The Creative Animal Tour is bringing its sustainability message and tiny house on wheels to the School of Natural Resources on Oct. 12 at Hardin Hall, 3310 Holdrege St.
The tour is the brainchild of the Creative Animal Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to advancing education and science through programs dedicated to conservation, sustainability, wildlife preservation and protecting the world’s oceans and waterways. Foundation co-creators Stephanie Arne, host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, and Tim Davison, wildlife artist, have been crisscrossing the United States since Jan. 1, speaking at schools, universities, businesses and festivals.
From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 12, they’ll be parked in front of Hardin Hall, 3310 Holdrege St., where they’ll open their tiny house to guests.
“We know that 99 percent of Americans have never seen a tiny home in-person, let alone been inside one,” Davison said. “We want to offer that opportunity to get folks to think and to ask themselves how much they really need to live a full lifestyle and be happy.”
The pair also will speak about sustainability in America, the impact on wildlife and the environment, and the American dream at 5 p.m. in the Hardin Hall Auditorium. Both events are free and open to the public.
“College students are often our easiest and favorite audience,” Davison said. “We have found that we make the largest impact with our time on campus. We live for the emails that come after a visit saying that a student has changed their major or stopped using single-use plastics.”
The challenge, they said, is teaching people what sustainability is and how it can involve nearly every part of their lives; it goes beyond using less and recycling more.
Davison and Arne hope to show how two people are living in the United States as sustainably as possible. They’ll show guests how they conserve water and electricity, what products they buy, where they house them at the end of the day. As they travel, they’re also posting their video journal, including tips and tricks about living sustainably, as well as stories about people they encounter and their relationship to the natural world.
“On an individual level, we feel it’s important to remind people that they, too, are an animal whose species has an enormous ecological role and whose actions on a daily basis have an impact on other species and the environment that makes life for us possible,” Davison said.
They are also hoping to build an online community of 1 million people who challenge themselves to live more sustainably.
“If we get a million ‘average Americans’ to cut their water, electricity and plastic consumption in half, in one year, it would amount to 18.25 billion gallons of fresh water conserved, 100 million pounds of plastic unused, and — just from electricity savings alone — over 3 million tons of C02 eliminated,” Davison said.
It’s enough to make a difference and inspire a million more.
For more information, visit creativeanimal.org.
Shawna Richter-Ryerson