Working With Wildlife [How Nature and Wildlife Inspire Sustainable Behavior]

What motivates people to learn new habits? Or to change old behaviors? This question fascinates me to this day. The psychology of learning and behavior is a fascinating area of study. More effective than pressuring, terrifying and traumatizing kids, or learners of any age, in order to motivate them is of course to inspire them with direct experience and demonstrations of what knowledge, connection, understanding can do. Read more and discover how nature and wildlife inspire sustainable behavior.

When it comes to sustainable behavior, the connection between nature and wildlife plays a crucial role in inspiring people. The sheer beauty and complex interdependencies we can see in nature captivate our senses, and foster a deeper appreciation for the environment. Just a few casual observations of the fragile balance of ecosystems and the resilience of wildlife, can awaken in us an awareness of our responsibility to protect and preserve the natural world. This often leads to a shift in mindset, leading in turn to more sustainable behavior that benefit all wildlife as well as future human generations.

Encourage Curiosity

Equip learners with tools and resources and give them a purpose. They will know what to do, they will organise themselves. Be prepared to adapt to the coming changes ahead, the next generations will do things DIFFERENTLY.

This kind of change happens in times of crisis. Training begins with the confrontation of a hostile human society and with cultivating a relationship with the natural world, which doesn’t happen inside a classroom within four walls.

The next thing that will happen to us is a revolution in thinking.

Wildlife Inspires

The most inspiring learning experiences are direct experiences

The animals were guests at one of several Audubon wildlife sanctuaries in eastern Mass. close to where I was living. The sanctuary is coupled with a natural history museum, where I was given one of the greatest opportunities of my life. Back then, these “educational animals” consisted of owls and other raptors, frogs, spiders, snakes and such. Even a young skunk, a fox, opossum, deer and a pair of river otters were in residence in well-kept outdoor enclosures. They were “teaching animals”, native to the region, who’d been orphaned or injured somehow and were no longer capable of surviving in the wild.

At this trailside musuem, it had been my job to lead wildlife presentations for school groups and museum visitors, as well as to assist or lead holiday camp programs outdoors. I was fortunate that I got to work with some of the best environmental educators out there, like Patti Steinman and others, who really understand what teaches.

A Screech Owl Stole My Heart

I got to work with a lot of animals, and each time was a true honor, but the one that captured my heart more than any other was the screech owl, who blinked and cooed softly at me whenever I stopped in to check on her. The animals were not given human names, they’re always treated and regarded with utmost respect. It was heavenly. I highly recommend a visit to any of the Audubon wildlife sanctuaries, if ever you’re in Massachusetts!

How wildlife teaches us

What the animals and habitats there taught me, was that the vastness of the learning I had yet to do was so great, that, if I really wanted to teach this, I had to begin to understand nature and wildlife better, and, to do that, I had better devote all my time and attention to doing just that. Wild animals live, instinctively, in harmony with their respective ecosystem, and inspire us to live more sustainably. We are the only living species that consciously destroys its own habitat.

What nature teaches us

Teaching about nature and wildlife cannot be done simply by lecturing about it, no matter how much you think you know. What you can read in books can certainly help to inspire you and may help you to see things in nature you may have otherwise overlooked or misunderstood. That’s worth something. However, only nature can teach you nature. Only wildlife can teach you about wildlife. Like learning a language or culture, one can only truly learn about nature and wildlife by being immersed in it, and by developing a personal relationship with it.

Getting outdoors away from asphalt, concrete, machines or human noise, and spending as much time as possible in silence, so that you may hear what you’re being told, is often the only way.

More on this coming soon.

Stay curious!

Other Helpful Resources:

Links to related posts from same site (open link in same window)

• Cheat Sheet: How to Inspire People to Live More Sustainably
• How Real Is Eco-Anxiety [Insights and Why I Do Things A Bit Differently]

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