Newspaper Headlines Bad NewsWhen you work in an environmental field, you get used to the daily barrage or alarming news: dying whitebark pine…thinning Arctic ice…dwindling coastal wetlands, etc.  Despite the great work we do at Biohabitats to restore the Earth and inspire ecological stewardship, it can sometimes feel like the “doom and gloom” news ticker is constantly crawling along the office wall.

That’s why it was incredibly refreshing to put together an issue of Leaf Litter which focused on the education of tomorrow’s practitioners in ecological restoration, conservation planning, and regenerative design. Nearly everything I heard from the students and professors with whom I spoke while working on the issue gave me hope.

Biohabitats intern Nick Cloyd

Biohabitats intern Nick Cloyd

Al Unwin, who teaches restoration ecology at Canada’s Niagara College, said that  today’s students are more eager and willing than ever to take action on behalf of our environment. Students in Nathan Gauthier’s sustainability courses at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology in Rwanda are not just engineering, design, and environmental science majors; they’re education, business, and political science majors who recognize sustainability as linked to their future professions. Every year since 2005, a new group of leaders emerges from a unique, international masters program in Sweden, and they are already changing the world. Our own summer intern Nick Cloyd said to me, “The movement is happening, and I do have hope. That’s why I’m in this field.”

Take that, ticker.

If you, too, could use a healthy dose of hope, check out this issue of Leaf Litter and let me know what you think.

 

Further Reading

My Experience as a Biohabitats Intern
My Experience as a Biohabitats Intern
Biohabitats’ Chris Streb on the Rewilding Earth podcast: restoring & reimagining urban environments
Breathing from Center: Preparing for Transition & Leading with Our Values
Get to know Cullen Simon, Mechanical Engineer

More From This Author

Thoughts on Ecological Restoration and Climate Change
Thoughts on The Connections Between Ecological And Human Health
Post-Sandy plight of the plover: balancing storm & habitat protection
Thoughts on Biomimicry
Get to know Environmental and Wastewater Engineer, Harold Leverenz