9 Naturalists I Look Up To
This is probably going to be more serious than a lot of my recent articles. That’s okay, right? Even a sillyman like me is allowed to have real feelings, right? I’m not looking for validation. I’m psyching myself up for being a little more vulnerable than usual right now.
I can do this.
I’ve got this.
Recently, Jane Goodall passed away. It was a sad headline to read after wondering why everyone was posting about her all of a sudden. It got me thinking about how many naturalists there were for me to look up to as a kid and wishing that there was the same surg in animal and nature shows now that there were when I was a kid.
Seriously, Saturday mornings in the 90s for a kid that thought tigers and bears were so cool were the best. I could channel hop for hours and always have something cool to watch. So, in the name of honoring the people that taught me to love the outdoors as a kid, I’m going to list them here for all seven people who see this to smile, nod, and vaguely agree with!
9 Naturalists I Look Up To
1. Jane Goodall
We’ll start with the obvious one. She inspired this post along with millions, maybe actually billions, of people over the years to see and respect nature. Everyone knows about her specialty with chimpanzees and the unique, gentleness she approached her research with. She’s as touching as she is inspiring and she was honestly an early example to me that animals can be approached with love, not just superiority. An important lesson for a kid to learn.
2. Steve Irwin
Man, Steve Irwin’s death was one of the first times in my life I was sad to hear about a TV personality dying. He was at the absolute height of his career when he passed and it was the strangest thing, as a kid, to try and grapple with the realization that there would be no new episodes forever. But in life and death, his absolute joy in being with nature is such an inspiration. The guy isn’t human, he’s just pure, childlike wonder all compacted into a human shape. He taught me that it’s okay to be passionate about nature, which still feels like an unpopular take today sometimes in the face of continued human exploitation of resources and ignorance of the consequences. Thanks Steve.
3. Jeff Corwin
Finally, a guy who’s still alive! Jokes aside, I had the absolutely thrilling chance to meet Jeff Corwin at a talk / book signing when I was in college. It was the first time I was starstruck enough to not say anything except a shacky, “hi!” That’s never happened to me before or since despite having had the chance to meet musicians, athletes, and more in life. Jeff was the one that got me unsure of how to even act human.
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As a kid, his shows were my absolute favorite. For all the gentleness of Jane Goodall and the energy of Steve Irwin, Jeff Corwin settles himself in a place of energy that roughly balances those two. He has that excitement and fascination but manages to dial it in when interacting with animals, which I always felt was cool. Through trying to emulate that, I learned a lot about the idea of time and place for different energies, which is a skill that’s helpful even beyond being a nature love myself.
4. Jack Hanna
Jack Hanna was always my ma’s favorite. If I remember properly, his show would come on after Jeff Corwin and so I would watch it with her. As a kid I found his show a little less exciting since it was more grown up in its energy. But as I’ve grown up and gone back to watch old episodes, I’ve really come to appreciate his knowledge and passion. Though he’s retired now, he continued putting on shows clear until 2020. That level of passion for animals and wildlife is infectious to me, and even in a broader sense it inspires me to always seek that passion in everything I do.
5. Bill Nye
Okay, Bill’s not exactly a nature-specific figurehead like the rest have been so far. But his passion for science was something that worked on me so much better than any biology class ever did. Truly, I may never have considered pursuing biology and environmental sciences if he hadn’t helped me find a love of science and scientific methods. Let’s face it, science is often very boring in class and practice. We need guys like Bill to get us excited and keep us interested through his practical demonstrations and examples.
6. Tiger King
Tiger King inspires me to be a better man than Tiger King.
7. Robert, Bindi, and Terri Irwin
I honestly struggled a bit with how to include these three. I feel it does a little bit of a disservice to each of them to lump them all together because they all, individually, have done their own share to inspire myself and countless others in the same way that Steve did. Mostly, I decided to make them separate because they do deserve their own recognition apart from Steve, but they also were not the original ones within the Irwin clan who got me, personally, inspired to become an environmentalist.
All that aside, each of them does such a good job of carrying on Steve’s passion and legacy. They all have their own brand of energy, knowledge, and passion that, though sometimes overshadowed by Steve’s larger-than-life legacy, truly shine. Added points to Robert and Bindi for being younger personalities for a more modern outreach than the cable-TV era of personalities I’m personally fixated on.
8. David Attenborough
Perhaps the most enjoyable name to pronounce on this list. As an American, my awareness of David Attenborough (it’s just wrong to not say his entire name every time) didn’t really matriculate until I was older. But the reality is that he’s been the voice of nature documentaries for decades now. Instantly recognizable. And while the easy thought is that he inspires me to care about nature, I think these days I’m more inspired to be willing to discuss and share nature than to understand it myself through him. It’s important for those of us with a passion to be open about it and share that passion. And while I’m not always the bravest and most willing to do that, David Attenborough makes me want to do it anyways. Now if only I sounded half as good when I did.
9. Theodore Roosevelt
Going old school and political with this one!
If you don’t know, Teddy was the creator of the US Forest Service and is one of the reasons we have one of the best National Parks systems in the world here in America. Though I don’t like being outright political, I think it’s an absolute embarrassment that the current (as of writing this) president and leading house and senate representatives have demonstrated a willingness to roll back those works and protections. Natural resources aren’t just a matter of tourism and income for our country. It’s about preserving the very beauty and provisions of the land that drew our ancestors to it. I won’t even go into the disrespect of abusing and destroying the land that was historically taken by force from entire cultures built around respecting and caring for the natural land.
Point is, Roosevelt recognized the importance of the natural world and was one of the best at making it cool to systematically and politically care about it. We need that back in our lives and I’m more and more drown into that mindset every day.
There are so many other people past and present and there will be so many more in the future who will inspire me and countless others to care about nature. I absolutely hate that nature has become a unique subject for some people to be super passionate about, rather than a standard thing that everyone enjoys and cares about. I don’t know how or why it happened, but we stopped being impressed by environmentalists and wildlife figureheads. We’ve let that era slip out of popularity in exchange for Mr. Beast and podcasters who talk about podcasters who talk about how to be a yuppie.
Maybe I’m just too out of touch.
Look, just pick up a book about Jane Goodall and her work or go find episodes of “Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild.” Make it cool to be into birds or elephants again. The world could really use that type of energy again.
