Why do I care about the natural world?

By Robert Hudson Westover

My love of the great outdoors was instilled in me many years ago when my parents loaded up the car and took us kids on an epic camping trip to a pine covered area of Northern California near the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

It was here, surrounded by the splendor of the natural world, in a secluded campsite near a stream that we sat around a campfire and Dad explained to us how lucky we were to have this great outdoors wilderness—owned by all Americas--that we can come to whenever we want.

I never forgot that trip.

Later in life I was further inspired by the tireless environmental conservation work of HRH Prince Charles and tangibly through my honorary Godmother, Olga C. Morgan and her work with Green Peace.  So at an early age I began working on environmental issues. However, this was on a voluntary basis and included things like urban and wilderness area trash clean ups and informally educating inner city kids on the importance of green areas.

I didn’t start making my living in conservation until 2005 when I landed a job with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and now the U.S. Forest Service.

Since then I have been fortunate enough to be exposed to some of the most brilliant minds in environmental conservation including several winners of the IPCC Noble Peace Prize for climate change science.

Now I blog and tweet regularly on environmental issues. Below are some of my blogs (and articles) on climate change and sustainability dating back to 2006:

  

Switch grass as a renewable bio fuel Chesapeake Bay environmental issues

  

DNA Research that can Assist with Understanding the Effects of Climate Change

  

Study Shows Mangroves are a Major Player in Climate Change

US Forest Service Research of Black Fingers of Death Fungus May Lessen the Intensity of Wildland Fires

U.S. Forest Service Receives EPA Clean Air Excellence Award in Technology Transfer Effort

Baseball bats are safer thanks to the U.S. Forest Service Forest Products Lab

High Wood Product Output Doesn’t Correlate to Higher Carbon Emissions According to US Forest Service Research

US Forest Service Reforestation Efforts a Win-Win for Healthy Forests

Methuselah, a Bristlecone Pine is Thought to be the Oldest Living Organism on Earth

Wood to Energy – Removing Woody Biomass from National Forests Helps Local Economies

USDA Forest Service’s Fuels for Schools program Turns Biomass into Energy

Students Impact Forest Service Planning Rule Process

US Forest Service Helps Young Adults Bring Awareness to National Forests Though a Cross-Country Adventure

U.S. Forest Service Study Finds Climate Change to Affect Future Western Trout

Resilient like a Fox

Working to Reduce the US Forest Service Carbon Footprint

Fort Valley Experimental Forest: First in the Nation to Discover the Effects of a Changing Climate on Pines

Monitoring Bald Eagles to Help Prevent Deaths from Collisions with Wind Turbines

Forest Service Research Indicates Yellow-Cedar and Other Trees in Alaska Hold Biomass and Carbon

US Forest Service Study Finds Sparse Marten Detections Linked to Decline in Habitat

Carbon Study Conducted on US Forest Service Land Reveals Unexpected Results

US Forest Service Harnesses Hydropower without Having to Build a Dam

With New Interagency Agreement US Forest Service Works on the Loss of Whitebark Pine in Yellowstone Region