“I was the most angry young man,” Chris Packham says. “At times, I’ve become the most angry older man. But that anger, I understood a long time ago, it’s implicitly important that you don’t damage yourself with that anger, you don’t let it become a negative energy, you turn it immediately into a creative force.”
With a new book, Back to Nature, exploring how an increased engagement with wildlife benefits both ourselves and our environment, presenters and conservationists Packham and Megan McCubbin are talking positivity. Chris has just returned from the Isle of Wight, and is bubbling with excitement: “I saw a white-tailed eagle, can you believe it?” The reintroduced raptors are just one of the many projects in the UK offering a ray of hope for the future. But with a recent barrage of bad news, it can’t be easy to maintain a positive outlook…
Megan: We’ve got a long way to go, but there are incredibly positive stories happening all around us. So for me, I like to focus on those and wake up and figure out what I can do today that’s different from yesterday that’s going to make a difference. Because, ultimately, every single person has the opportunity and has the power, the potential, to get up and make a difference. No matter how small their actions might be, there is something positive and a benefit that can come of that.
How do you motivate yourself on the more difficult days?
Denne historien er fra January 2021-utgaven av BBC Wildlife.
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Denne historien er fra January 2021-utgaven av BBC Wildlife.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
SNAP-CHAT
Justin Gilligan on giant spider crabs and holding hands with an octopus
STEPPE CHANGE
Herds of saiga have returned to Kazakhstan, but there's a fine balance to tread
TREES FOR LIFE
Community is at the heart of conservation in the tropical forests of southern Belize
WHEN DOVES CRY
Turtle doves are now the UK's fastest declining bird species, but the RSPB is on a mission to save them
SURVIVAL OF THE CUTEST
We can't help being drawn to cute creatures, but our aesthetic preferences both help and hinder conservation
LIGHT ON THE NORTH
Spectacular images of Arctic foxes, reindeer and musk oxen reveal the wild beauty and diversity of Scandinavia
ROLLING IN THE DEEP
The super-sized crustacean that lives in the deepest, darkest ocean
LET'S GET TOGETHER
Clay licks deep in the Amazon explode in a riot of colour, with macaws the stars of the show
FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
To sponge or not to sponge? That is the question for the bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) living in Shark Bay, Western Australia.
7 nature encounters for the month ahead
WITH NATURALIST AND AUTHOR BEN HOARE
