Ecologists of the Sky: Lessons from a Young Climate Visionary

Over the dinner table little one and I got talking about ecology. As you do. I promise I didn’t raise it.

“I want to be an ecologist of the sky”.

“There’s a special name for that- an ornithologist!” I respond, although his version is more poetic. Somehow much more. Yes, he explained. “I love the birds. They are so beautiful and it’s not right that they die when people drop litter and cause pollution”. I am bowled over with the clarity and beauty that he sees things with. We should listen to young people. Do what they say for the planet. Is this next wonderful, climate educated generation going to save us? Listening to them might, but leaving the work to them won’t. As a parent this attitude strikes me as lazy and irresponsible. As a climate leader I know it to be too late.

He got me thinking. Perhaps we could be ecologists of the sky. Concerned with the environment above ground. Noticing the invisible. The quality of air that we breathe. Restoring balance in the atmosphere, for nature and humanity. Thinking in these boarder terms changes everything.

The best present I’ll be giving and receiving this year is when I unplug. Present in body and mind. Listening intently. You never know what insight this might bring.