Richard Block is a man who really enjoys his job.
He isn't a professional athlete. But he says his peers deserve more credit than is given ballplayers such as Jordan and Aikman."I get to work with some of the best environmentalists and ecologists in the world, people who are truly changing the face of the Earth," said Block. "But I don't think environmentalist trading cards are going to do very well on the market."
He isn't a schoolteacher. But he said he has "an incredible opportunity to learn things and then share with others. It's like being in a university class that never ends."
He doesn't wield a lot of power, like a politician. But he works with government-types all the time. "You can be very effective promoting biodiversity in Washington, D.C.
"I could talk all day about biological diversity," said Block. Good thing, because that's his job.
Block is a special programs officer - and unofficial zoo specialist - for the World Wildlife Fund. His title is Senior Fellow.
It's Block's responsibility to explain to the public what the WWF is all about.
"I get people to think about what biological diversity means . . . it's kind of fundamental to our lives," said Block.
Kind of?
"It's crucial, really," Block explained. "All species are linked. People don't realize that all organisms may be affected by the loss of a single species.
"It's great to be able to show people the diversity of nature - the beauty of the world," he said.
Block was in Salt Lake City Thursday on business when some friends at the Hogle Zoo persuaded him to give a public presentation at the Hogle auditorium Friday night.
Block said it didn't take very much to persuade him to stay.
"I love zoos. They combine education, conservation and warm, fuzzy animals - what more could you want?"
Block said Hogle is one of the better zoos in the country.
"The best part of my job is meeting with different people," he said. "These (visits to different zoos) are great times - I'm constantly learning."
Obviously, Block was enthusiastic about his stay in the valley. He also saved some money on airfare by waiting out the weekend.
A new thinking has emerged in recent years in the environmental community, Block said. He tries to portray this in his presentations.
"I reflect on the proportions of things," he said. "The really important species are at the bottom of the chain" because they support everything else.
The WWF now has a "very pragmatic attitude - there's been an evolution of thinking," Block said. "We started out trying to protect charismatic animals - the pandas and rhinoceroses and such - but we can't save them if we don't save where they live."
So now the WWF is concentrating on preserving habitats and working with local organizations, both private and public, to achieve their goals.
"The issue now is not so much what we do but how we do it. For instance, we want to save rain forests," Block said. "But deforestation will happen, to an extent, no matter what we do. So we want to work with everybody involved to manage that usage wisely.
"We have better ways of getting at those resources" than methods used now in many countries, Block said.
Americans often have the wrong idea of how to contribute to the worldwide conservation effort, he said.
When Dan Jensen, an American conservationist working in Costa Rica, wrote a magazine article amid the deforestation furor of the late 1980s titled "Eat More Costa Rican Beef," he caught a lot of flak from people who believed McDonald's restaurants were the root of all evil, Block said.
"We want the Costa Ricans to manage their resources wisely, so what do we do? We boycott their beef. This takes away the revenue they need to implement preservation methods.
"Boycotting their beef forced them to clear-cut more land for grazing, because it's the quicker and cheaper way" to graze cattle, he said.
Block said public attitudes are changing.
"We're primed for this new emphasis right now. Our appreciation of the complexities (of species preservation) is growing all the time."
And Block plays a key role in the growing ecological awareness, speaking before elementary schools, corporate boardrooms, and his favorite places: zoos.
Block says that makes him "a very lucky guy."