| Abstract: During the past 26 years The Nature Conservancy’s Campaign team has helped pass state ballot initiatives that have raised some $47 billion for land and water protection, often through tax increases. Such efforts were successful partly because as a prelude to many of the campaigns, focus groups and surveys were used to understand what aspects of nature and conservation people most valued and found resonance with.In the first 30 minutes, we will share the results of the surveys and trends in the attitudes found from 2000 to 2012. And then with input from the audience we will spend the remaining 50 minutes discussing how future surveys might be modified to obtain new information or test ideas about changing environmental attitudes.We will be conducting additional surveys, so there is the opportunity to translate these ideas into action and modified surveys.
Conference attendees who plan to participate in this breakout session are asked to add this event to their personal schedules (below) to help with discussion planning.
Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D., is a psychology professor at Utah State University who has pioneered the application of Applied Behavior Analysis to captive and companion animals. ABA, with its roots in human learning, offers a scientifically sound teaching technology and ethical standard that can improve the lives of all learners. Students from 22 different countries have participated in Dr. Friedman’s online courses, Living and Learning with Animals for Professionals and Living and Learning with Parrots for Caregivers. She has written chapters on learning and behavior for three veterinary texts (Behavior of Exotic Pets, Clinical Avian Medicine, and Manual of Parrot Behavior), and is a frequent contributor to popular magazines. Her articles appear around the world in 11 languages. She has presented seminars for a wide variety of professional organizations around the world such as the Association of Avian Veterinarians, the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, Moorpark College Exotic Animal Training and Management program, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. She has been nominated for the Media Award given by Association of Behavior Analysis International for her efforts to disseminate to pet owners, veterinarians, animal trainers and zookeepers the essential tools they need to empower and enrich the lives of the animals in their care.
Samantha Attwood, is a research assistant at The Nature Conservancy.
Peter Kareiva, Ph.D., is the chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy, where he is responsible for developing and helping to implement science-based conservation throughout the organization and for forging new links with partners. Dr. Kareiva received a master's of science degree in environmental biology from the University of California, Irvine, and his Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell University. He joined The Nature Conservancy's staff in 2002 after more than 20 years in academics and work at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where he directed the Northwest Fisheries Science Center Conservation Biology Division. In addition to his duties as the Conservancy’s chief scientist, his current projects emphasize the interplay of human land-use and biodiversity, resilience in the face of global change, and marine conservation. He has authored more than 100 scientific articles in such diverse fields as mathematical biology, fisheries science, insect ecology, risk analysis, genetically engineered organisms, agricultural ecology, population viability analysis, behavioral ecology, landscape ecology, and global climate change. In 2007, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2011, he was named a member of the National Academy of Sciences for his excellence in original scientific research. He also has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a member of the Ecological Society of America and the Society for Conservation Biology. In addition to conducting research, Dr. Kareiva believes that general communications and writing are essential in science, and has written (with Dr. Michelle Marvier, of Santa Clara University) the conservation textbook, Conservation Science: Balancing the Needs of People and Nature (Roberts & Co. 2010). Dr. Kareiva is co-founder (with Gretchen Daily and Taylor Ricketts) of the Natural Capital Project, a pioneering partnership among The Nature Conservancy, Stanford University and World Wildlife Fund to develop credible tools that allow routine consideration of nature's assets (or ecosystem services) in a way that informs the choices we make every day at the scale of local communities and regions, all the way up to nations and global agreements.
Hazel Wong is director of Conservation Campaigns at The Nature Conservancy. |