Today he is head of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, which thousands of people visit every year. They walk on nature trails, plant gardens and trees, and take classes. The center also takes care of injured or orphaned wildlife and nurtures native plant species. Being the center’s executive director is his dream job, Mr. Weilbacher says. He likes to teach people about the environment, and he gets to learn something new every day. He also oversees the daily operations of the center and helps raise enough money to make sure it runs smoothly. Not only do people learn about nature there, but the Schuylkill Center serves as a “giant air conditioner” for the surrounding area, Mr. Weilbacher says. The trees act as an air freshener. “The environment is everything around us,” he says. “It’s the air you breathe, and the water you drink, and every single thing we eat.” “Go outside, get some fresh air, and grow something.” Mike Weilbacher Connecting people to the environment Mike Weilbacher eats a mostly vegetarian diet. He takes being a nature enthusiast that seriously. Raising cattle for meat requires a lot of water and land, he says. If more land could be used to grow plants, there would be less stress on the environment and more food available for people, he says. Since he was in sixth grade, Mr. Weilbacher has been devoted to learning about the environment and helping other people appreciate it. He remembers first thinking about the environment during the inaugural Earth Day in 1970. People talked about worldwide problems such as pollution and endangered species. “Something about it grabbed me,” he says. When he went to Cornell University, he met an older student who told him that he could earn a degree by studying environmental education. He felt lucky because not many colleges offered that degree at the time. He also realized that he now would be able to turn his passion for nature into a paying career.