These in-their-own-words pieces are told to Patricia Lane and co-edited with input from the interviewee for the purpose of brevity.
Ginger Boehme-Vertefeuille invites us to get close to raptors. This 19-year-old from Cowichan Valley, British Columbia, spends her summers educating visitors at Vancouver Island’s The Raptors.
Tell us about your work.
Birds of prey fascinate people — with their size, speed and deadly — intent but 30 per cent are threatened with extinction, so they are much more vulnerable than most of us realize. Vancouver Island’s The Raptors facility offers people of all ages a chance to watch as eagles fly within a couple of feet of them or to carry a hawk or owl on their own wrists as they walk through a forest. Our goal is to use proximity to increase awareness about the critical role these super-cool animals play in their environments.
For example, turkey vultures are not exactly beautiful at first glance. They scavenge and never hunt for themselves. But they help clean their surroundings. They eat rotting deer and other animal flesh and their digestive systems can cleanse it of anthrax, botulism and rabies. This service makes the environment safer for others, including humans.
We bring hawks to places where gulls might be an expensive nuisance or even a danger, like airports, landfills and rooftop gardens. Once we fly the hawk, the gulls quickly decide to hang out elsewhere. This is a much more desirable way of managing human-nature interactions than some other alternatives!
How did you get involved?
I grew up on Vancouver Island surrounded by forests, elk and other creatures, and the ocean. I was taught early to value Indigenous understandings that we are part of nature and intimately connected to it. Once you start seeing the world this way, protecting what we are raised to love becomes imperative. I would often go to the Raptors as a kid, and then began volunteering there as a young teen. That turned into a summer job.
How do you think the way you were raised has affected you?
I was taught to practice empathy and look for it in others. Celebrating the experiences of others and of the more-than-human world is a core value for me.
What makes it hard?
Climate change and the loss of nature that goes with it often feels overwhelming. We do protect a few birds, and we make a difference in the way our visitors relate to nature in general. But the need to see the big picture in all its political, scientific, personal and economic system complexities can feel impossible.
What gives you hope?
We each do our own part, and when we see each other, that is inspiring. I am a University of British Columbia student now and still finding my path, but spending time building community and connections with so many smart people, who are each doing cool things, leaves me hopeful more often than not.
What possibilities do you see if we get this right?
If we are able to protect our climate, we will have solved so many other problems, too. Wealth inequality, corporate power, colonialism — all these depend on treating our impact on the environment as irrelevant. If, instead, we centre it in our culture, we will make the world so much better, and our human species will still have a home.
What would you like to say to other young people?
Find something you love and do that. If you find an endeavour that reflects your values, you will meet others who also align. I love birds. You never know what you will fall in love with. But as I protect birds, you will protect what you love, and we will be working together even if we never meet.
What about older readers?
You can be an important inspiration if you allow for collaboration. Communities are stronger when we open our minds and hearts to each other. Even if you don’t want to help dismantle capitalism or colonialism, at least learn about why so many of my generation do. Being in our own comfort zones is a luxury none of us can afford.
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