Views on the Environment

Out of everyone in my family, I am the only one that shares a deep passion for our world. It's hard for me to understand where this came from. My father did raise me fishing a lot. And I did go camping a handful of times. Other than that, I am not sure where the influence came from. When I was really young, I had a book about sharks I carried everywhere with me. As I got older, I got into dinosaurs. It was hard for adults to hear me correct them when they called a dinosaur a duckbill...."no, it's a Parasauralophus." What five year old knows that? As I got older, I caught critters around the neighborhood. Snails, slugs, moths, caterpillars, but most of all, lizards and snakes. In second grade I got an iguana, Iggy. She grew to be four feet in a few years and it was cool having this little dinosaur around. I went through numerous reptiles (no they didn't die, I gave them away). Chameleons with horns, nocturnal geckos, all sorts of snakes, Bearded Dragons. In seventh grade I started breeding lizards, and would make close to $1000 every clutch of eggs. On weekends I would hike through the hills, sometimes in company, sometimes alone, lifting up old logs and sheet metal for snakes. By eighth grade, the people in my neighborhood knew whose door to knock on if they had a snake in their yard. By highschool, I'd messed with more rattlesnakes than most people have ever seen. As highschool came and other things took priority, the snakes and lizards left my rooms and were replaced with friends, girls, and parties. After highschool, I applied for an internship at an outdoor school. The year and a half I spent there has shaped me as an individual more than any other factor in my life, with the exception of my family, solely because they raised me. I was shown new knowledge, caring, and respect for our natural world. I developed an undying passion for knowledge, and an extreme desire to share it. I started spending vast amounts of time outside in the natural world. After my internship, I moved to Tahoe, and experienced the marvelous Sierras year round. When I ran out of money (no more Top Ramen, please!) I moved back home into my parents house, and got a job at REI. Now I am enabled to explore the outdoor world in numerous ways. These are the only things besides divine intervention I can say shaped my view of the environment.