A Focus On Nature, Advent Calendar, Now for Nature
AFON
Tony Juniper, teachers and parents to NowforNature – Rebecca Hazlewood
Welcome to our 2016 Advent Calendar series (#AFONAdvent)! This year, our theme is “The Gift of Inspiration”. For each day, one of our members has written a blog post about someone who has inspired them, and how that inspiration has lead to them being where they are today. Each member is a shining example of a young person who is acting Now for Nature. We hope that you enjoy the series and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
My most inspired ideas come when I’m running or cycling, moving at speed through green canopies, feeling small whilst gazing into an expansive river valley, or feeling the powerful ocean wind pushing me along the seashore. Nature itself inspires clarity of thought, and fresh perspective when problems lie heavy on my shoulders.
Norfolk sunset (c) Rebecca Hazlewood
Nature, I hope, will always be there to inspire me, but simply immersing myself in it doesn’t empower me to inspire others. The ability to give the gift of inspiration is something I’ll always aspire to. Arguably, the most powerful gift you can give; that unique ability to touch somebody deeply, inspire learning, action and results. A change in thinking, behaviour or life direction.
My life features three types of inspiring wildlife hero; a national hero, unsung heroes and my day-to-day heroes.
My national hero is Tony Juniper. I was lucky to see him speak before the launch of his latest title, ‘What has Nature ever done for Britain?’ I sat captivated by his story- a powerful, insightful and innovative approach to understanding the ecological challenges Britain faces. He’s quantified the potential damage to our economy and wellbeing if we carry on disregarding and abusing the natural world. Staggering results, but more importantly, he sets out solutions and a manifesto for each ecological problem we face. Not using emotional pleas based on saving fluffy animals from extinction, but a business case to save humanity and the economy. Framing loss of biodiversity in a language that can presented to parliament or a board room panel.
His message? We can restore nature, and can do so within a generation.
Juniper’s approach of calculating ‘ecosystem services’ or putting monetary value on nature has its critics. However, as long as businesses and short-sighted politicians blinded by pursuit of profit and GDP continue to use and abuse nature as a free commodity, the sixth mass extinction will continue and the intrinsic value and beauty of nature will be overlooked. Overcoming this challenge requires heroes to lead on new forms of communication.
I walked away from the talk with a new spring in my step. It is possible to do something, and we can. At work I was in the process of developing a new sustainability strategy for my company. I built in a commitment ‘to enhance and protect the natural environment’ and made the purpose of the strategy ‘Wellbeing’ (of people, business and the environment). I used Juniper’s figures as part of my business case to sell the strategy internally and slowly but surely we’re changing the way we work.
My unsung heroes are those who teach. Slogging away night after night preparing lessons. It was the animated story telling of my school teachers that lead me towards my career in Environmental Science and developed my sense of adventure. I later found myself faced with a jaguarondi in the cloud forests of Ecuador and amidst expanses of deforestation in the mountains of Burma, absorbing the state of nature first hand. Most recently, I was taught bat ecology and survey technique by a bat carer from Devon. Her enthusiasm was contagious. Bat carers have to be dedicated and are like full time parents, committed to nursing injured bats back to health following cat attacks, collisions and other incidents. I’ve since become battier than ever, volunteer with research, am a registered bat ambulance driver, as a volunteer roost visitor and have trained colleagues on bats in buildings, all inspired by my teacher’s can do attitude.
Lastly, my day-to-day heroes are my parents. Thinking back over my journey, it was my upbringing that fed my young hunger for nature knowledge, weekends spent rock-pooling, scrambling through the woods playing hide and seek, birthdays spent at the zoo. Those early experiences developed my passion for conservation and made me who I am today. Whether I’m working to design space for biodiversity into new build developments or leading a bat walk for conservation holiday makers, my hope is that my enthusiasm will be contagious enough to go some way to reconnecting the people I meet, to nature, and inspire them see it in a new light. To quote Juniper; ‘Under ten per cent– the proportion of children who regularly play outdoors.’ What will this mean for our wildlife heroes of the future? Let’s hope that every parent and teacher becomes an unsung wildlife hero and inspires their children’s love of nature. Failing that, we all risk losing our greatest source of inspiration, for good.
Rebecca Hazlewood
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