Written by Jessie Panazzolo Joy and mastery are the words leading me through the year, wafting in front of me like a dandelion in the wind. I want to follow the spores curiously as they drift on currents, like a child in deep exploration. It is the childlike wonder I want to restore,…
Category: Food For Thought
2022 Lonely Conservationists wrap up!
January January began for us right from the moment the year started. Submissions for our latest novel idea “Letters to young conservationists” were due at midnight of the new year, giving people the rest of 2021 to submit their letters for consideration. This month was filled with work on the book, editing and…
I wish people remembered
Written by Jessie Panazzolo I wish people remembered that spring only happens for a quarter of a year, and in some places on Earth, the moments that the sun radiates onto the land occurs during an even smaller fraction of that time. Spring, a time for productivity, growth and flourishing is not a…
Lonely Conservationists 2021 Recap
January The year started off with new possibilities as I met with someone from a brand new socially responsible networking site with the potential to collaborate and earn some money for the work I was doing with Lonely Conservationists. I met with the people behind the software regularly to provide feedback and help…
Food for thought: Secrets to a prosperous life in conservation
By Jessie Panazzolo In the early years of Lonely Conservationists, I wrote a number of food for thought blogs, but I haven’t contributed to this string of amazing stories in a long while now. I thought I’d take the time in this lull week to share with you all some insights that I…
Lonely Conservationists 2020 Recap
January I started off this year with a new zest for what was possible as I headed out to the smoke covered field with a fellow LC (and entomologist) where we worked day and night to study the birds and insects on an agricultural property for a….wait for it…paying client! Feeling valued for…
My stigma turned strength
Written by Jessie Panazzolo I talk in the book and in the podcast about how I have always battled the stigma with mental health in the conservation industry. I know as much as anyone what its like to want to be the most resilient and tough conservationist in the field. I am also…
The return of loneliness
Written by Jessie Panazzolo I have come once again as a lonely conservationist to share my frustrations with you on the blog. I say that I come as a lonely conservationist because I often feel like members of the community forget that I founded this community on being lonely in conservation myself. I…
Wrap it all up in a bow
Written by Jessie Panazzolo It is quite evident that I haven’t written a food for thought blog in a while, having in fact written a total of zero for this year. Today however, I was inspired to get back to the roots of this community and share how I feel about my role…
You’ve got male.
Written by Jessie Panazzolo I haven’t written a food for thought piece this year, but this week I have been divulging more and more into the topic of male Lonely Conservationists and now I feel I need to speak out about what I have uncovered. This all began on Tuesday when I was…
Lonely Conservationists 2019 wrap up
Written by Jessie Panazzolo JANUARY On the 29th of January 2019, Lonely Conservationists was born. I was lying on my couch, devastated that an organisation I was working with would never pay me for the work I was doing. When I was lying there moping, a conservationist friend messaged me and told me…
By popular demand: How to approach a potential supervisor about doing a PhD.
The thing about being a Lonely Conservationist is that sometimes we forget that we aren’t that lonely anymore. A LC reached out to me asking if I could ask the group advice for approaching a supervisor with the potential to do a PhD. It was her goal, but she was nervous as she…
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: My Wild Idea to help global conservationists
Written by Jessie Panazzolo Ten months ago I was sitting on my couch feeling defeated and alone in the conservation industry, but since publishing my very first blog in January, Lonely Conservationists from around the world have flocked to the ever growing LC family. In May, I was overwhelmed when I discovered my…
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: A survival guide to being a Lonely Conservationist
Written by Jessie Panazzolo Being a Lonely Conservationist is hard and often feels endless. I have wondered so many times if I will ever get to where I want to go, meet who I want to meet and have the experiences I have dreamed of. Recently, I realised that I have got myself…
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Defined by our duty
Written by Jessie Panazzolo Being a conservationist can sometimes feel like a curse that forces you to explain too many of your life’s details to complete strangers. This is all because of the absence of a simple job title to satisfy their question: “So what do you do?” “So, what do you do”…
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Body and mind
Written by Jessie Panazzolo Ten months ago or so, I moved to a new city. A colder city where I had to wear an actual coat outside and ten layers of blankets inside. I thought I loved winter but this type of cold affected me in ways I didn’t imagine it would. The…
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Black and white and red all over
Written by Jessie Panazzolo What is black and white and red all over? An embarrassed conservationist who couldn’t see the shades of grey. I feel like it is time to divulge a little into my own childhood for this particular story and maybe its time to share with you all how I have…
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Being Lonely in Conservation
Written by Jessie Panazzolo I don’t know this for certain, but I am pretty sure that when people in most other walks of life choose their professions, they do not feel the impending doom of choosing their job over proper social interactions and opportunities for relationship building. I know that growing up I…
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Impostors of Conservation
Written by Jessie Panazzolo Speaking to individuals of the Lonely Conservationist community I am amazed at their knowledge, field skills and general attitude towards conservation. After speaking with them for a while I realise how fortunate I am to be learning so much and having a conversation I know a lot of others…
Nia (Education or Activism)
Story by Nia Jones I’m not quite sure where my passion for the environment started. I have early memories of dragging my parents to a local recycling centre with homemade bins (home recycling wasn’t a thing then) and winning a green ‘Blue Peter’ badge for my letter to the programme about recycling dehumidified…
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Education and Conservation
Written by Jessie Panazzolo A common focus around the discussions I have been having since creating this community has been education. Some people don’t believe they have had enough formal training to identify as a conservationist, some people are trying to figure out which tertiary education path to take to maximise their potential…
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: How Lonely Conservationists changed my life
Written by Jessie Panazzolo Looking at the Instagram page I created a mere eighteen days ago, I never expected to see the 300 Lonely Conservationists who had joined me in my plight to make conservation a little less lonely. I also never expected to get a message on every single one of those…
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: A little goes a long way
Written by Jessie Panazzolo Imagine a world where you are me and you are sitting on my family couch with my mother and she starts talking to you about McDonald’s straws. Are you immersed? Good. Because this was the first of two very similar situations I was in where I was about to…