Bill Eddy was an explorer of places and ideas. At Williams College he studied literature, poetry, and philosophy and it was then that he developed an intense interest in how the human mind looks at nature and how that perception evolves over human lifetimes and generations.
Among other projects, Bill pioneered the development of Swahili language documentary films for raising awareness among African viewers about the economic importance of wildlife in the National Parks of Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. The films were seen by hundreds of thousands of people via mobile film units in the bush and in village schools.
Bill taught environmental studies at UVM for 22 years - and he wrote a handsome book of essays, 鈥淭he Other Side of he World,鈥� on how language and culture shape opinions of our natural world. A number of these essays were also heard as VPR commentaries in the 90s. Barton Chronicle writer Paul Lefebvre reviewed the book, noting how Bill Eddy was 鈥渁 master of distilling complex ideas down to their illuminating essence鈥� while telling a good story.鈥�
I sometimes share one of Bill鈥檚 stories with friends. In it, he tells of attending an event in a Kenyan mountain forest. The ceremony was staged up high - on the elevated porch of a treetops hotel. With the Kenyan vice-president on hand, gathered dignitaries noticed among themselves an equally attentive female baboon. 鈥淔rom time to time,鈥� wrote Eddy, 鈥淚 caught myself looking at her and wondering whether her claim to be there was not at least equal to mine.鈥�
The baboon stayed through the speeches and the unveiling of a plaque. Like others in the crowd, she kept an eye on the covered trays of food and after the event she waited patiently and politely to be offered sandwiches and a piece of cake.
Bill used this incident to question man鈥檚 sense of superiority to other living beings and to wonder how we might be classified by them. 鈥淥ne wonders鈥� he asks, 鈥渨hether we could ever recognize a superior intelligence, if we were to encounter one.鈥� And he asks whether we, as a species, 鈥渟till have something to become.鈥�
