As we packed our brown bags for our first day of service with the Bahamas National Trust, we start to get more and more eager for the work day ahead of us. After a few days of Tabooing and Pictionary-adeing the hours away (and snacking) I think we were all ready to head out to the blue hole and see how we could be put to use.
8:30AM comes and goes with no taxi in sight and "Rev" pulls up honking around 9:10. We seem to go in a few circles, with casual stops so that Rev can chat with the little lady who needs just "a quick bit of time to talk in private." Despite his sticking to strict Bahamian time, we heard about how "pressed for time" he was until we were left on the side of the road and told to "take that path a ways and turn left..." So we set off. A while later we were picked up in a pickup and taken deep into the coppice forest. It's pretty neat, the trees are tall tall tall and some as skinny as quarters, or so it seems. The ground is covered in grasses, small palms, and bundles of poisonwood, a poison ivy-like plant that we've heard a lot about but not yet seen the effects of. Black dots are popping up on some of us (we're not diseased) which is supposedly a tell tale symbol that you've caught the poison, but nothing else has happened.
We were handed machetes and told to catch wild boars. For dinner we had piggy tacos. (Editor's Note: We neither hunted wild boars nor ate piggy tacos - but it does sound exciting) The others of us cleared a path around the bounds of the camping area that we were making and started hauling rocks to create a fire wall on the same boundary. I think that we were all happy to hear that the work we were doing was going to help create an area for children and groups to learn about the environment and conservation.
Tonight's speaker was sobering but also my favorite yet on this trip. His name was Prescott Smith and he's a fisherman who owns a local fly fishing lodge on Andros, and he spends the rest of his time educating students, children, law-makers and politicians all over the world on conservation. While we were told stories of massive limestone mining operations destroying mangrove forests, countless business men offering him thousands not to educate the people on the environmental threats caused by their companies, and the government's attempts to scare him out of his mission, we were also inspired at finding and talking to a person who has made his life goal to preserve the flatlands, creeks, and oceans through environmental education, outdoor activities and community outreach. We've heard multiple times that utilizing grassroots operations and organizations is the best way to make any progress in these issues of conservation and I think that a lot of the group took this to heart, thinking about how they could apply it to the other areas of social change that they are involved in or are studying. The keystone of his educational approach is not only teaching facts and showing powerpoints, but giving the skills that will allow others to go out and enjoy the outdoors and encourage others to do the same. As a trip leader at Maryland I also think that one of the most rewarding parts of the outdoors is the chance to see the excitement of someone who didn't realize how easy it could be to go out and climb a mountain or take a short kayaking trip. Listening to Mr. Smith got me thinking about how many of these interests merge together and can be used hand in hand to make a positive effect on changing the attitudes of people when it comes to the environment.
" See this, it's all of ours"
" In order for us to survive, nature must also survive"
