Transcript
What inspires you from WFSU Public Media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. I'm Aliki Monkreif. I'm the Executive Director of Florida Conservation Voters and I'm a almost 20-year resident of Dallas-E. I really attribute my love for nature to two things. One is just growing up in Miami. I mean I grew up in kind of the epicenter of a tropical paradise and just being able to get on my bike and go to the beach. By the time I was my daughter's age, you know, 10, 11, 12, I was able to get out to Mathis and Hammock, get in the water. I had a lot of independence. Fortunately my parents, it was a time and I guess they were comfortable enough to let me go. Get on your bike. Go for hours. See ya. See ya when we see ya. And then the other thing is from a really early age, I loved animals. I absolutely loved animals. I felt a deep connection. I felt looking into an animal's eyes, felt very much like I was looking into my own, you know, we're cut from the same fabric. And so I think, you know, my appreciation for the environment, my love of the environment came from being in it and seeing myself in other living creatures. Now that I'm a mother, it's literally fighting for my kids' future. Just this week with the United Nations report documenting the devastation that humans have had on other species around the planet. And you think about, what's this planet going to look like in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years? I mean, my daughters are going to be in their 20s and 30s when a lot of these worst impacts really start to hit home. And so that's another reason that I guess keeps me going. That's not what started me on this path, but it definitely keeps me on it. I'm Aliki Monkreif and I'm the Executive Director of Florida Conservation Voters. You're listening to Voices That Inspire.