Written by Elena Chaboteaux  Hi, my name is Elena Chaboteaux and I’m a 24 years old conservationist from Italy. As far as I remember I’ve always been obsessed with plants and wildlife. I grew up camping with my mum looking for “treasures” in the forest and I’m so grateful my passion has now developed into my dream job. My current research involves the conservation of a giant sentinel of the Amazon rainforest: the Iron wood tree (Dipteryx micrantha), or Shihuahuaco, as locals use to call it. This species is fastly disappearing, being cut down at high rates due to intense illegal logging activities; a tree older than 1.000 years, destroyed…

Written by James Lee It is obviously a time of unease in America with regards to treatment of racial minorities. Whether it be a young jogger shot like a dog in the street in Georgia, or a man having his neck crushed by a police officer in Minneapolis, or a birder having the cops called on him after simply politely asking someone to put their dog on a leash, these recent events have laid bare the vast disparity in the amount of fairness and justice afforded to black people and and other POCs (or in their case, the lack thereof) that white Americans have long taken for granted. It is…

Written by Taylor Tvede I’ve wanted to work with animals since I was a kid, but in my mind that always meant something like dolphin trainer or the person at the zoo who did the bird shows and got to teach everyone neat things about cool animals. Being a vet was an option I had thought about. Hell I took part in a veterinary mentorship program my senior year of high school, but most of my vet school friends basically walked out of the womb wanting to be veterinarians. That wasn’t me. When I went off to college I really started learning more about wild animals and their plight to…

Written by Ana Willett I think out of anyone, I understand impostor syndrome on such a deeply profound level it’s disturbing. My name is Ana Willett, and I am a marine conservation policy contractor. There…for lack of better phrasing, is not a lot of work in this field in the D.C. area. You either have to have a PhD (I don’t, I have a Master’s), or you have to know someone. It leaves a lot to be desired when all you want to do is make an impact and save our seas. It makes it difficult, with such a desire to protect, to feel stuck and unable to do much…

Written by Rhys Abbott As many of you know too well, conservation can feel like an uphill battle; often lonely, and without community support, it can be overwhelmingly deflating. But would you ever give up? Heck no. It is without a doubt a massive challenge to overcome the environmental pressures that humanity places on nature every day, but it is a challenge that we can, and we will overcome. HELLO! I am Rhys, and I am relatively new to the conservation scene, would you believe I was a ‘footy lad’? I grew up in sleepy Adelaide, Australia. I was blessed with camping adventures growing up but there was never a…

Written by Macie Edwards A friend recently sent me an article about an online community called Lonely Conservationists, a group that I was surprised to have never heard of before, as the name itself was immediately relatable. I read this article with a tight throat, choking back tears. It is so reflective of what I have been dealing with in this field and the challenges that I am still facing. And while it is relieving and encouraging to know that I am not alone in this deepening state of loneliness and frustration, it does not change the reality. I decided on this career path in high school. I had a…

Written by Gabrielle DiVello My name is Gabrielle DiVello. I am 23 years old and I was born and raised in Southern New Jersey surrounded by the beaches, mountains, and the city -which is why New Jersey is called the “Armpit State.” My family has owned a vacation house in Maine, outside of Bar Harbour on a beautiful lake for about 16 years. I was always surrounded by nature and wildlife and through the years I truly learned to have a strong passion and appreciation for wildlife. I pretty much grew up in Maine as well since we would go several times out of the year there and still do…

Written by Drew Seiler There it was, Phidippus audax, the Bold Jumper, zig-zagging its way across the handrail of our backyard deck. Its movements were jittery, mesmerising, and any movement on my own behalf caused the little male to spin and look up at me with his two large eyes beset three other pairs. His aqua-green chelicerae tapped in curiosity as we stared at one another, and his white-marked opisthosoma wiggled back and forth. Then, a colony of Pavement Ants, Tetramorium caespitum, marched across a sidewalk. They ran to and from the nest, preparing their sisters for the arrival of their newest quarry, a common bush cricket. It was dispatched…

