Les U. Knight

Editor - These EXIT Times http://vhemt.org

Today’s Date: 29 October 2008

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

Gaining an appreciation for wildlife habitat and seeing it sacrificed for human habitat.

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

Growing up in the high desert of Eastern Oregon, the creek intermittently running through my town provided a constantly changing, linear playground. The water was polluted by drain fields from septic tanks, so we had to be careful with cuts and couldn't lick the ice nor swim in it on the rare occasions that it got deep enough.

Now? Now my favorite place outdoors is my own backyard, where I can play without disturbing wildlife much.

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

Like most people, my favorite animal is the human. Some of my best friends are humans. I relate to them better than any other animal, though I'm partial to the other great apes as well. Like most animals, we get mentally unbalanced in cages, and should be running wildly in troupes, but there's not enough habitat left for reintroduction. Our captive breeding program has been all too successful.

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?

Every environmental challenge has its roots in human activities and is exacerbated by our increase. We began causing extinctions tens of thousands of years ago and have accelerated the rate as we become more numerous. Reversing this direction is our greatest challenge 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?

Before creating another of us, please consider the environmental impact a new human will have in his or her lifetime. Thank you for not breeding.

Ian Bride

Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology

Today’s Date: 17 October 2008

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

growing up on the edge of the countryside

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

woodland

Now? anywhere with interesting wildlife

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

I have no favourite

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 effects of global warming

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

issue too complex for such trite oversimplifications

Melissa Bull

Private citizen

Today’s Date: 14 October 2008

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

I grew up in the country and have spent a great deal of time camping and hiking in the mountains of upstate NY and East Tennessee. That has been and remains one of my favorite activities. I love to be out in nature and see and experience everything around me.

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

I loved going to the Adirondacks when i was a kid

Now? Still love it up there, but pretty much anywhere in the woods where i can have peace and beautiful scenery.

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

That’s a tough one... I love animals of all kinds.

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?

we are totally destroying our planet, using up all of our natural resources and soon will have nothing left for future generations to enjoy or appreciate.

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

quit screwing them up!!!

Samuel

Global Energy One

Today’s Date: 16 October 2008

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

my alsatian (german shepard), my friend and companion when i was 4 to 6 years old, it taught me to be trusting and devoted

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

no

Now? no

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

fish, it is quiet, not messy, and soothing to the mind

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

people wasting resources including their talents and abilities
people making better use of all resources including their talents and abilities

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

treat everything and every person with utmost care and concern, with out misusing any, and you and all will have a safer and more lovely place to live in and leave for the next generations.

Toni L. Rubin

Private citizen

Today’s Date: 13 October 2008

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

See wolves on my birthday in Yellowstone, 2000.

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

Niagara Falls

Now? Many -- the Canadian shore of Lake Erie, Niagara Fall, the Grand Tetons, the Bitteroots, the Big Horns, the coast of Oregon, etc.

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

the gray wolf - nobility, intelligence, adaptability, loyalty and for keeping other ecosystems/game 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?

without a doubt it's global warming

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

focus on the reality that we are one with, not separate from nature, and clean up after ourselves.

Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D.

Executive Director - Port of Los Angeles

Today’s Date: 27 September 2008

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

I was captivated by marine organisms when I first took an invertebrate zoology course as an undergraduate at Rutgers University. The colors, the shapes and textures of the animals, there are just so beautiful, I was hooked!

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

The woods behind my house. When I was a kid, the world was safer and it was ok to drift far from your home and explore the woods. Also, my parents had a camp in the Adirondack Mountains in upper New York State, we had our own pond and lots of acres of woods and streams to explore.

Now? I like the desert in springtime, the rocky intertidal zone and my garden

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

I don’t think I have a favorite animal. I have come to care more about elephants as we have learned more about their strong family bonds. I think about that whenever I see the elephant walk from the port to the city for the circus.

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

I think our greatest environmental challenge is health impacts associated with air pollution and airborne particulate matter. I think climate change I our greatest challenge in the future.

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

Get rid of half of what you have and consume less- you probably will not miss a thing.

James H. Bush

Retired (and Jeremy’s grandfather)

Today’s Date: 12 September 2008

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

I would have to say the seasons of the year. As a former farmer & still avid gardener all depends on them.

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

As a child I enjoyed exploring the woodlot on our farm [Note from Jeremy- the same farm in upstate New York where I grew up many years later]

Now? My favorite place is Schoodic Peninsula. I especially like watching the ocean waves & the many kinds of wild fowl seen there – especially in winter.

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

The white-tailed deer. Not only are they quite handsome animals, they are experts at survival. I have hunted them since I was 16 and they never cease to amaze me with their ability to survive.

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 in the so called third world countries. If this trend continues we will run out of land for farming to feed them.

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

We should work to use the environment in a responsible was for our benefit, not merely preserve it.

Received via postal mail

Tom Cobb

Palisades Interstate Park Commission (Retired Park Manager)

Today’s Date: 23 July 2008

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

Managing Minnewaska State Park Preserve for 10 years

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?

Common loon – A species that I can see in the backcountry of the Adirondacks

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 now & in future

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

Get out & experience nature on a 4-season basis

Received via postal mail

Mark Dowd

Operation Noah

Today’s Date: 24 August 2008

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

Hill and mountain walking.

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

We had a wild wasteland we used to call the "Brookin"....it wasn’t that big but it felt that big as a child. WE would erect swings with ropes on trees, and make mud pies!

Now? I love the English county of Shropshire and the English/Welsh borders.

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

Llamas. They are just weird!

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?

Stabilisation of the climate and keeping CO2 levels to 350ppm.

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

Live Simply....learn to grow vegetables and deafen your ears to the advertising industry!

Luis Cristiani

Cristiani Burkard

Today’s Date: 20 August 2008

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

Hunting with my father showed me to respect animals.

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

Yes, A national park in El Salvador, were I first went camping with my family.

Now? Learned to enjoy every place individually

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

No particular favorite

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?

All forms of pollution. Conservation of biodiversity, and sustainable industry and agriculture.

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

Respect the environment and do not misuse the natural resources.

Ian Campbell

Private citizen

Today’s Date: 15 August 2008

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

It is difficult to say what interaction with an animal or nature has had the biggest impact on me in my life.

In my early 20s I helped my older brother on his farm dipping the sheep. This involved driving the sheep into a pool containing chemicals. I think this solution was to kill parasites on the sheep. Something like that anyway. Spillage from the pool unfortunately emptied into a small stream. A couple of days after the sheep were dipped I noticed many dead gilgies in the stream (Gilgies are a small fresh water crustacean found in streams in Western Australia).

It was obvious that the chemicals from the sheep dipping had killed the gilgies downstream. Although gilgies are not cute and cuddly I was much saddened by their deaths. I realised the harm that man could do to the natural environment in his pursuit of making a living.

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

No

Now? No

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

None

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 to restrain our greed for more and more energy use and to live more balanced lives in tune with nature. Human industry should be more sustainable and less exploitative.

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

The capitalist system is based on forever expanding economies, marketing new products that are not needed etc. All this threatens the natural environment. We should learn to live with less, to walk gently on the earth. We should be less motivated by making profit.

I live in Melbourne, Australia which has a mild, temperate climate. In winter we have no snow and ice. In summer it gets hot for a few days. In winter people complain about the cold, but it isn't really cold like in Canada or Russia. 95% of the people have heating in their houses, but it isn't really necessary. I don't have any heating, I just wear more clothing to keep warm. In summer it gets hot, so be it. I wear less clothing but I don't need air conditioning. I contribute very little towards global warming because of my low energy usage. I don't own a car. I use public transport or walk.

There is no hardship involved. It is my choice. If I can choose a low energy lifestyle then surely other people can also.

Tim Badman

Special Advisor, World Heritage - IUCN

Today’s Date: 14 August 2008

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

There has not been one "seminal" moment, but probably as an 1 year old wading up the short river Lym in Dorset from its mouth to its source (or in fact until the water reached over my wellies) was the earliest adventure in wild ... As it seemed then ...

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

The Lyme Regis-Axmouth Undercliffs Nature Reserve in the UK

Now? So many places, but nothing beats the Dorset Coast although bobbing around under Golden Cap in a sea kayak is the real perfection

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

Cuttlefish ... An animal you can meet while diving that reminds you that underwater there are a lot of smarter brains than you around when it comes to survival

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 has always been, and always will be getting the environment to be a real concern of decision takers .. And that means a real concern of the public ... So engaging people with nature is the challenge ... Everything else flows from that and nothing is sustained without it.

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

I am a geologist, the point that gets humanity in perspective is to remember that for >99% of the earth's history we have not been part of the picture.. So advice: remember that we have only been on this planet for a tiny number of years. Despite the damage we are doing, we are more vulnerable than it is.

Michelle

Private citizen

Today’s Date: 12 August 2008

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

My dad being cruel to my favourite dog:( Loving that same dog and watching the way it would go my dad if he hit us kids :):):)

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

At the south coast area of Australia near Ulladulla

Now? Anywhere serene I have been to the south pacific islands on a cruise and they are beautiful and the water is such a beautiful colour :):):)

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

I love a variety of animals unicorns, horses, dolphins and some dogs (the larger breeds) would be my favourites :):):)

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 chopping of the forest for now and the future as we and the animals need the trees for oxygen :):):)

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

Don’t chop down trees :):):)

Ethan Duke

Prospecting grad student

Today’s Date: 11 August 2008

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

Listing to birdsong and spending countless hours in the field during all seasons and in all weather.

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?

It’s hard to name just one. I suppose birds draw my greatest interest, but I would say that my favorite animal would be the domestic dog. We have so many connections with them with such long histories. They are expressive and loving, seeming to read us better than we know ourselves. They in turn are easy to 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?

