Heroes

I reject the cult of personality almost wholesale. Yet in some cases, exceptions must be made. Wade Davis is one of my heroes. And I worship what he represents, not necessarily the man himself. As opposed to those who read everything about a famous person such as Britney Spears and memorize her favourite food, colour, city, book, song, etc; I try to remember all the valuable lessons that Dr. Davis teaches.


Wade Davis is not a university professor and his classroom is a little less conventional. He is currently explorer-in-residence for National Geographic. Talk about the coolest job in the world! He teaches through his documentary series "Light at the End of the World" and through books. The lessons he teaches are not direct and straightforward, like biology or physics (if they can be considered straightforward), but must be distilled through stories.


National Geographic describes him as "a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet, and passionate defender of all of life's diversity." That is never more true than as he presents his Massey Lecture book "The Wayfinders". "The Wayfinders" is a brilliant combination of stories and travel adventures mixed with a passionate and timely argument in favour of the use of ancient knowledge and other world perspectives to address current issues such as climate change.

All this is true, however Wade Davis is my hero mostly because he demonstrates how anthropology is useful in the world; indeed it is the most useful of the social science and pure science disciplines. In his opinion, and David Suzuki's as well, technology will not save the world. We must change our worldview to one that places the environment at the top of our priorities list. The natural world is not something to be utilized for monetary gain, but something to be sustained and reverred. Not, not all "ancient" cultures preserved their natural environment and lived in equilibrium (Rapa Nui, aka Easter Island is a perfect example). Yet many cultures throughout the history of humanity comprehended and still do comprehend, as we are unable to do, that the world is a beautiful and delicate thing. It is not ours to plunder, but ours to defend.