Written by Nicholas Horne I started this blog nearly 6 months ago, I really wanted to contribute to the Lonely Conservationists as I feel it’s an exceptional idea that can promote so much positivity. However, it has been extremely difficult to write about my past experiences. So why did am I back writing this blog? Because I am struggling. I thought that providing myself with some reflection on when I was mentally very low may help me gain perspective on how far I have come. Hopefully this may help others do the same. So, here is the time I hit rock bottom. I had just handed in my masters thesis…

Written by Katy Keighley I wasn’t initially going to submit a blog as my story is only just beginning. However, I thought that there’s no harm in sharing the first drafts of life. My name is Katy and I’m a 20 year old BSci Animal Biology and Conservation undergrad, graduating in June this year!! I grew up in very quiet part of Wales, and didn’t live close to any of my school friends. This meant that playing out with them after school was a bit of a no-go. My parents realised this and so made huge amounts of effort to keep my sister and I entertained despite their busy work…

Written by Lucy Hodson Who am I? My name’s Lucy, I’m 28 and a self-confessed hardcore nature nerd. I work full-time in communications for a large wildlife and conservation charity in the UK, and run a wildlife & nature insta-blog on the side. The nature thing… I’m sure many of you’ll agree that when you work with wildlife, you’re often asked how you got into it. For me, there was no choice. I’ve had ‘the nature thing’ for as long as I can remember. Call it an interest, obsession or, perhaps mostly aptly, a ‘bug’ – it’s been with me since I was old enough to hold a fistful of…

Written by Jillian Drury My story may be a little different than many of the other stories I have read on this blog simply because for a while, I gave up my dream of being a conservationist. My childhood was very similar to a lot of my fellow Lonely Conservationists, it was full of love and curiosity for animals and the natural world. I would watch Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest on repeat and try to emulate Bob Ross every Saturday afternoon in the summer on my homemade easel outside painting happy little trees. I had a subscription to Ranger Rick, watched Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures and Steve Irwin’s The…

Written by David De Angelis The word ‘obsession’ gets thrown around a bit, but maybe understandably, true obsession seems to frighten most people. Conscious of the other (impostor) syndrome that many lonely conservationists have talked about, I still feel the need to point out the difference between having an obsession with natural history, and necessarily having expertise in ecology or wildlife conservation! Few people seem to have clear memories of their time in kindergarten, but some of mine are still vivid. Social introversion and an OCD-like repulsion of human ‘mess’ kept me from regularly interacting with more than a couple of the other children. Yet I was the only one…

Written by Jake Lammi As I lay on a large expanse of granite trying to warm up after an exceptionally cold swim in a glacier-fed alpine lake, I look over at my coworker, Ranger, savouring the life-giving sunshine and cool mountain breeze. I can’t help but reminisce on just how far the two of us have come together over the past three years. At first glance, Ranger might seem just like any other coworker. He is supremely focused on getting work done, loves to hike long distances, and always brings a positive attitude to the “office.” However, if you take a closer look you might notice a few distinctions. He…

Written by Laura Perry Conservation can be a dream career. Certainly, the stories from my day-to-day life sound good at dinner parties. But is it as good as it is cracked up to be? Objectively, I’m a fairly successful conservation biologist. I have relationships with National Geographic, the WWF, and the Explorer’s Club, to name a few. I am attached to the world’s leading carnivore conservation group, WildCRU, at the University of Oxford. And I currently work on two amazing projects: one in the Chyulu Hills, in Kenya, and one in Niassa National Reserve, in Mozambique. But in conservation – perhaps as in all careers – success can look better…

Written by Ella Thomas Hi everyone, my name is Ella and I’m a 22 year old Education Officer at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS). Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary is located on the Gold Coast, which is on the east coast of Queensland, Australia. Ever since anyone in my family can remember (including me) I’ve been absolutely obsessed with wildlife. I hogged the TV as a child and watched documentary after documentary… much to my sister’s displeasure (she just wanted to watch cartoons or Disney channel). I remember being asked in second grade what I wanted to do when I grew up, and I remember answering, “Follow in Steve Irwin’s footsteps.” Little did…

Written by Pamela Greet A kerosene tin of cane-toads was one of the things my grandfather carried with him from Babinda in Queensland when he moved his young family to the Burdekin to start his own farm in 1920-something. They had to clear flood plains to plant their first crops and for maybe ten years, there were koalas living in the uncleared paddock in front of the little two roomed house my grandfather built from timber milled locally. By the time I was born in 1957 that paddock, too, had been cleared. My parents together with my Mum’s brother and his wife, leased it to grow a crop of tomatoes.…

