National Wildlife has followed the trend taken by most other nature magazines in the past decade the trend of pessimism. Mother Nature knows there are serious problems for wildlife associated with human society, but I need the occasional pleasant break to keep me out of the depressed state seemingly held by these magazine editors. As recently as ten years ago, National Wildlife and others ran detailed articles about the fasnicating lives of our wild neighbors. Since then, the magazines have gone from a nature documentary format to one of "bad news monthly." With our increasingly urbanized human population, this may be the only way to sustain interest in wildlife and their plights, but I fear it is turning some of us away. While I don't think National Wildlife should shy away from political and lifestyle issues, I do think they should lighten up a bit. The photographs are still beautiful, and the animals are still fascinating. I hope the NWF doesn't lose sight of why we became interested in wildlife in the first place.
In most of the articles, however, it seems the writers are trying to convince everyone that humans are ruining the planet. Probably all readers of National Wildlife already know this, but are interested in learning more about national wildlife . . . which is the name of the magazine, after all. You can't just jump in and tell everyone they're endangering animals and then hope they'll care about it--people need to have vested interest in something to really care about it. They should tell the readers how to do direct things such as birdwatch, start a pond, or plant a wildflower garden. They should educate readers on the habits and lives of various animals, and then let the readers know that the animals are in potential danger. If they make nature FUN for readers, then we'll realize what a loss it would be in our own lives to suddenly be without it. As the saying goes, "you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." National Wildlife needs to use a lot more honey and a lot less vinegar.
National Wildlife as an organization does try to encourage people to get involved with positive steps, such as through their national campout, Certified Wildlife Habitats and accompanying book (Attracting Birds, Butterflies, and Other Backyard Widlife), etc. It would be nice to see this positive mentality carried over to the magazine itself.National Wildlife Magazine is a very nice publication for those with an active interest in wildlife protection and general nature conservation. It offers some very good articles on wildlife and the constant struggles animals face as they fight for survival in a world increasingly dominated by humans.
National Wildlife Magazine seeks to inform and educate and its articles include stories about success stories and challenges as well as the occasional article or department that offers up animal trivia and facts. One article may include a story about the loss of habitat for wild cats while another may talk about the brute size and strength of a rhinoceros. Whatever the story, this magazine is right there, informing and educating its readers about the wild and wonderful world of animals.
Advertisements are part of this publication and this fact may surprise some who read this publication for the first time. Many nonprofit organizations publish magazines but a good percentage of these magazines are completely adfree. This magazine has a few ads, but they cover only about onefifth of the pages in each issue. There are few enough of them that they do not take away from the magazine's enjoyment.
Besides the articles, another excellent feature of National Wildlife Magazine is the photography. In fact, I would bet that some people try to get their hands on this magazine solely for the purpose of looking at those amazing photographs of animals in their natural habitat. The photographs are impressive and memorable, with some of them depicting an animal standing still or lying down in the wild and others showing an animal chasing and catching its prey, in high speed detail. Every issue is loaded with these amazing pictures of animals and it isn't surprising that so many readers mention the photographs among their favorite parts of the magazine.
Wildlife continues to struggle for survival and National Wildlife Magazine is one of the better nonprofit publications that bring this information to your home. It is not an easy magazine to find, but I recommend grabbing and reading a copy if you can. It rates among my alltime favorite wildlife magazines.
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