People Suck

Where to start?  Lake Nakuru National Park is one of the most phenomenal places I’ve ever been to!  It is densely packed with African mega fauna, migratory birds, and breathtaking landscapes.  It is also a rehabilitation location for the white and the black rhino, one of the only places where one can see a Rothschild giraffe, the largest giraffe in the world, and one of the only places where lions use trees.  We were able to observe all of these species in addition to the elusive leopard, close up waterbuck, zebras, impala, cape buffalo, jackals, and the largest antelope in the world, the eland.  It was magical and words can’t describe such a place.  You’ll just have to go, but go soon.

Lake Nakuru, like so many national parks in Africa, is facing many fatal challenges.  The park itself was fenced in the 70’s to minimize human-wildlife conflict and since then, has lost its elephant populations, its cheetah populations, and many different antelope species.  Cape buffalo populations have increased dramatically due to the loss of competition with cattle and are many hundreds of times over the carrying capacity of the park without any culling or removal practices in place.  This has led to the extinction of many other grazers from this ecosystem.  Additionally, the town of Nakuru is growing by 10% every year!  It is encroaching in on the park, dumping its sewage into the lake, drying up the catchment rivers that run into the park causing seasonal water shortages for the animals, and locals are arguing for opening the park for human use. 

Shem Mwasi, my favorite professor here at SFS, has been doing research at Lake Nakuru since he was an undergraduate student.  The moment he stepped foot on the grounds he knew that is where he wanted to be and so his whole life has been dedicated to the health and proliferation of the Nakuru ecosystem. During a morning lecture on the above mentioned challenges he calmly announced that Lake Nakuru will not be in existence in the next twenty years unless something were to change.  He then said that change will likely occur, but for the worst.  He will lose the place he loves most in this world. I was so astonished at his nonchalant manner as he said that.  He had obviously accepted such a devastating fact, and my heart broke for him.

This fact horrifies me and has been a reality everywhere I turn.  The truth is that one has to be an extreme optimist to be in conservation biology and ecology.  I don’t know if I will be able to pursue a career in this field because I’m border line between optimist and pessimist, but I do know that I love parks.  I already am a lover of the nature around me- in Africa, in America, anywhere.  I am so grateful for national parks, reserves, and refuges, and my biggest fear is that they will disappear.  If they disappear in Africa, what is our hope in America?  We have the same challenges facing our parks, and all of those challenges are caused by people. 

The moral of this SFS program has quite literally been that people suck.  People are the problem!  I hate preaching and I know this has been said so many times and my words will probably be read with one eye and go out the other but here it is:  if you love our nature, stop having so many children!  Stop spending money on things you don’t need!   Trust me, you don’t need a lot.  I’m living out of a backpack right now.  Stop thinking everyone else will change the world for you because that’s not true!  You have to help!  You have to do your part!  Start listening.  Start changing.  Start spreading the word!  And I repeat, stop having so many children!  If you do have children, teach them these same lessons. 

Unfortunately, though, there are days I don’t think it will matter for them.  There are days I don’t think our children will have a nature to know, a nature to care for, a nature to be inspired by.  Some days I’m convinced that we will annihilate the complex ecosystems of this world and all that will remain will be desolate landscapes, trees filled only with pigeons, and beautifully trimmed bushes will run along the sides of buildings reeking of pesticides. That truth is your fault.  That truth is my fault.

Then there are days, my optimistic days, when I believe that people are good.  Those days I believe in people and know that though people have been the reason for such awful changes in this world they can also be the change for the better.  You can be the change for the better.  I can be the change for the better.

Though I’m just selfishly glad that I was able to see Lake Nakuru before it may embody the truth of nonexistence, I am hopeful that it will always be there.  It is too amazing of a place to lose and only optimistic thinking with pessimistic realism will ensure its survival. 

Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is the caterpillar.  –Bradley Miller