Written by Kristina Middleton Who Am I? In brief, I would call myself a conservationist, activist, and nature addict (Potterhead would have to figure in there too!), with a love for exploring; be it my local nature reserve or a mountain range in some far flung country. I grew up on a small island and, despite being young and clueless I felt a constant pull to explore new places and find exotic wildlife – my poor mother could barely keep up. At 16 I asked my mum if I could join a BSES Expedition to Madagascar and a few years later I announced that I was going to volunteer in…

Written by Priscilla Miard Hi everyone, my name is Priscillia and I guess like many of you I have multiple unpaid jobs if I can call it like that. I am a researcher, a primatologist, a project manager, a photographer and many more ….. I grew up not really knowing what I wanted to do really and made it into university knowing I like nature and biology but that was pretty much all. The school system put you in boxes and for someone like me who has a lot of imagination, it does not work really well. I guess I was lucky to grow up in the countryside of France…

Written by Melissa Huntsman There are no profanities strong enough to express the devastation of this bushfire season. No words strong enough to explain the frustration of climate models becoming reality when social media opinions are being touted as facts. No news or opinion article articulate enough to express disappointment that the science, settled decades ago, is still being questioned and ignored. Not enough tears can be shed for the scale of degradation that has occurred.  As I go back to work in my office in Sydney I am filled with dread. My agency manages private land conservation. I know we have many passionate landholders who’s land and years worth…

Written by Mike Talladen Long ago, tales of a place called El Dorado lured so many into the jungles of South America in search of a city of gold and its king. Some of these explorers paid the toll of that pilgrimage with their lives and as terrible as that may be, I’ve always thought of this as a beautiful sort of outlook on our individual lives in general. After all, each of us is chasing after our own El Dorado, whether we know what it is or not. For as long as I can remember, the Amazon rainforest has always been mine, yet I grew up telling myself I’d…

Written by Angus Hamilton My conservation journey is really a tale of two parts. It starts when I was very young, as most of us have done, watching The Crocodile Hunter and wanting to be everything that Steve Irwin was, and taking in everything that he stood for. I spent hours and hours playing in the back garden pretending to be him. I’d gently hold plastic lizards, wrangle plastic snakes, and wrestle plastic crocodiles (all while family friends, or ‘zoo guests’ watched on). I also spent almost every weekend at the zoo, watching and learning about all of the animals I could. Over the years, I began to see other…

Written by Adam Cook My parents first knew my love for wildlife when I was three years old. Mum would always tell the story of when I went to Marwell Zoological Park and I went around correcting people when they miss identified animals. One example was when a lady said to her children “look at those kangaroos” and being the polite three year old I tugged on her arm and said “excuse me, they are wallabies” and ever since that day my family knew my world would revolve around animals. My name is Adam Cook (Homo adamtalkswildinia), I’m 21 years old and have just graduated from the University of South…

Written by Katie Davis I’ve been debating whether or not I should submit a story to LC for several months and today things finally fell into place that I felt like I could do it. Someone in the LC USA chat asked for advice on how to answer the greatest strengths/weaknesses questions in interviews, and Jessie, the founder of Lonely Conservationists posted on the Instagram story about embracing the things that scare her. Those two things finally convinced me that maybe mine is a story that someone in this community needs to hear. This is a story about two people at my university who completely changed my life and probably…

Written by Jessica Leck My name is Jessica Leck, and as I write this, my hometown is on fire. I live on the mid north coast of Australia, and this week has seen an area roughly seven times greater than the Amazon fires burn across my home state. Friends have lost homes and others have lost loved ones, and yet still my community and their government will not speak about the elephant in this room. But to understand my thoughts as I watch the flames through the window of this evacuation centre, you should know my back story. The mid-north coast has not always been my home. Until earlier this…

Written by Sofiya Shukhova I am a Caucasian married woman working in conservation. The first image I give to strangers is of a white wealthy privileged person who can work in conservation because she does not have to worry about making a living. Well, indeed I happened to be born white-skinned, not much of the rest. So, let me tell you my real story: the way I paved to become who I am now. I grew up in Russia, a big mysterious country in the middle of a map. But in reality – a country that is stuck somewhere between the developed and undeveloped world and I am not referring…

