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.
Thanks to my sister Michelle McIlroy for designing the logo!
January 10, 2007
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.
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.
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.
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.
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