Being environmentally educated about snakes does not mean you must hold one. It does not mean you have to keep one as a pet. It does not even mean you have to like being around them. It does mean that you recognize that snakes are just as important as any other animal. It means that you regard snakes as an integral part of our native wildlife.
People are more environmentally sensitive today than at any time in the past.
Awareness and concern about the welfare of natural environments and wildlife is widespread. Now it's time to include the snakes. Most Americans grow up with some mixture of fear and fascination about snakes. I disagree with anyone who claims that humans have an innate or instinctive fear of snakes. Excessive and irrational fear of snakes, ophidiaphobia, is almost certainly taught, not inherited.