I've spent most of my professional career studying and working to restore sea turtle populations. Usually, my work takes me far from home: Baja California, El Salvador, Indonesia, Brazil. And I'm often doing research in someone else's backyard, as an invited guest. This always requires our team to work closely…
Modern people are increasingly cut off from nature yet wild animals are increasingly in need of our help. Tourism is by no means a silver bullet solution, but if done right it can be good for travelers and help protect the animals. Conservation travel is an emerging way for travelers…
Twenty-five years ago, when I was a 19-year-old college sophomore at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, I met a woman named Barbara. She was living in a nursing home. Fifteen years prior, when she was my age, she was in a serious car crash that landed her in a coma…
In 1992 I met Adelita for the first time. I had no idea how old she was or where she was from. But there was this mystique about her. Something special. Sometimes you can just feel it. Her skin was brown, her eyes big and black. We spent summers together…
Four years ago on a summer night, I stood in line at a Capitola, California, City Council meeting with my friend Laura Kasa, the brand new Executive Director of Save Our Shores. We were waiting our turns, along with dozens of other citizens, to share our allotted three minutes about…
