Hope for the Future
By Pat Phillips
Given reports about species declines, the loss of habitat, and environmental degradation, it can frequently be a challenge to feel optimistic about the future of the natural world. Despite individual efforts to reduce one’s carbon footprint, promote conservation initiatives, and support candidates taking positions to reverse these trends, it can seem as though we are vainly swimming against the tide.
Recently, I had an experience that truly gave me hope for the future. In a collaborative effort with the Friends of Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge and the Green Mountain Audubon Society, we hosted twenty-three students from the University of Vermont Birding Club on a walk in search of resident and returning species along the trails of the refuge. Knowledgeable and enthusiastic, these students excitedly observed an early returning Eastern Meadowlark, spotted Northern Shovelers, an American Kestrel, and even a Red-Shouldered Hawk.
Beyond the expertise of these students, most of whom are enrolled in UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, it was inspiring to hear of their plans of working for various local, state, and even federal and independent agencies in roles related to applied environmental science, policy, and advocacy. Moreover, their voiced determination to work to reverse many of the reported environmental and species declines was positively uplifting.
In Jane Goodall’s “The Book of Hope,” she focuses on “the hope that we must have if we are to change direction…to create a world where we can live in harmony with nature.” Establishing an understanding of this in our youth is so important, for as Goodall notes, “There is a powerful force unleashed when young people resolve to make a change.”
The board of the Green Mountain Audubon Society recognizes the influence and power that educated young people can have in effecting positive change. To that end, we have utilized proceeds from your membership and generous donations to support groups like the UVM birders in the purchase of binoculars, to send hundreds of students to Audubon Vermont’s summer camps, to purchase materials for the study of birds at the Boys and Girls Club, at the Afterschool Program in Burlington, and at a Summer Day Camp in Swanton. In addition, these resources have funded a myriad of environmentally-related projects in schools as well as supporting our efforts to offer events for children and their families.
Aldo Leopold wrote of an expanded definition of “community” that includes all living organisms and the environment and complex interrelationships in which care for people cannot be separated from other components of the community. Through many of the efforts funded by the Green Mountain Audubon Society, we hope to continue to foster the development of environmental awareness, promoting collaborative conservation that not only benefits birds but all wildlife, including humans.
In discussing climate change and its impacts upon the natural world at COP26, the UN’s Framework Conference on Climate Change, naturalist David Attenborough noted that “the people most affected…are no longer some imagined future generation but young people alive today.” Their collective understanding of current environmental and ecological challenges combined with technical knowledge is essential to a sustainable existence.
While each of us can individually strive to promote more responsible ways of living, we must collaborate to foster the development of a true environmental consciousness in the next generation. Through your membership and support, the Green Mountain Audubon Society strives to educate, encourage, and inspire hope in the hearts of youth to a future in which there exists a more harmonious relationship with nature.