Last Thursday, November 3, conservationist Sy Montgomery came to Carnegie Mellon to kick off the International Festival's "Globally Green" theme. She has authored numerous books, most recently Search for the Golden Moon Bear and The Tarantula Scientist, which describe the beauty of living in harmony with nature. Emily Half, associate dean of Student Affairs and International Festival coordinator, introduced Montgomery as a environmentalist who brings "good news" that "our kind is not doomed to plague and poison the world."

From her world travels, Montgomery tries to bring back models of how to live "lightly" with nature. Although she was candid about the troubles that humankind has wrought on the environment, including the hole in the ozone layer, overfishing, and species dying off at a high rate, Montgomery ultimately wants to bring her readers and listeners a positive message.

"Conservation and hope don't seem to go together these days," said Montgomery. "I urge you to be outraged, but I also urge you to hope."

Montgomery's enthusiasm for animals was made clear in her reverent, excited tone whenever she described them. Her whole face would light up when she told the audience about her extraordinary encounters with extremely rare animals.

Montgomery spoke mainly about five different animals: the pink river dolphin in the Amazon, the golden moon bear of Laos and Cambodia, the snakes in the Narcisse pits in Canada, the tigers of the Sundarbans, and the tarantula. She explained how each of these animals are held to misconceptions that they are dangerous by those who don't live with them – she described tarantulas as just "another furry animal" and the snake pits, a breeding ground, as "the worst frat party you've ever been to" – and that those who do live with them have a lot to teach "modern" culture.

"These folks see the whole world as full of powers," Montgomery said of the shamans in the Amazon. "They teach us to recognize teachers in all their different forms [including animals]."

Although she spoke of how all of the animals could be seen as teachers, such as bears who are known for their use of herbal medicines, one of her most interesting stories was about the tigers that inspired her book The Man-Eating Tigers of Sundarbans. In the Sundarbans, Montgomery visited a mangrove forest between Bangladesh and India where the royal Bengal tigers are particularly aggressive. Unlike most tigers, which generally stay hidden and away from human beings, these tigers occasionally swim up to boats, pluck someone off, and eat the person before anyone has the chance to do anything.

"It's a very weird place to be," said Montgomery about the forest.

Montgomery explained that the villagers in this area have certain beliefs about the tigers: that they can disappear; that they can fly; and, that the local god will send a tiger to kill a person if he or she does not respect sacred things.

"I found [the beliefs] were utterly true," said Montgomery.

She explained that tigers can become "invisible" in tall grasses, that they can leap 20 feet through the air, and that 90 percent of the people who are killed by tigers in these swamps are poachers.

The tigers also don't go into the villages, Montgomery said. However, if someone is doing something wrong, like poaching, the tigers "wait for you like a pizza delivery" in the forest and rivers. Montgomery went on to say that the tigers and the humans who live in the Sundarbans can teach Western culture that disrespecting the environment will eventually hurt humankind as well.

"In this place, the people don't want to eradicate the tigers," said Montgomery. "Instead, they worship them."

In addition to her current work, Montgomery also spoke about her personal journey to conservationism. It began with studying wombats in Australia through the Earthwatch Institute. "'I can see that you're just on fire to study animals,'" a coworker there told her. After studying with the wombats for some time, Montgomery realized that she "couldn't struggle into pantyhose ever again" at her previous job as a journalist, and so she arranged to stay in Australia to study emus for extremely little pay.

Louis Leakey's "Angels," female protégés who included Jane Goodall, also inspired Montgomery. Leakey believed in "forging actual relationships with study animals, which had never been done before" and that women could contribute and transform the study of animals. As it turned out, he was right on both counts. For example, Montgomery said that Goodall's first papers on primates were originally rejected solely because she named her study animals instead of numbering them. However, they were later embraced as brilliant and unique.

Before the night concluded, SHS senior Isabella Cederquist asked Montgomery to speak about the film Grizzly Man, a documentary about grizzly bear activist Timothy Treadwell who was killed by a grizzly during his time living amongst them. Montgomery said she had not seen the film, but that she knew about Treadwell's work. She said that his approach to studying the grizzlies left him open to being eaten, and that in any event the bear who killed Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard was a "thug" grizzly.

"If you're a bear," Montgomery explained, "then the other bears can eat you."

Montgomery expanded on this, explaining that researchers have to be particularly careful about how what they do or say is "translated" into animal-speak.

"We disrespect animals when we don't understand their powers," said Montgomery.

By sharing her experiences with the Carnegie Mellon community, Montgomery hoped to highlight the growing need for humankind to admire and protect the environment. Although animals may not seem as "smart" as humans, Montgomery showed how all kinds of creatures can teach people how to live at peace with nature.

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