This may seem to be coming from left field but bear with me, I am going somewhere with this. Last week saw the start of the new season of Star Trek Picard. I grew up on Star Trek: The Next Generation and this season all of the original cast are reappearing. The first episode was fittingly entitled 'The Next Generation'. As I reach 45, like the stars at Star Trek The Next Generation I have realised that I am no longer 'the next generation'.
I have blogged before about how I can recall as a child and young adult even in university that myself and my peers were the next generation of environmentalists and conservation pioneers. I never fulfilled my potential as an ecologist. Since leaving uni I have not earned a penny in that field. That is not to say that I have abandoned it. Regular readers of this blog will know how much time I invest in wildlife watching and conservation, it's just that I have made my career about science education and now Health and Safety.
Working in a school is very rewarding and I have the opportunity there to make a difference. I may not have had a huge impact on the ecological world, published any new theories, or discovered or saved a species but I can instill that passion in others or at least nurture that spark in others.
At school after all the difficulties of Covid and getting used to my new role, I have finally been able to restart Eco-schools. I ran the school club for many years prior to Covid and we worked hard on achieving Green Flag status twice. We did gardening, wildlife watching, and many other events. Alongside this I have taken classes in the primary school, teaching Reception about Bees and Year 4 how to dissect owl pellets.
With the relaunch, we started with a tree-planting project. Unsure how many would turn up I was pleased to find eight 7's and a sixth former join me to plant about 60 bare root trees on the school site. Trees are definitely par of the course at the moment as over this half term I have planted 180 whips on my patch To do this I had some help from my parents, sister, and nieces. Three generations working together putting in trees that will hopefully last for generations of their own.
In both these activities, I was able to educate them and add value to what we were doing. For the school I was able to explain the difference in species of tree and why they were being put where they were. On my patch I showed my nieces the local tracks and signs, deer beds, footprints, offer spraints, and badger setts.
I may no longer be the next bright thing but I can ensure that there is a whole new army of bright eager young things following in my stead. Some may say this is vicarious living but we each have to make use of the skills and opportunities we have.
This new gang of year 7's have turned up two weeks in a row and seem eager when I talk of gardening beds and digging a wildlife pond, the future is promising in more ways than one.
