The Human Experience

"Really, it doesn't matter who you are, what your background is. You can converse on that experience. And that is what makes us human."-Makoto Fujimura

After two full months, 10,000 miles, and 16 states we have opened the eyes of over 20,000 children and teachers to the amazing wonders of the rain forest. We have also met more incredible people and done more amazing things than I could have ever hoped for. It's hard to sum up all these experiences in one blog post, so I'm going to talk about the things that have moved me the most, and how I have changed as a person.

Purple states we have taught at, blue we have only driven through. 

This journey has been one of the most moving and richest experiences of my life so far. I have met people that have restored my faith in humanity almost everywhere I go. For example, there was a kind young family that invited us into their home in West Virginia for a home cooked meal. They may never know how deeply grateful and impacted we were by this loving gesture. There was a nice selfless young man who went out of his way to come to one of our shows and film us, so that our families can see what we are doing every day. There was an incredible Indian man who talked with us for hours about the drastic change in the ecosystems and in the mind set of people in India, and discussed the philosophy of conservation with us in a perspective we have never heard of. 

The assistant principal showing us the nature trails the kids created behind the schools. 

There was a passionate and driven assistant principal at a school in South Carolina, whose efforts to create a school garden, greenhouse, and nature trail have succeeded in so many ways at opening the children up to their impact on the environment, and had drastically improved the behavior of many troubled teens. There was an older couple we met and had dinner with who went on and on about how important our work is to them, and that they can rest easier knowing that when they leave this earth someone will still be fighting for it. Lastly, there was a guy we met and became close friends with, who after seeing our animals and our passion for what we are doing, decided to start recycling and looking closer at the impact he has on the environment. He has said that seeing these creatures and listening to our passion and motivation has broadened his perspective on the world around him in ways he would have never thought about.

One of the most rewarding experiences has been all the different children from different backgrounds we have met across the country. We have had countless kids at each show come up and ask us how we got this job, because they want to work with animals and save the rain forest when they grow up. This is what makes my heart the happiest, seeing little Ambers and little Jessicas in the crowd whose enthusiasm for nature shines brightly on their faces. We tell them how we went to college for Fisheries and Wildlife, and how they can do something similar to that like biology or zoology. Their faces light up each time and I can just see them starting to plan their future around this two minute conversation we have had with them. Many children have stood out in the crowd after talking to them, and I will never forget some of the things they have said. One little girl came up to us and said she started a rain forest club with her friends called the "Yapok Club" (apparently named after a rain forest animal that I had not even heard of yet.) She was so excited and enthusiastically nerdy about it, I couldn't help but feel like I was talking to the seven year old version of myself. After hearing that the rain forest is being destroyed at an incredibly fast rate, one little boy came up to me afterwards and said "Miss Amber, When I'm president one day, I'm going to make it a law that we can't cut down any more rain forest." This moved me to tears as I told him thank you for that, and how happy that makes us. 

Jess and I enjoying a hike in a Georgia swamp :)

Before this job my hopes for our future were spread thin and bleak, which is understandable if you simply pick up a newspaper anymore. All you will read about are environmental disasters, animals being driven into extinction and humans continuing to blindly march down the path of destroying our world. After teaching, seeing and reaching over 20,000 kids from across the country, my hopes have gotten much higher. At the end of the show I tell them that in twenty years, you guys will be in charge of this earth because you are the future. I then ask them if you don't care about the rain forest or any other ecosystem that's in dire need of help, who will? They get very serious yet enthusiastic, as if I've given them a challenge that they will follow for the rest of their lives to care about and protect our earth. This fills my bucket every single time, and in the faces and hearts of these children is where my hope for our world lies.  

These rich human experiences that we have encountered in the last couple of months have changed me forever. I will never forget the moments I shared with people who started out as strangers and became amazing friends all over the country. I will never forget the children whose minds we have touched, and who have touched our hearts in return. My eyes have been opened even wider, my heart even greater, and I have soaked up every story, every lesson, and every moment with each incredible person we have had the privilege to meet. I believe life is about always leaving behind more than you take, and connecting with people and with our world on a intellectually intimate level. I feel like I have lived more in the past two months than I have in my entire life, and for that I will be forever grateful.