“In the Western tradition there is a recognized hierarchy of beings, with, of course, the human being on top. But… we must look to our teachers among the other species for guidance. Their wisdom is apparent in the way that they live. They teach us by example.” -Robin Wall Kimmer “Hey bear!” A deceiving call,

Beep! Beep! Beep! I wake up to the frenzied sound of alarms, and tiredly roll over in my damp sleeping bag. It is 4 a.m. and five of my Conservation Across Boundaries classmates and I are heading to the top of the mountain above our camp. We slowly tumble out of our tents, grab our

 Between talks of “Keep Jumbo Wild” tattoos, endless Shrek references, and renditions of Abba’s finest, there are meaningful moments.  Moments that make me stop.  Moments that make me think, “This just changed my entire perspective in the span of a second.”  It seems to be a daily occurrence for me on this course. We have

By now, I’d say that our group has pretty much reached pro-status when it comes to ridge walking. It started as a kind of frightening experience, but with every ridge I’ve become increasingly more confident with my footing and comfortable with the heights. This ridge in particular, which we summited on July 16th, may have