.

Martin Palmer

Secretary General, Alliance of Religions and Conservation (www.arcworld.org)

Today’s Date: 5 December 2007

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

Seeing my first heron. I lived on a bleak public housing estate in Bristol in southwest England . It had been built by the Council in the 1950’s and was a place where all nature had been squeezed out. One day as I was walking home from school – I must have been about 9 – a heron flew overhead. I just stood and stared. I had no idea anything so big or beautiful still survived in Britain , and certainly not near or in cities. Its languid way of flying; its almost aristocratic poise and distain for the rest of the world took me by surprise. Since that day, whenever I have seen a heron, it has always been a sign of good luck for me. The heron has become my totem. It has taught me about how linked we are to nature and how vulnerable nature is to us. At one level you could say that my desire to protect nature comes from my desire to ensure that herons can always fly slowly across the sky; that they can always fish in plentiful waters and that they can live side by side with us.

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

Yes. The Quantock hills in Somerset which are wild and free and windswept and where my magical godmother lived who taught me to read the landscape for its history, geology, wildlife and spirituality.

Now? Still the Quantocks but alongside this the mountains some sixty miles to the east of Ulaan Baator in Mongolia where on an otherwise frenetic trip to look at projects my charity was running there with the Buddhists and World Bank, I and my wife found peace, found ourselves held by nature and protected at a very difficult time after my father’s death.

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

Apart from the heron, which I don’t think counts as an animal in the sense you are asking about, it would be the sloth. I love their slowness, the extraordinary way they gradually move through the trees, the way they hang upside down, looking at us with huge astonished eyes. I love the story I was once told that they move so slowly mould grows on them! But also they are such a symbol of nature’s vulnerability. They cannot escape the hunter or the logger. So we have to save their habitat so they can continue to meander slowly through the trees as they have done for millennia.

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 today is being diverted into just focusing on “climate change” given that this has now become little more than a political battlefield and economic market. It is in serious danger of diverting us from long term solutions to destruction of habitat by human activity, population issues, power and poverty issues and – and the issue of adopting simpler lifestyles because they are right not just as a panic response to fear. Change is inevitable. Adaptation is possible.

In the future, the challenge will be what it has always been: balancing human demands against nature’s needs so that we begin to realise we should supply our needs not our wants. That is what lies at the heart of all the problems. Always has done: always will.

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

Don’t panic. Plan for generations ahead not just for the end of your latest campaign.


Martin Palmer is the Secretary General of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) and was instrumental in the creation of ARC in 1995 by HRH the Prince Philip. ARC specialises in projects related to religious, environmental and development issues and works with a variety of international organisations such as WWF, the World Bank, UNESCO, UNDP, the World Council of Churches, the China Daoist Association, the Islamic Foundation for Environment and Environmental Sciences and others. In 1997 he founded the Sacred Land Project which has expanded to involve projects all around the world, preserving sacred sites from Mongolia to Mexico .

John A Burton

CEO, World Land Trust (www.worldlandtrust.org)

Today’s Date: 3 December 2007

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

Far too many to list, but first memorable one was age 6, discovering a lizard (Lacerta vivipara) in my sand pit. Since then numerous others, dependent on time, place and circumstances. Wildlife and nature have simply had the biggest impact on my life than any other.

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

Depends on how you define childhood. But from 9-15 it would have been a local oak-wood, after that a sewage farm (birdwatching)

Now? Dry Chaco of Paraguay

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

Have never had a favourite but tend to side with the unloved animals of the world – amphibians, reptiles, bats etc. Have a special passion for European Brown Hare

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?

a) human population
b) human population

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

Persuade governments that human population increase is a very serious threat.

Loh Chi Leong

Executive Director, Malaysian Nature Society

Today’s Date: 5th December 2007

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

It would have to be a visit to a palm forest on a mountain top in what is now the Endau Rompin National Park in Johor, Malaysia. It is an ageless place where you can see the balance of the ecosystem very clearly and things remain unchanged for years.

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

The beach and mangrove forests of Port Dickson, Malaysia. Unfortunately most of that is severely degraded today.

Now? It would still have to be Endau Rompin National Park.

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

It would be the Grey Squirrel primarily because I enjoy interacting with an intelligent and relatively un-shy animal.

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

Our immediate emergency has to be climate change which threatens our environment, our food security, water availability and species survival. The challenge for the future is to reduce our impact of ecological footprint which can only be done if we curb rampant consumerism and wastage as well as take steps to reduce or control population growth. The truth is that the Earth’s ability to support us and our lifestyle is finite.

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

That we must take responsibility of the problem and act in our own lives to reduce impact and lobby corporations and governments for more sustainable practices.