Goodbye Steve

[den]

To be injured by a stingray is rare, but to be hit in one of the few places on the body here the barb is lethal is just freakishly bad luck.

He made conservation accessible to everyone, and made people here (in Australia) think about the environment. Until the mid-60s we only had The Bush. Then Vince Serventy, Rolf Harris, and The Leyland Brothers started making documentaries and suddenly we had Nature. Through the 70s and 80s we got an Environment, but the average bloke saw environmentalists as either scientists in lab coats or fluffy tree huggers.

Then Steve Irwin turned up. Everyone saw a bloke like us in khaki talking about conservation and saving the environment. He made people care about the animals, even the ugly ones. He saved patches of bush, even the useless stuff like rainforests and swamps. He got everyone thinking about the world we should be caring for.

I'm going to miss him.

Douglas Adams wrote in "Last Chance To See" that losing a species makes the world a poorer place. I think that would apply to Steve Irwin.

Comments

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

The number of people who've gone out of their way to get their hate on about thet man in the last twelve hours mystifies me. I'm trying to figure out just where the hell people are finding support for the idea that he "set environmentalism back decades," but I suppose some people just have to be contrarian when a widely-acknowledged-as-good person dies. :P

He was definately seen in vastly higher esteem in my neck of the woods than most of the domestic conversationist types, who tended to stick either to ridiculously boring eighties-esque documentary styles, or who wandered into the realm of misanthropy. This guy was definately well above most of them.

That said, as a friend of mine pointed out the idea of "natural causes" appearing in his obituary just ain't right. I would've rather he got devoured by something in his eighties than his forties, though. :P

[hespa.livejournal.com]

The only item I'm aware of in the less-than-environmental description is an article I saw somewhere about him and cattle farming. Apparently his views on that kind of widespread agriculture were that it's a natural and wonderful part of the Australian environment now, which ignores a lot of issues to do with defoliation (um, did I just make that word up?), erosion, etc.

Which wouldn't surprise me. I think Steve Irwin had a real passion for Australia's environment, and he did a hell of a lot to conserve and promote it to others. My impression of him has always been one of vast enthusiasm, energy and fascination... but not necessarily education. His approach was that of a wildlife enthusiast, not an environmental scientist, so maybe he did have and promote some views on environmental issues that weren't entirely accurate.

But he still did a hell of a lot for environmental awareness and conservation, not to mention approaching life with unbelievable passion and just so much energy. Yes, I do think we are the poorer for his loss.