Upon seeing Professor of Biology Michael Reed's displayed graphs and statistics that depict the various ways that humans are wreaking havoc on the environment, it is an easy assumption that the conservation biology expert is a pessimist.
But despite the often depressing subjects addressed in his "Environmental Biology" class - such as species extinction, pollution and deforestation - Reed says he maintains a positive attitude about the future.
"I must be an optimist, even though I talk like I'm not, because if I weren't, I'd be too depressed to teach the class," he said. "I'm optimistic about people in general; there are just some people in particular that I'm not optimistic about."
That attitude, combined with a penchant for solving problems, has inspired Reed to study the ways that humans might reverse their negative impact on plants and animals.
Reed works with endangered species in landscapes that have been altered by humans. Though he has done work in various parts of the world - including studies of endangered birds in Hawaii - Reed has spent his last 10 years in Massachusetts studying the effects of industrial forestry and suburban sprawl on biodiversity for birds, frogs and amphibians.
"Basically, I work on what puts species at risk, and how do you ameliorate the risks?" he said.
An initial interest in ecology led Reed to a graduate school course in conservation genetics.
"Early in my graduate career, I was trying to figure out what direction I was going to go, and this came up and really clicked with me," he said.
Now an expert in the field, Reed said using scientific research to discover real solutions is what keeps him motivated.
"I have an inherent desire to understand population dynamics and extinction," Reed explained. "Basically, I love the science, and the other part is that I like to solve problems that are related to the science that I'm working on. Both really interest me a lot."
The teaching side of Reed's job also keeps him engaged.
"I really enjoy presenting information to students and interacting with them, much more than I thought I would," Reed said. "I like conveying new information, and I like getting feedback from students on how it relates to their lives and examples they've seen personally."
Reed's teaching style is "generally upbeat," he says, and in order to incorporate more student opinions, he peppers his lectures with group discussions and questions to promote interaction.
"I like to pose problems to the class and hear what the class thinks about things and to think about solving problems," he said. "I like to present information, set up a situation, and hear people's thoughts about it. The [discussions] are a more formal way of getting people to talk to each other and to communicate with me."
After 11 years at Tufts, Reed said that student interest in the environment has remained consistently high.
"It seems like Tufts has a fairly aware environmental community. [Students] are often not just in class to get a science credit over with," he said. "I think I've always had a good proportion of students who are really interested in the topic."
Beyond general student interest, Reed has noticed a change in the priorities of the university itself, and said he thinks Tufts' environmentally friendly stance in recent years will continue to promote environmental consciousness.
"Tufts is interested in increasing its environmental awareness and problem-solving with things like the new dorms and the new project with green roofs on campus," he said. "During the '70s, [Tufts] was a leader in the environment, and I think it has a goal to become a leader again. I think the campus is going to get greener."
In addition to understanding the environmental action at Tufts, Reed, an avid birdwatcher, stressed the importance of being outside in nature.
"I want to tell students to get outdoors and do something besides walk between buildings, and to interact more with their environment," he said. "A lot of students are very interested in the environment, but they don't have much experience interfacing with it."
While student interest has been consistently high from the get-go, he said, the amount of data proving the existence of environmental problems has dramatically increased.
"Before, it was mostly providing indirect evidence, but now, the real-life examples of its effects are in the newspapers every week," Reed said.
As for the future, Reed said he will continue to look for problems and ways to find solutions.
"This might be where I seem like a pessimist," he said. "There are disasters that can't be avoided, but I keep thinking we can head off some of them. I think things are going to get worse before they get better.
"Things can be made less bad, and you can solve some of the problems, but not all of them," he added.
The rise in press coverage of global warming and other environmental issues in the media is something that Reed sees as a positive, but he cautions that it won't guarantee change.
"It's easy to get people excited about a problem, but not all problems are simple," he said. "People are often really good at looking one step ahead, but not two or three."
Proving once again that he is, at the core, an optimist, Reed said that he believes that people "absolutely" have the potential to make positive changes on the environment.
"When things are explained to them, most people will make the right choices," he said.
