After recently completing a Conservation Biology class through the University of Washington (my alma mater), I was interviewed about my experience for a newsletter. In the article I express how much I appreciated the class, and how important I believe the curriculum is in helping us all understand the causes and consequences of biodiversity loss. I was delighted to help bring attention to this class.
Once it was written, an on-campus photoshoot was scheduled. I’m embarrassed to admit how fun this was for me. A real shoot with a real photographer and a camera that isn’t an iPhone? For a cause I love? I was giddy. I wore my favorite flowy forest blouse, my favorite sage green jeans, and styled my brand new short haircut. I hoped I was adept enough to be my own Hair & Makeup crew.
I arrived early to spend time in the nearby botanical garden, then we all met in the lobby of UW’s Life Sciences building, a beautiful, modern, glassy structure suffused with natural light. Tall indoor palms overlapped dense outdoor trees as backdrop.
In between shots I relished the opportunity to chat with the professor. The class covered topics I’d already been researching on my own for years, so naturally we were on the same page. It was extraordinarily reassuring to talk with someone who not only understands what’s happening, not only studies biodiversity loss, but has also devoted their own life to doing everything they can to help. The humans out there trying to save nature are my heroes.
I left the shoot exhilarated and couldn’t wait to see the article.
When I saw the headline for the first time – Learning to Save the Planet – my initial feeling was abashed. Saving the Planet is a big phrase that implies big action and even bigger, very likely impossible, results. I was worried people might read the headline and roll their eyes, like it’s cliché to admit to trying to “save the planet”. Who do I think I am?
But in the very next moment I thought, Well yes, it IS what I’m trying to do. Why would I ever feel embarrassed about that for even a second? Because environmentalists are often mocked? Because we’re seen as some crunchy tree-hugging, bird-loving, mushroom-foraging group outside the mainstream? And the mainstream is … who? I’m pretty sure the number of people who don’t want to save our planet is infinitesimally small. It’s just that environmentalists have looked into solutions a bit more closely than most people have time for in their busy lives. Everyone who appreciates nature and wants the planet to survive is an environmentalist in their own way.
Our oceans are boiling, our lands are burning, species are going extinct. Of course I want to save it all. If our efforts are to be successful, we have to own our passion for trying. Yes! I’m trying to save the planet! Who’s with me! You’re allowed to wear deodorant and red lipstick while saving the trees!
I love the article, and am very much relieved that my quotes represent my honesty and enthusiasm. I hope whoever reads it decides they’d like to take the class as well. Learning to save the planet is a lifelong endeavor, it’s never too late to start, it can be done our whole lives, and anyone can join the party. We don’t have to be experts at it, we just have to show up in any way we can, dressed however we like.
Annegsherwood.com 