So many issues. They culminate and require a broad cultural revolution. People are lazy now-a-days and have odd value systems. The biggest challenge is convincing people that even though change may be difficult we have no other option and the rewards will be beyond our reckoning.

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

Take it one day at a time. The little things make a difference. (Sounds like two pieces of advice, but they are connected).

Staffan Widstrand

Wild Wonders of Europe

Today’s Date: 9 August 2008

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

A close encounter with a mountain gorilla family in the Virunga NP in Zaire/Kongo. Realizing that not only do we think they look like us, but also seeing in their eyes that they think we look like them actually brought me to tears.

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

Yes, a bird lake in a nature reserve, within bicycle distance from home.

Now? Yes, two: Laponia World Heritage area, in Swedish Lapland, and Lofoten islands on the Norwegian coast.

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

I don’t have any particular animal as my favourite!
But I tend to be specially attracted to all large predators, both mammals, reptiles, fish and birds...
And to the apes.

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 problem is without any doubt that there are too many of us humans in the world, and that the speed of population growth is so high. It is the no 1 factor behind most wars in the Third World, behind ethnic cleansing and massacres, behind increased food shortage, water shortage, global warming, industrial pollution, poverty, pressure on biodiversity, drinking water pollution, etc.
But almost nobody speaks about this problem.
And a terrible alliance of the Catholic church, the extreme islamists and fundamentalist protestants (like the Bush-administration) are stopping all measures that need to be taken when it comes to family planning, and the use of condoms and other birth control techniques.
There are simply too may of us, and if all these, and the billions coming around the corner, want to have western living standard, there is need for 2-3 more globes. But we just have one.

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

Don’t have more than two children, and in overpopulated countries, don’t have more than one. That is probably the biggest deed any single person or couple can carry out for the world.

The Rev. Warren Murphy

Wyoming Association of Churches

Today’s Date: 6 August 2008

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

Being chased by an agitated black bear

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

Yes, the New Jersey Pine Barrens

Now? Grand Teton National Park

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

Antelope. They are sleek, fast, independent and yet tied to a herd. They also have a facial expression that "looks into the unknown"

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?

Drilling and making havoc in the public lands. This contributes to future climate change as well as destroying the beauty of landscape

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

Care for the earth as if it were a lover. Recognize its needs, wants and desires and work to keep it safe.

Chen ErShan 陈 尔姗

Private citizen (China)

Today’s Date: 7 August 2008

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

i had traveled to some places which are very cold and high or dry and hot, which are hard for humans to live in. But u can always see plants big or tiny, the point is they are there, giving birth to their offsprings and other lives which are depending on them.

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

I used to spend my spare time in my city’s zoo… I wish it belongs to “great outdoors”.

Now? I love the Namtso lake so far the most! It is one of the 3 holy lakes in tibet.

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

Giraffe! Their eyelashes are long and dense. And they appear gently and elegantly for the most time. Silence but won’t be ignored.

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. Still climate change.

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

New clothes are fancy, but are not necessarily to buy all the time.

Jens Brüggemann

Assistant Director Planning - Müritz National Park Authority

Today’s Date: 4 August 2008

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

I have had two most exciting experiences. First, scuba diving off the coast of Gorgona Island National Park, Colombia, where I felt being inmidst the most wonderful aquarium and second, the encounter with a Leopard in Nepal's Chitwan National Park (on the back of an elephant, luckily).

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

Spending all summer long in the countryside has shaped my love for nature.

Now? Today I am lucky experiencing nature everyday at a lake close to my home. And I am always inspired by the beauty of landscapes.

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

As a child, elephants were my favourite animals in the zoo because they were big and intelligent.

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) Alienation from nature due to TV, Internet and lack of outdoor recreation.
2) Unequal access to basic resources and in meeting basic needs.
Both now and in the future, where the battle for clean potable water will be even more prominent.

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

Be a little more conscious about the impact of your doing and try to change your consumer behaviour in order to favour ecological products and services.

Juliette Dupont

Private citizen

Today’s Date: 1 August 2008

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

When I was 11, we found a raccoon in our garden (there are no raccoons in France!) and with my parents we made a lot of investigations to know what to do (about the food, the rage, where it could be coming from…). Actually it belonged to people in the next town, who bought it in Germany, and I was really sorry to see that it was living in a small cage, eating cat’s food.

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

I was often playing in the forest near my village.

Now? There is a meadow near my boyfriend’s village where we go every week, with a lot of flowers and the forest all around it and I think it’s the most peaceful place I’ve ever been.

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

I love the cat family. I guess it’s because of my own cat but also for their attitude, the way they move.

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

I think the global warming is a real big challenge because of all the things that it’s changing.
And it will also affect our future: some species are in real danger because of it ( polar bear…)

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

I would say that there is no need to go to the jungle to save species if you don’t feel able to do it but there are simple things that anyone can do at home without stress ( save water, …).