My 700-acre Life

The kids sat in a circle, snickering. Some of them looked sheepish, others bored. A few of them shoved each other. I sat in the middle and called for quiet.

“OK, OK, everybody,” I said. “Let’s all just settle down. Like I said inside, I want you to close your eyes for five minutes.” I looked around. “Ready? Go.”

Most of them did as I asked. A few kept them open until I looked at them, then they did as well. Everything quieted.

As usual, the three-minute mark was when the change happened. The expressions went from sheepish to neutral; then from neutral to something akin to wonder. The wind sighed in the trees; a killdeer called from across the field. Now and then a blue jay scolded.

“OK,” I said after five minutes. “Open your eyes.” Eyes flew open, eager expressions. “Who wants to say what they heard?” Hands shot up, excided kids yelling and pointing.

Another successful nature appreciation session completed.

# # #

I’m an environmental engineer. I’m now retired, but up until a few years ago, I was responsible for the environmental operations of one of NC’s largest corporations, a 10,000-employee facility in Research Triangle Park.

With that many employees producing waste, commuting, using energy and water, we had the environmental footprint of a small town. It was my job to meet established Corporate and NC conservation targets. Trying to get 10,000 people marching in the same direction was challenging.

I was proud of our accomplishments; annually, we usually

• recycled between 80-90% of our solid waste (3-4 million lbs).
• saved around 15 million vehicle miles, or 7,000 metric tons of CO2 with our ride-sharing/mass transit program
• conserved about 11,000 MW-Hours of energy (enough to power almost 1,000 homes)

But by far, my favorite and most rewarding efforts were with our wildlife and nature programs.

Our 700-acre site was accredited by the Wildlife Habitat Council. We had butterfly gardens, nesting boxes, a community garden, a stocked pond. We had a “Green Team” of 250 employee volunteers. We helped several Boy Scouts complete nature projects each year to earn their Eagle rank. 

I decided to start some environmental education programs for at-risk youth. Our trial run was a busload of kids from the inner city of Durham, NC. They had grown up with concrete, dilapidated buildings and traffic. They knew nothing about the natural world, ecology, wildlife. I wanted to introduce it to them.

I gave them a presentation outlining the basics. Some seemed to get it, but I saw many blank looks. I had a sudden inspiration and took them outside and we did the exercise I described above. It got them energized and every class after that started with it.

Here are some other things we did.

In my last year, we were recognized by the NC Governor as the state’s leading conservation-minded business.

I enjoyed my job and the things we accomplished. I’d like to think we made a difference and inspired a new generation of environmental stewards 😎