Written by Lorenzo Seneci Since I found out about the Lonely Conservationists community on Instagram this year, I’ve been pondering about how I could use my personal experience to contribute. It took me a long time – and I’m about to explain why – but finally, I think I have something truly meaningful to share. This is my story, and my plea for help. I am Lorenzo Seneci, and I am a… A… Yeah, this is the point. What am I? Throughout my life, the single most important element that defined me has always been my undying love for reptiles. It started with a little kid of 4 years old…

Written by Stephanie Fuchs Hi, my name is Stephanie and I am thrilled to be able to share my story with you. I live with the Maasai tribe in the Maasai Steppe of Tanzania. My husband is a Maasai warrior and it was out of love for him that I decided to follow him to his traditional family home in the middle of the Tanzanian bush. Here I work for the preservation of the beautiful Maasai culture which I have come to love in the 8 years I have now lived with them. I love them for many reasons, one of them being that they are innate conservationists. It is…

Written by Freya Santana Cubas My name is Freya, and if you come from Europe you have probably seen my home island advertised a thousand times as a holiday destination. Gran Canaria, west to the Moroccan coast, belongs to the Canary Islands. Seven islands, very close to each other, yet so different; ‘the fortunate islands’, blessed with pleasant weather all year long and microclimates which make you find the most different landscapes just within a thirty minute drive. Sand, ocean, volcanoes, forests, dunes, cliffs, mountains… Why not stay here forever? After 18 years on an island with a diameter of 60 km, I really wanted to experience living in a…

Written by María Dabrowski Let’s make the environmental movement focused on science and preservation instead of the perfect Instagram photo, and let’s welcome everyone to make a real, true change. At a dinner party the other day I was asked, in front of a group, what I was good at. After a while, I said, “well, I’m good at knowing a lot about sea turtles.” People seemed interested and began asking me how many species there are, have I ever seen one, what’s my favourite “thing” about sea turtles. And then someone asked “well, are you one of those VSCO-turtle-girls?” I said, “a what?” A VSCO-turtle-girl is, for those like…

Written by Cameron Foster Hello all, my name is Cameron Foster, I’m 28, I am a nature photographer, a birder and currently pursuing my undergrad in Environmental Studies, I have been meaning to write one of these for a while so here we go. I grew up in the greater Columbia/ Lexington area, in my early childhood my mother raised me and my older brother on her own, so money was tight we couldn’t really afford to go anywhere nor did my mother have time to take us between work and attending college. I always found myself drawn to books about nature, at school when we would go to the…

Written by Sean Washington I can’t name a specific pillar moment that my life began to shift toward natural resources and conservation studies. Mostly because it was gradual but so solid it seemed destined. Like looking for the stars. You merely have to wait and explore the eternal sky for new questions, topics, and possibilities to pass your scope. Before I knew it, Christmas was when I’d get books and toys themed after any animal imaginable, I had a birthday at the zoo, I apparently played “Did you know…” on a 5 hour road trip (sorry dad. lol) and I was going home in elementary school to watch Steve Irwin,…

Written by Connie Baker-Arney ‘You are not clever enough to be a vet…’ ‘You need to work harder.’ ‘Are you sure you do not have un-diagnosed dyscalculia?’ ‘I do not understand how you plan to achieve all of these dreams and plans’ ‘You need to get your head out of the clouds.’ These are some of the words I grew up with, these are the words that inspired me to prove everyone wrong. I am a Kentish girl from England, I grew up in a home that was not particularly wealthy. We did not have holidays abroad or explore the outdoors at every opportunity. In fact, I spent a lot…

Written by Angela Simms So this is a blog about my experience with anxiety with my project/fieldwork in Indonesia. For those who have done work in Indonesia, conservation is hard. When it comes to the environment, basic conservation concepts are lagging or lacking from the education system (even at tertiary level), which is quite evident within the community. I have A LOT of admiration for those trying to save species such as orangutans. But this blog isn’t about my experience with conservation in Indonesia itself, rather about how my mental health declined quite drastically as a result of the unkindness of a person I was working with (just in case…

