Celebrating the outdoors

Brian Keating was 12 when he started birdwatching, a hobby that kicked off a love of nature that’s carried him throughout his career as a naturalist, wildlife expert and charismatic educator.

“I can remember like it was yesterday the first time I saw a certain species of warbler when I was a little kid by myself with my second-hand binoculars in the woods,” he says. “Kids these days, there’s not enough of them getting those kinds of experiences.”

Keating and TV veteran Bryan Smith hope to change that with their new series Great Big Nature, launching this week on the Postmedia Network (o.canada.com/category/travel/great-bignature). It’s a series of mini-docs hosted by Keating, taking viewers from Madagascar to the High Arctic with a goal of stimulating discussion about nature.

“Our new digital world is keeping people indoors more often than not, and if you compare it to when I was growing up, the generational change is remarkable,” says Keating, who was the Calgary Zoo’s head of education and conservation outreach for nearly three decades.

“It’s huge, the transition from the real world play environment to the virtual world play environment.”

Smith and Keating say the path to getting people back out into the real world starts with the virtual world. They’re hoping these tastes of nature will inspire people to go outside.

“The more we engage with nature, the more it becomes part of our life, then we will start taking care of it better,” says Smith, who is the executive producer and director of the series.

Adds Keating, “The idea is that nature isn’t talked about enough. If we can get more awareness out there, more inspirational messages, we think that we can make a difference.”

Keating ’s enthusiasm for nature is contagious. It’s what’s made him an in-demand speaker and tour guide. And despite a full career of globe-trotting, even he found new things to be inspired by as he travelled and filmed this series.

“If your eyes, ears and your heart are all open when you’re out there, stuff happens, you encounter things.” he says.