I have a much simpler answer than others who have answered. You start them young. The younger the better.
I have a 7 year old nephew who spends all his free time turning over rocks and observing insects. To tell you the truth, it was I that slowly put the curiosity in him.
I have a 5 year old niece that is afraid of everything non-human. I've been trying to get her to be more curious of other creatures. Seems to be working so far. She's asking questions about them now.
What I find sad is that there are parents that shelter their kids too much that it becomes just rediculous just how afraid they are of everything. My sister's neighbors are examples of some of the extreme examples. That family has 5 kids, ages from 8 to 15. To give you an example, take a look at the following picture.
My sister has a dog that looks almost the same as that. Can you imagine anyone being afraid of that adorable thing? All 5 of those kids are simply terrified of my sister's dog. They are so terrified that everytime the dog is let outside into my sister's fenced in yard, the kids would be running into the house to avoid seeing it.
One of my dogs look very similar to that picture. When I brought my dogs to my sister's place and put them outside, the mom next door actually came over and asked me to put the dog inside.
Now, imagine those kids growing up being afraid of everything non-human. They couldn't care less whether a species go extinct or not.
Edited by Tazmanian Devil, : No reason given.
We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.
Disclaimer:
Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.
He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!