Written by Nishand Venugopal It all started with my interest in photography. I love taking photographs of wildlife and nature. But I didn’t want this passion to be restricted to just being a hobby. I felt I can do much more. I was born in an era that saw the explosion of technology. The pace at which technology has developed has been so fast, but thankfully I was able to keep up with it. Born in 1979 and known as the Xennials who precede the Millennials, our generation has seen an analogue life in our childhood which turned into digital mode when we reached adulthood. This also means that we…

Written By Spencer McIntyre My lab was meeting for our bi-weekly journal club recently, wrapping up a discussion about cognition in birds. One of the lab-mates selects a journal article of interest, we all read it, then we meet up and the selector presents the article and why they chose it. We then discuss the points in it, where we agree, disagree, gaps in the topic, normal journal club discussion. This particular discussion really brought to the fore and put in absolute terms an issue that has been growing on me for years now. Academia in its present state does not encourage conservation. The article was fascinating, an introduction for…

Written by Louise Munro I recently discovered Lonely Conservationists after a friend shared a blog on Facebook. An Instagram chat with Jessie had her suggesting I write a blog. At first I was floored. What could I offer? What would I say? Those horrible feelings of self-doubt, questioning and comparison kicked in. There are countless conservationists in this community doing incredible, inspiring things. We can all be guilty of comparing ourselves to others and thinking we should do more. But Jessie was so encouraging and welcoming, so I pushed those feelings aside! I was captivated by the community and honoured to start my journey with it. So why did Jessie…

Written by Caitlin Brant I’ve met so many biologists and other young people passionate about the environment who absolutely love to travel. Don’t we need to get to remote places to find animals? Or to get to a big conference? The effect of these activities is contributing heavily to climate change, something that is so intertwined with the survival of many species. I usually see climate change and wildlife conservation sold as separate issues, but they are intrinsically linked. I love to travel. In fact, I’d say it’s my second greatest passion after wildlife. I started working as a coordinator for a sustainable transportation initiative six months after I graduated…

Written by Steven Payne Ok, so here we go…. I was born in the country, now I live near the ocean. I love animals. And nature. The End. Elaborate? Ok fine. For those of you in the US, or are familiar with our geography, I was born and raised in Kentucky. Small town with mainly farm land. The Appalachian Mountains are in Central Kentucky, so where I grew up is mainly rolling hills and farms. Still, we had lots of hiking trails, lakes and open land to explore as kids. I used to walk through cow pastures, play in creeks and streams… run through corn fields… get chased out of…

Written by Freija Mendrik I’ve never really had a plan, I just made sure I followed what I was passionate about. I grew up spending as much time in the water as possible; I always wanted to be at the beach, in a rock pool or building sand creations. We lived right by the Jurassic coast of Devon, UK and would love it when a storm arrived as it meant it would be the perfect time for some fossil hunting. I remember my brother getting annoyed because all I would ever want to watch on TV was wildlife documentaries! My mum loves to sail and is an incredible painter so…

Written by Sebastian Moreno You would think having a gun flashed at you while doing field work would get you to pack it up, go home, lock yourself in your room, and reconsider your career choices. I won’t pretend to be brave and I will 100% admit, I did finish field work that day, go home, and have a good long cry. I thought nothing could go wrong becoming an urban ecologist since it was a perfect blend of nature and city. I was born in New York City and I wasn’t really exposed to nature growing up. When I was twelve years old, my family moved to northeast Pennsylvania.…

Written by Ian Hawkins When I visit my home town of Anglesea, I see green thread everywhere. There’s some wrapped around the bridge, there is some wrapped along the side of a path, at a reveg project we did in primary school, and even up the branches of Angahook – the red Ironbark. I was 20, living in the concrete jungle of Coburg. I was ‘on the dole for rock’n’roll’, and not much was really happening. I told the job agency that I liked to cook. ‘Great, we’ve got just the ticket for you.’ It was deep in the cold, dead heart of a meat processing facility, that I saw…

Written by Elliot Connor “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.” -Robert Frost Rejections are hard to stomach. I got two just trying to write this article. Because when you’re 16 years old, it’s tough trying to break into the field of conservation – and every chance counts. For ages I started almost all of my emails in the exact same way- “My name’s Elliot Connor, I’m 15 years old and passionate about nature.” I must have sent dozens of emails out to environmental charities and organizations of every shape and size. Most of them…

