The loss of nature and the nature of the loss: Sense of place, sense of culture an the importance of education

Background/Question/Methods My generation has seen the collapse of many value systems, including that of appreciating and understanding nature.  We can help recover a cultural respect for nature by recognizing the value of passion in our own research and by explicitly mentoring the pure joy and excitement found in nature.  We chose our occupation because we enjoy nature, and even our specialties require a broad competence in natural history and the foundations of systematics and anatomy of our groups.  Results/Conclusions We need to re-emphasize the excitement found in nature and mentor all those around us to develop their own passions and compassion for the natural world. We need to recover the foundations of our field by re-instituting the classical courses in systematics, entomology, mammalogy, herpetology and the like. Most importantly we need to recover the field classes and make an effort to get all students into nature.  We need this passion not only in our science, but also in our culture where a sense of compassion and empathy for the rest of the world seems to be in a decline. Finally we must also expand our advocacy to teach about the implications of all the environmental problems, especially climate change, future supplies of fresh water, and most importantly, understanding the importance of population control.  The challenges in the recovery of a respect for nature are more urgent than ever before, and every ecologist needs to contribute to the solution.