From the SSM Spectator:
Every year, SSM’s Honors Program invites a guest speaker to deliver a presentation to the school community. This year, it was our pleasure to have Dr. Margaret D. Lowman come to our school and give an inspirational and enlightening speech. She is an author, adventurer, educator and tropical rain forest canopy biologist (canopymeg.com). Throughout her speech, we learned about her experiences in the rain forest and how they influenced and shaped her life. Her amazing story might enlighten some students who want to be a scientist as well as inspire the rest of us to do our best to cherish the earth. After she finished her presentation, I wanted to follow up and ask her a few more questions.
Q.: What does it take to be a scientist?
Dr. Lowman: I think it takes PASSION and CURIOSITY, and then a bit of luck to just manage to get into the middle of things. I don’t think it requires extraordinary math or physics grades or experience–but majoring in science is helpful!!!
Q.: How does your experience in the rain forests influence the way you understand life (living things)?
Dr. Lowman: I think that working in tropical rain forests has taught me a few important things:
1. One that I mentioned at the end of my talk was that it is better to EXCLAIM than to COMPLAIN!
2. Another is that forests provide amazing and important services that make our (human) lives possible–we need to keep forests healthy in order for us to have fresh water, oxygen and other gases, climate control, soil conservation (by tree roots), medicines, pollinators, biodiversity, foods, clothing and building materials, and carbon storage among other things!
3. I have also learned that life is complex and that forests have an amazing ecosystem composed of millions of creatures, all of which contribute to their sustainable system–we can learn a lot about engineering, policy and economics (as well as science) by studying how a forest works.
Q.: What obstacles have you ever met and how did you overcome them?
Dr. Lowman: My biggest obstacles were getting to the tops of trees, which were overcome by designing new tools: canopy walkways, rope techniques, inflatable gadgets including balloons, scaffolds and ladders. the other enormous obstacle is helping people in developing countries make enough money from their trees without cutting them down, since they need food for their families and cant’ be expected to conserve their forests just for us in America to be healthy. So, ideas like ecotourism and sustainably grown shade coffee and other rain forest products are great solutions to this challenging economic obstacle.
Q.: When you experienced the low point of your life, what makes you not give up?
Dr. Lowman: My children, and also my students, have always been my inspiration. A Lot of my extra energy comes from them and thinking about trying to make sure they have a healthy planet to inherit!
We can see that her experience has taught her, and also taught us, positive attitude towards life. We should always have passion in what we are doing, and when we encounter obstacles, we should not complain but find the best way to solve the problem.
~Roy He ‘14