Written by Em Hull Before I begin my story, I want to lay out a scenario for you. There’s a little girl, maybe four or five years old. Her parents are alcoholics and her mum is bipolar. She never knows what she’s coming home to, but she always knows her dog will be there. Fast forward a few years, and the situation hasn’t changed, but now she knows she can also depend on horse riding to calm her down, or a long walk in the rain to act as an escape. She’s learnt that animals and nature provide her with a stable connection that her home life and friends don’t…

Written by Sarah Bell When I was a child and first learned the word “zoologist,” I clung to that word, that title, that dream, like the burrs that now cling to my hiking boots. Animals, any animals, all the animals. It was all my little mind could think about. From a young age, I was very fascinated by tigers and dreamed of rescuing them from a canned hunting organisation. In high school, I volunteered at a wildlife rehabilitation centre in my hometown in Florida, where I mostly cared for birds of prey. Eventually, I moved to Texas for university and started volunteering about 30 hours per week, caring for rescued…

Written by Rachael Gross Content/ trigger warning: suicide, rape, self-harm, depression, anxiety  You know when you’re a kid and you get asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The answer is usually something you’ve seen in books or on TV – a doctor, an astronaut, a lawyer. When you “grow up,” all that changes. Life happens, it becomes more real, and you often end up in something more specialised but probably not where you thought you’d be as a kid. I was different; I was so lucky. I’ve known since the beginning that I wanted to save the elephants and that I wanted to live and…

Written by Oliver Leach My story starts off very slow, but I wouldn’t change a thing because it made me into the person I am today. “Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” – Dumbledore I’m one of three boys on my father’s side and my mother’s only child. I spent most of my childhood going back and forth between the High Country in Northern Victoria and The Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. I have fond memories from when I was a child playing in rock pools, climbing trees, pretending to be one of the lost boys out in…

Written by Lynette Plenderleith I have heard that if you have a Plan B, you are not fully committed to Plan A and you might as well wave it goodbye. Maybe that’s right. I had both a Plan A and Plan B and I worked exclusively through Plan B for well over ten years. Maybe I’ve sidestepped the inevitable only by now doing both. I grew up in a remote area. Not going-to-boarding-school-because-there’s-no-other-option remote, but no-tofu-in-the-supermarket remote. There wasn’t even really a supermarket until I was a teenager. The supermarket was roughly what would now pass as a large “Express” version you might find at a fuel station. But this…

Written by Katherine González My story is not an epic story; on the contrary, I am just another girl who grew up in one of the most biodiverse countries in the world – Costa Rica. You can imagine how much wildlife and nature surrounds you when you grow up here; you hear about Costa Rican biodiversity and its natural wonders in the news. Having two resident frogs in your grandma’s house or listening to howler monkeys at 5 in the morning becomes your “normal.” But what I am about to tell you is something that might surprise you, and is probably one of the biggest challenges that Costa Rica conservation…

Story written by Jarred Donkersley I grew up in Arizona in the 90s as a skateboarder and punk rocker, marking me somewhat of a political radical. I studied the colonial history of America, critical theory, and post-modernism in college, while the events of 9/11/2001 had me spinning deep into conspiracy theories and cynicism. From 2010-2013, I started to pay more attention to news and visual culture from CERN/The Large Hadron Collider, NASA’s Curiosity Rover landing on Mars, and the Transit of Venus. I saw Saturn and the Moon through a telescope, saw the Milky Way for the first time, and promptly turned myself into an amateur astronomer and astrophotographer. This…

Written by Krista  It’s mid-January in 2018. Snow blankets every surface and the Rideau Canal has opened for its 119th season. Wind howls as it rushes around the building, rattling the windows. I’m sitting at my desk nursing an umpteenth cup of tea while preparing a monthly report summarising recent progress of my experiment. At the time, I was working on a nanomaterial project investigating the effects of rare earth elements on the reproductive capability of plants, an experiment I had been running off and on for about a year. Clicking away at the keyboard, my attention is suddenly called to the bottom corner of my screen, where an email…

