Attract & Retain

The current practice for many conservation citizen science organizations is to host a few training events and then essentially rely on volunteers to motivate themselves. I respect that approach, but we all know it isn't quite working. Interest and commitment just aren't growing fast enough. 

Lately, the biggest topic of conversation among citizen science organizations is our collective struggle to attract and retain people. It is hard to pin down a single reason, but we would be much better off if we actively invited people to join us in the field—making it a truly shared experience.

But we shouldn't stop there. We can motivate people simply by being out there with them as much as possible. It makes the work personal, and it illustrates our own genuineness and commitment firsthand.

Ultimately, it comes down to leading by example. If we walk the talk and do the work ourselves, people will get inspired. From there, our focus should be on empowering people and creating "doers." When you find a doer who wants to commit, delegate to them. At every step of the way, we must ensure we are empowering our community.

The truth is, there are always more followers than leaders, and today's world offers far too many distractions for people to stay focused easily. That is just the reality we have to work with. But by changing how we lead, we will get there eventually.

Conservation Without the Pressure to Love: Respect and Ecological Literacy

Acknowledging a difficult reality: ecological knowledge is now so fragmented that it is often absent from everyday perception. The task is not only to encourage conservation, but to rebuild ecological literacy from the ground up.

The question is how to do that.

In conservation discourse, a familiar refrain appears: inspire a love of nature, because people protect what they love.

I do not think it holds.

Love is unstable as a foundation. It is uneven, selective, and easily shaped by projection. When it is treated as a requirement for care, it risks becoming a threshold that some will never cross, for reasons that have little to do with responsibility or attentiveness.

What often sustains protection is something quieter: understanding, familiarity, and a developed sense of respect for what is present and real. These are not less than emotion, but they are not dependent on it either.

There are many ways people come to act with care. Sometimes it is through attachment, sometimes through duty, sometimes through a clear recognition of interdependence. None of these need to be reduced to sentiment in order to be valid.

If love emerges from the process of understanding, it is a consequence rather than a condition. And when it does emerge, it is healthiest when it remains open, not possessive, not an idealization that replaces what is actually there.

The aim is not to require love as a gateway. It is to cultivate attention, understanding, and respect for the living world as it is.