Ian Player: What are we without wilderness?

From around the world, conservationists, naturalists and all walks of people committed to the wilderness came to honour the life and legacy of Dr Ian Player at his memorial service on 14 January 2015.  Bishop Geoff opened the memorial service with a deep sense of personal gratitude for Dr Player’s support during the founding of SAFCEI.  “About time!” Dr Player had said.   Bishop Geoff encouraged everyone involved in faith communities to keep Dr Player’s life’s work alive by recognising our responsibility to care for creation and like Dr Player to act urgently with courage, vision and passion.

In a deeply moving eulogy to Dr Player, his long time friend, wilderness spirit and co-campaigner for the wild, Dr Ian McCallum said: “When Ian spoke, it was like listening to a firm, but subdued roar … a kind of territorial call.  He was a voice and fighter for the natural inhabitants of the wild, not only for their sake, but for the sake of the human species as well. Who and what would we be without wild areas and animals in our lives?  Ian understood the deep reciprocity of Nature and that the death of a species was also the death of part of the human psyche. The fight for the natural environment could be understood as the fight for human sanity.”

We encourage you to read the full and inspiring eulogy (click here) of this remarkable man. He has passed on his baton for wilderness conservation – let each of us grab it.

Click here to read Dr Ian Player’s Eulogy by Dr Ian McCallum

Click here to read address by Bishop Geoff Davies at Dr Ian Player’s memorial service