Story written by Nene Haggar Indonesia isn’t all beauty. It isn’t the poetry of wildlife you hear echo throughout the forests; but rather the sound of chainsaws annihilating them. It isn’t the smell of fresh air in the morning that surrounds your existence; it’s a smoky cloud hovering above you as flames dance landscapes to the ground. These cleared landscapes now stand tall with plantations of palm oil. Spreading like a disease, palm oil takes all of Indonesia’s wildlife along with it. Throughout the rest of the world, there is a calling. A demand to cuddle an orangutan, to take a selfie with a stupefied tiger, to eat the flesh…

Story written by Natasha Bartolotta With my shirt sticking to my back and muddy water spilling into my boots, I trudged through the swamp forest of Sumatra deciding, once again, to extend my time at an orangutan research field station. I had been there for 15 hot, humid months and had already extended my stay twice. First, I didn’t want to leave because I loved it so much and asked to stay. Then, I offered to again stay longer because the project I was working for could use more data. Now, I was asked to remain just a tad longer to help train new volunteers. I always thought, “Why not?”…

Story written by Patrick Tomkins This isn’t a conservation success story. It might be one day, but it definitely isn’t yet. Like most people here, I’ve always wanted to work in conservation. I’ve never once considered doing anything else. When I finished school, I followed a fairly predictable pathway – BA, BSc (hons), then a PhD in ecology. 11 years of uni without any full-time work in between. I know, heavy. During my PhD, I investigated the impact of agricultural contaminants on the behaviour of fish, and I ticked all the boxes – I finished within four years, I published multiple papers, I attended heaps of international conferences, I made…

Story Written by Ren Weinstock When I think about where I am right now, in this moment, sitting in a cafe (the only working cafe within half an hour of my new temporary home), writing this blog that’s supposed to summarise who I am and how I got here and where I’m going – all in a way that’s hopefully both relatable and shows some sense of accomplishment for my own sanity – I’m overwhelmed by the layers of dichotomy that appear to obscure my path. I’m both acutely aware of how young and inexperienced I am in this field, yet I know that my journey through this field is…

Story written by Sarah Munro-Kennedy I remember the day that I realised my purpose in life was to protect sea life. It was a few days after an event that occurred on December 26, 2004. I was 16 and on my first international scuba diving trip with my parents in Thailand. We had just gotten certified that summer and instantly fell in love, so we decided to take our Christmas vacation somewhere known for its diving. Little did we know what that vacation would hold for us. We spent the first few days in Bangkok, visiting the most stunning temples covered in intricate tiling and gold, buying fresh fruits from…

Story Written by Nathan Leanne  Pinpointing an exact time or reason I’m drawn to conservation is quite impossible; I honestly believe that it really is just an extension of who I am. I was born and raised in rural northern Victoria, the youngest of three boys. from a low-income family living in public housing that was located in a not so desirable part of town. We had ups and downs but in all, we had a great childhood; we were boys, we fought, got in trouble in every conceivable way, tested mum continuously and all pushed to make our dad proud. It was at this early age that I began…

Story written by Fen Calidris I lost it all two years ago. I was pursuing my degree in environmental biology at my local university. I was about ¾ of the way through and the end was in sight. I squelched through wetlands and muddy wet pine savannas to discover plants and animals I had never seen before. I basked in the sun and braved the wind-tossed sands of the Mississippi beaches. I was on the path to success and to a wonderful reality where I got to do what I wanted in the world. But something was holding me back. Underneath the scabs left by Smilax thorns and caked mud,…

Story written by Carolina Gamez Brunswick My history in biology began when I was little. I think all biologists have that curiosity from childhood and that great love of nature. The moment I realised that I had to study to become a biologist was when I saw a Discovery Channel moment, in which they did a short film about the life of the conservation biologist Ian Tchagra Little. The exact moment that I saw it, I realised I wanted to do that with my life. I studied biology and graduated in 2013, doing a thesis on the optimal habitat of the black bear in a national park. From there, I…

Story by Morgane Ristic Here is a brief story showing how much getting out of your comfort zone can change your life for the best.  “Take the risk or lose the chance.” My name is Morgane, I am 21 and I started what would be a career of conservation without truly being aware of it. I had always been very interested in nature and particularly wildlife, but I recall my parents telling me how “animals were a hobby, a passion, but not a job”. I studied economy in high school which I enjoyed very much, but when it came to making a decision about a lifelong career, I just simply…

