Lonely Conservationists
BY FARRAH LEONE
A few weeks ago, one of my best friends from my field work had come to visit. It is currently our off season and we expressed our annual greviances about not being able to find permanent work, hating our meaningless part time jobs, and being stressed about not getting picked for a position when the field season came around. She knew about my struggles at my previous job, how I lost the a full-time position due to COVID-19, and how lately I’ve been getting rejected to everything I apply for. She introduced me to the Lonely Conservationist platform, run by Jessie Panazzolo. I immediately followed the account and downloaded her book, Conserving Conservationists. I gobbled it up in less than 48 hours and knew I needed the WMC and WOS community to hear about her work.
In your book, you provide your own definition of a conservationist. Can you tell us your definition and why you chose to frame it as such?
I believe that anyone who is contributing to sustainable or environmental behaviours, environmental knowledge or knowledge sharing, is a conservationist for two reasons. One is that I believe that conservation should be accessible to everyone and not an elitist group of select people, but also because I have seen incredible people who work in IT, the health sector and even law contribute to the protection of native species and environments using their specialist set of skills. My partner Todd, for instance, would have never considered himself to be a conservationist, but through his passion for technology, he has been able to survey forest habitats with drones, help solve technical problems in the field and has also reduced his meat intake and plastic consumption around the home. All of these actions have directly or indirectly contributed to conserving the planet in some way so I would definitely call him a conservationist!
Was there a defining moment that made you realize you had to start this platform? Or a culmination of things?
Lonely Conservationists was born from a time of my life where I thought I was the loneliest conservationist in the world, and from a place where I truly believed there may not be a space for me in the industry anymore. After spending six months volunteering for an organisation by helping with complex data analysis and report writing, in the office for full-time hours, I found out that my work was having funding implications for the organisation but they still didn't value my work enough to pay me for it. My friends basically sat me down and told me that this organisation would never pay me as long as I worked for free, and so I decided not to go into the office anymore. I had spent almost two decades of my life gaining experience in the industry, obtaining degrees, winning awards for my research and networking and I felt as if there wasn't anything more I could do to land me a job. At that moment of moping on the couch as if my life was over, a friend messaged me with feelings of frustration about getting back to her conservation project after having visa issues. For the first time in my life, I wondered how many more people there were out there who were frustrated with conservation work too. I didn't really start the platform on purpose, but rather I just told my story to see if there was anyone else out there who felt the way I did or if I really was alone. I published my story under a new blog that I called "Lonely Conservationists" and then to my surprise, others shared their stories with me too! The rest, as they say, is history.
Do you have any ideas of what we can do to support our own mental health? Especially in the field?
For me, the main change that has helped me in my life has been being honest about what I am feeling with people in my life or the field. To be honest, I only started to be candid about how I was feeling because I thought I had nothing to lose, but it turns out that this was the key to my success in the industry and with my own mental stability. I have been able to set boundaries with employers and family members who I feel may be impacting my mental health by communicating the changes I needed to see and I have been able to find like-minded people who resonate with how I feel and become less alone in the process. A lot of why I felt so alone before was the notion that you had to be perfect to get anywhere in conservation, but since I have embraced being imperfect and advocating for that in myself, my life has seen many more successes than I ever experienced when I was trying to put my best foot forward at all times.
Find your community, spend time surrounded by like-minded people, natural spaces and this one is important, cut yourself some slack. I think that realising that we don't have to save the whole world ourselves, but just contribute in the way we can, makes everything feel a little more achievable. Also resting is productive. Make this your new mantra and try to slowly chip away at that guilt we all feel for allowing ourselves to take some "me time". Resting means our cells get to mitosis effectively, we stay healthy and avoid the dreaded burnout. Basically, the lesson here is that we all need to be a little kinder to ourselves and treat ourselves as well as we treat the animals and landscapes that we love so much.
What are some of the most prevalent issues you’ve heard in submissions to your blog?
I have actually taken data on this! The top five constraints to conservationists seen in the blogs are being unpaid, self-doubt, no available jobs, mental health constraints and experiencing environmental destruction. Interestingly there is also a dichotomy between the top two feelings expressed in the blogs too. Love was the most common feeling expressed in the blogs, but following love, LCs experienced feelings of hardship and sadness equally as much as the second most common emotion. This dichotomy really resonated with me as I have always loved what I have been able to learn and experience in conservation, but it has never been an easy journey for me with a lot of tears shed along the way.
What do you think is the easiest issue for us to tackle in conservation and how do we do that?
Conserving conservationists. I totally lied to you all, it's not the easiest, but its something we can all do no matter where we are in our conservation journeys. I have never been able to stick to a job or a project where I was being mistreated or have burnt myself out, so I truly believe that for any long term sustainable outcomes for any conservation project, we have to be healthy, happy and with a zest for whatever the project is. How can the planet have any hope for restoration when conservationists who are doing all the work are underpaid or not paid at all, with no mental health care and the expectation to work in high-pressure situations with little resources or support? I actually worked out that you can advocate for yourself the other day when I was offered minimum wage for a job, and I contested the offer with a wage I thought I deserved and I received it! The more we start to advocate for ourselves both financially and in the way that we are treated, the more the industry will need to change in order to survive. It requires a little strength and bravery and it takes time, but it is definitely worth it!
What issue in the field of conserving conservationists do you think needs more attention?
Honestly, I think we need to change the language that we use to talk to conservationists as well as increase communication between conservationists and externally with our peers and other industries. It's not a sexy answer and I know from my podcast stats that people would rather hear about impostor syndrome or mental health, but like with any relationship problems, I feel that our problems too can be solved with better communication. How can anyone help us or empathise with our plight if we keep glorifying our work on social media? How can our friends and families understand what we do or how we feel if we never sit down and tell them? How can we get help or money sourced from other industries if we just keep to ourselves? Communication is key and so far, increasing communication with everyone in my life about what I experience in the industry has only opened up more help, more opportunities, and more empathy from others.
How can people outside of conservation support conservationists? Especially during a pandemic where work is limited, remote, and unavailable?
I am not saying this just to plug my work, but seriously if you can, have a listen to the How to Conserve Conservationists podcast or read the book of the same name. I have had people from my life who I have tried to explain the conservation industry to for years- but they only understood what was going on in my life after listening to the podcasts or reading the book. I had a friend who is a paramedic reach out to me after listening to some of the episodes and apologise for some of the ways she has talked to me in the past as she thought that I didn't care that I wasn't getting paid because I had a passion for my work that she was envious of. Taking the time to understand and empathise with conservationists is as easy as listening, even through messages, webchats or on the phone. That simple act of taking the time to listen and understand us really goes a long way. Just remember, we are lonely conservationists and often times, we just need a little love and support.
