James McCafferty, Wilderness Defender

Melbourne - JDM Media

The first thing I do whenever I get to a new city is figure out which way is West so I can watch the sun go down. My ex girlfriend loves sunsets more than anything and she got me into them too. The colors in the sky are always picture perfect. 

Speaking of perfect, I have a new job now. I work at the Wilderness Society, the biggest independent environmental organisation in Australia. I'm a fundraiser. My job title is Wilderness Defender Campaigner. Stop laughing.

Basically what I do all day is stand around talking to people trying to gain members to help fund campaigns. Right now were trying to save the Leadbeater Possum (which I like to call the Steelstrangler Possum) from extinction, conserve Australia's native forests and save the Kimberly from having the 2nd biggest gas refinery in the world build on it. So, as you can see, they're one of those lets-not-do-much organisations.

So fundraising tactics are pretty simple. You've got to stop people in the street. That's it. As long as people stop the rest just takes care of itself. So how do you stop someone in the street?

Well, my first day I tried just saying "Hi, how are you?" to see if I could cox anyone in with my lullying voice and body language. 90% said no, 9% said nothing and one guy just told me to fuck off. A new strategy was in order, so I stole some of my friend Cameron's tactics. 

I asked, "If you had a 100 year old tree, would you sell it for $6?" This worked better, mainly because the question is so out of the blue that they didn't hear. People would say what, I'd repeat, then they'd walk off angry that I would even consider talking to them about something as useless as the environment. I mean it's not like trees actually do anything other than block the sky. 

Today, I was determined to get a sign up. So I tried my new tactic, the absurd tactic. Now the point of this approach is to say something so ridiculous that if someone doesn't stop, they'll at least laugh. So if your in Melbourne ever and some weird enviro-guy asks you something like, "Excuse me, have you heard of nature before?" It's probably me. I got one sign up today!

Speaking of nature, my main concern with the environment is wildlife. I'm here to photograph animals, I don't want species becoming extinct when it is completely unnecessary. 

Cassowary - JDM Media

This is a Cassowary, a large ostrich like bird native to Papua New Guinea, Seram, Aru Islands and Northeastern Australia. In Queensland, the population is declining with population estimated at 1,500 - 2,500 (says Wikipedia). We saw one of them. It just walked through the garden.

They are vicious unless they're eating, which is lucky for me because I was about 5 feet away from a wild one taking this picture. If it had attacked, it would have kung-fu kicked me with one of its 3 inch dagger like claws. These things are dangerous. 

I really hope that my new job can take me to some amazing places to do some amazing things. I want to move up and become active in the movement. 

What I'd really like to know is what are your environmental concerns? Comment if you care. 

- James