Crocodiles, Windscreens, and Powerpoint

From the very early age of 8 years old, sitting in front of the TV watching The Crocodile Hunter, I had dreamed of exploring Australia like my hero Steve Irwin.  This past summer I had the once in a life time opportunity to travel to Townsville Australia and live out this dream that had been in the back of my mind for so many years.

One of the most interesting experiences happened on the out of LAX when, at 2 A.M. I was informed that the windscreen of the plane had a crack and we would be returning to Los Angeles.  I didn't get to worked up over this, partially because it was 2 A.M., and partially because I didn't know what a windscreen was.  I just assumed that it was some fancy part of airplane.  It wasn't until 11 days later, during my 2nd to last day in Australia, that I figured out what they were talking about.  Sitting in the Van, listing to Slim Dusty, when I believe our driver said we needed to stop for petrol and to clean off his windscreen.  Like a literal light-bulb turning on in my head it suddenly dawned on me what a windscreen was.

I think the English language is one of the things that surprised me the most about Australia.  Growing up I was always taught that the United States, England, and Australia spoke English, sure I could communicate with everyone in Australia, but many of the phrases in the local dialect left me scratching my head.  No I don't want a Brekkie? How am I going? Whats happening to someones bits?  It was incredible to see the English language used this way, it is almost poetic how people in Australia speak.

One conservation-related topic that I think really hit home for me while in Australia was how much the people at the Aquarium care about the Great Barrier Reef.  The passion and knowledge that they had and were willing to share was incredible. For me, growing up in Utah about as far away from marine life as anyone can be, trying to learn the names of the fish was incredibly challenging. To know that everyone at the aquarium could identify every fish, coral, and invert that I could find, shows how dedicated they are to education.  It makes me feel much better about humanity knowing that there are people like that all over the world dedicating their life to protecting the Earth.  It makes me feel like I am less alone everyday as I try to teach students about global warming, ocean pollution, and habitat degradation.  Knowing that there are passionate people out there gives me the energy to do something about it right here, right now.

Until next time(year?),

Trevor

P.S. I finally did get to see that croc!

Western Media, Terrorism and Systems

In the weeks leading up to my journey halfway around the world and my first visit to Africa, I grew more and more dejected, and in all honesty a little scared. It seemed that every time I got online or looked through the news all I saw was how desperate the situation in east Africa was becoming. According the Western media outlets, animals were being poached and dying all over the place and terrorist groups were killing everyone they could get there hands on. Western media made east Africa out to be a hostile place that I should not be visiting, even the United States issued a travel warning to Kenya. Regardless of what everyone was saying though I wanted to be there, and there was nothing that was going to stop me.

When I touched down in Nairobi, and spent my first three hours waiting for my bags, and thinking the whole time, here we go, I did feel a little down and started to wonder if this trip was going to be worth it. All these thoughts changed though as soon as I met my first Kenyan. From the first person I met at the airport I felt more comfortable. These people are not terrorist, they don't want to hurt me or take my things, they just want to survive and be happy. Anyone I asked for help was more than happy to show me the way, it was a welcome change after spending a few hours in the JFK International Airport where I wanted to knock someone out on more than one occasion. As my travels continued I became more and more in awe of the people of Kenya, from the taxi driver in Nairobi to the Masai elders everyone was so respectful to each other. And they cared, not the superficial caring of many Americans, but the truly deep down, I am going to do something about it caring. Everything we read in the media these days seems to be telling us how terrible the human race is and how we are destroying everything we touch, but its not that way, there is hope. Seeing on the ground level what so many people in Kenya are doing to protect their wildlife gives me hope that all the stories about how Elephants and Rhinos will be extinct in 10-20 years is false. I think the people of Kenya care to much to let their wildlife be wiped out, and I think they will continue to fight it forever.

When Scott talked to us about trying to look at an event not as a singular event, but as a system, it really stuck with me. To understand anything we need to look at the bigger picture. I had the false impression that terrorist groups and poachers were destroying Kenya. This couldn't be farther from the truth, if you step back and focus not on singular tragic events, but on the whole picture its easy to see how much good is being done. The hard work and hope that I saw in the people of Kenya really changed me. The idea of looking at systems is now something I push in every lesson I teach, I hope that by teaching my students to not look at events but in the larger picture they too will see that through hard work even seemingly impossible task are possible.

 Trevor Black