The beginning...

I guess that my interest in the environment really began around 5th grade. My elementary school took a 4 day trip to a local Environmental Learning Center. As a 5th grade boy, this was the first time that I had really had the opportunity to learn about earth cycles, wildlife, and conservation of our natural resources. It was something that greatly interested me and I immediately developed a huge interest into what I could do to help out.

This, though, was not when my interest in the outdoors began. As a little kid, we had video games. We rarely played them, though. Our parents always made us "go outside and play". It was through these excursions that I learned the value of exploration. I was always catching frogs and snakes, rescuing baby birds and bunnies, building forts, climbing trees, and picking wild blackberries and strawberries. I, at a young age, developed a deep appreciation for spending time outside and as I got older, I neglected playing these video games and continued my exploration of the natural world around me.

As I grew older, I began to develop an interest in finding out more about what made these natural ecosystems work. My family was always taking vacations and through these trips, I had the opportunity to explore South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Florida...all over. I've been in 38 different states at this point in my life. Due to these experiences, I accepted positions for the past 2 summers working in the Yellowstone National Park region where I continued to learn and grow in my passion for the outdoors, wildlife, natural resources, and environmental education.

I spent the past 4 years studying Parks and Resource Management at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. Graduation is upon me in 2 weeks and I will be continuing my studies at Slippery Rock, where I will be getting my Masters of Science degree in Sustainable Systems.

This blog is an opportunity for me to share my thoughts about the things that are going on in the world around us. Environmental and resource issues are in the news daily. From the oil crisis to water issues, these are prevalent topics in our lives that we need to be aware of. Some would call me an environmental extremist, other a "hippy", but I merely find myself to be a young man with a passion for the world around me, a passion to educate those around me about the issues facing us everyday, and a love for this world that we have been given.

My mission is simple. It is almost identical to that of the National Park Service:

"...to promote and regulate the use of the...national parks...which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

Without education and insight into the world around us, these resources will not be there for the future. You do not have to agree with what I say, nor do I expect you to, but these are my thoughts and I hope you can at least respect that.