“I want to see the world before we destroy it,” explains Theresa Peters, Mayfield’s beloved biology teacher. Every summer, Peters travels to another corner of the world to serve communities and rehabilitate wildlife. Through organizations such as Earthwatch, she is able to conduct research in these countries as a citizen scientist. She pays as a tourist to visit these countries, but rather than staying in expensive hotels, Peters camps in the wilderness and devotes her time to helping the ecosystem.
“You help the scientists collect data,” Peters explains. “Instead of going and staying at the Hilton and Marriott, my tourist dollars are going directly to the community we’re helping. That’s what’s important to me.” The money she pays to participate in these trips provides a salary for the scientists she’s working with, supports the wildlife sanctuaries, and funds the resources these communities need.
“I’ve been to places most people don’t put on destination lists.” Peters has taken part in the citizen scientist programs seven times, and has traveled to Uganda, South Africa, Brazil, Cambodia, Thailand, the Kalahari, and the Amazon. “Any place I travel is impactful,” she explains, “But the trips that are most memorable are when I visit a place and I know my presence in some way is helping.”
Some of the environmental outreach work Peters has taken part in includes volunteering on a wildlife reserve in South Africa, studying meerkats in the Kalahari, and working at an elephant sanctuary in Cambodia. “People can realize there’s another way to travel,” Peters comments. “You don’t have to go ride an elephant in Thailand, you can experience them in a way that’s better for the animal and helps its preservation.”
Above all, the work Peters participated in in Uganda is at the top of her list. “Anyone who’s been to Africa will always say you leave your heart in Africa,” she explained. “It’s a very memorable experience, there’s so much you can learn.”
In Uganda, Peters and her team worked on a chimpanzee reserve in a national park that held a large chimp population. Growing up, Jane Goodall was Peters’ idol, so “being able to get that close of access to the chimpanzees was pretty remarkable,” Peters admits. During this trip, she was also able to study other monkeys and do tree surveys to analyze the surrounding environment. However, she explained that “The best way to preserve any natural environment is if the nearby communities value the wilderness and what it provides.”
Therefore, Peters also took part in community outreach efforts in Uganda to further benefit the welfare of the chimps, and reduce human-animal conflict. One of the most important impacts she made was by teaching the community members what crops to plant that would not attract animals. Crop raiding, which occurs when animals intrude on human gardens to eat their produce, was a large issue in these communities. When animals crop raid, many farmers resort to killing them, which protects human food sources but endangers these animals.
Peters also worked with ex-poachers to dismantle animal snares. “My money provided a salary for [the ex-poachers] so they didn’t feel the need to hunt anymore,” Peters explained. “Instead, they could use their expertise of knowing how to set these snares to remove them and save the animals.”
Aside from the positive impact Peters and her fellow scientists make, braving the wilderness can be difficult. “You end up getting injured along the way, or get peed on by chimps,” Peters recounts. While some people might be disgusted by that, “Who can say they’ve had that experience?” Peters laughs.
Camping in the wilderness isn’t always taxing. Peters recalls how one hot morning on the riverside in Brazil, “There were two pink dolphins that were going up and down the shore. I would walk one way and they would follow me, I would walk back and they would follow me. Just being there and having this moment with the pink dolphins was pretty cool.”
“As a teacher, these trips are something I can bring back to the classroom to help students realize there are other ways to travel,” Peters reflects. “For me, just knowing I’m doing something, that my footprint is a lot less, and that I can come back with stories and educate others, is fulfilling.” Peters relates her intriguing stories to her lessons, making the material more interesting and engaging. The passion she has for her work is clear, and the insight she’s gained brings a more personable perspective to the biological topics she teaches.
From the classroom to the environment, the remarkable work Peters does has an immense, lasting impact. She doesn’t just love the Earth; she fights for it. “If I can help slow its destruction, I want to be involved.”