Story written by Gina Zanarini I was seven years old. It was career day at school. I walked into class clad head to toe in explorer-like khaki, with a rubber snake draped around my neck and toy lizards glued to the rest of me. I had to explain to my small town teacher not only that I was a herpetologist, not a zookeeper, but what herpetology even meant. The only reason I knew that word was because my father was a state park manager. This meant I grew up with few neighbours and spent my childhood playing in a place preserved for wildlife. I knew early on that places like…

Story written by Amanda Gabryszak Early Adventures Sometimes it’s hard for me to identify just where my journey started. Was it when I was a Lion King obsessed toddler? Or the strange wolf dreams I had as a teenager? Did it start with my going vegetarian, or adopting dogs? My best answer is that my journey has always been part of me, but it hasn’t always been a straight line. But I guess – one event may have truly planted the first seeds. I was a senior in high school. The BP Oil Spill happened literally the day after my 18th birthday. As a self-proclaimed teenage hippy, I had always…

Story written by Louise Cordery I left university having completed a zoology degree, full of hopes and dreams of becoming a successful force in the world of conservation. Primates were (are) my great love, lemurs in particular having studied their behaviour for my undergrad thesis. So imagine my absolute elation at being offered a Research Officer position on a conservation project in the lemur motherland; Madagascar! Whilst every project and organisation has its ups and downs, overall this experience was a positive one and I certainly learnt a lot and met some amazing, like-minded people. However, I think the crash back to reality and return to the UK affected my…

Story written by Gabrielle Bradley  My story is one of the joys, and regrets, of coming to Conservation and Land Management at an (cough…) older age. As a child living in suburban Melbourne, my family would often head out into the bush because my Dad loved getting out there, and I still remember him packing the car up with all his bird and plant books (no apps in those days!!!) and we would head off somewhere where there weren’t lots of other people. As kids, we had some experiences that I remember fondly today, but back then, I’m not entirely sure if we really appreciated it all. When I left…

 Story by Moira  Wilputte For as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about animals and the environment. I grew up in a city but had the chance to have grandparents who taught me to love and respect nature. As a teenager, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do but it was always related to animals or nature. One day I wanted to be a gardener, the next day I wanted to become a vet. It was only during the last two years in high school that I discovered my passion for biology thanks to a wonderful teacher. From then, as I have always loved animals…

Story by Nayla Azmi How my story began… Am I a conservationist? I don’t think I am. What I consider about myself is that I love my forest to pieces and want to contribute to it. The first time I bumped into conservation was when I studied English Literature as a student at the Univeristy of North Sumatra, Indonesia. The story began when I heard a friend of mine got the opportunity as a volunteer and worked with a local NGO. She invited me to come to one of the workshops they conducted in 2007 about orangutans and seeing the programs I felt surreal and eager to learn more. Back…

Story By Jade Arneson I grew up fortunate enough to have woods, a creek, and 40 acres of farm land as my back yard. I spent considerable time outside as a kid. I clearly remember walking through the field and standing atop the hay bales, wandering down to the creek to have a picnic lunch, and staring up at that big old willow tree wondering if raccoons or an owl had made a home in the cavity left behind by a fallen limb. I also loved animals and remember being very fond of my cats. Often I’d pretend I was a veterinarian – my cats or my numerous Beanie Babies…

Story by Racheal Bennett In my imaginary world, I’d write some detailed story behind it all, but realistically I’ll only have 5 minutes to jot something down before having to entertain a 4 year old, get back to work, school or my main focus in Abronia conservation. Since before I could remember, it was all about animals or family. That’s all that mattered to me, still does to this busy evening while I’m on my phone writing this when I should be turning in an assignment. Between school, volunteering at two animal sanctuaries, and being a part of the military, I still had time for a love life with someone…

Story by Jessie Panazzolo It’s a Saturday night and I am sitting around a dinner table having beers and laughing with friends, when all of a sudden I am the victim of an intense interrogation scene. I hear my partner share his frustrations about the way I had been volunteering for an organisation for six months writing comprehensive ecological reports which are important to future relationships and funding opportunities for the organisation. He went on to say that I applied for a job with another department within the company when one arose, but instead of hiring me they instead offered me another unpaid position. I worked for two family businesses…