Conservation Optimism

Here's what I've been up to...hosting my Moroccan research partners for the past two weeks! This is just Part 1 of the rather epic multi-city journey. ;)

See the original on Dar Si Hmad's blog: http://darsihmadorg.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/conservation-optimism.html



In Agadir and London, we are #ConservationOptimism

This post was written by Project Coordinator Mahdi Lafram, just days after returning to our Agadir office from a trip to the United Kingdom. While our new RISE Participants were celebrating Earth Day with a Field Day at the beach, three of our first Environmental Youth Ambassadors shared our Water School at the Conservation Optimism Summit.

“I am conservation optimist because my Moroccan team of youth are AMAZING”

As we were walking throughout the premises of Dulwich College in London, we saw this sentence written on a post-it and stuck to a wall. We were delighted. Salma, Abdelhaq and myself flew to the United Kingdom to take part in the inaugural Conservation Optimism Summit, invited and supported by Dar Si Hmad’s research partner, dedicated volunteer and EYA program mentor Rebecca L. Farnum - you certainly guessed who wrote the sentence above!

Organized by the University of Oxford’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science (ICCS), the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, the three-day event in London gathered hundreds of attendees from around the world to share success stories from the field. Both of my teammates got on an airplane for their first time to come share their environmental activism experience. We were excited to take part in this global meeting, learn about other conservation initiatives and, above all, tell the story of youth in conservation in the Middle East and North Africa.

As environmental activists, we often think that to engage people effectively in protecting the natural world, we need to make them feel guilty and aware about the consequences of their daily life activities on the environment. The Summit aimed to communicate another discourse. A discourse of optimism, positivity, and hope.

Conservation is too often seen as a crisis discipline, one in which bad news predominates. Although nature is facing huge challenges, we feel there are many positive stories out there where conservation has made a difference to people’s lives and to the status of wild nature. Progress, at the moment, tends to be overshadowed by negativity. It may well be happening, but it can be slow-burning, local and less immediately obvious than the sometimes overwhelming challenges faced.

We believe this is counter-productive.

Budding and perennial conservationists need to feel inspired and continue in the profession, not put off by pessimism. The public, businesses and government need to know that their actions can make a difference. With this summit, we aim to reframe the conservation movement by celebrating positive thinking in conservation, and putting forward a road map for change towards an optimistic and forward-thinking future. (http://conservationoptimism.org/)

That’s why we need to rethink our communications. In regards to that, we participated in a workshop titled Selling Success: Marketing a better world with Conservation Optimism. It was all about developing a positive communication campaign framework. The workshop was led by marketing and behavior change professionals from Ogilvy Change and PHD Worldwide and took the form of an interactive ‘speed marketing challenge’. In addition to various workshops, the summit included different plenaries by conservation researchers, professionals and activists. It was compelling to see how the optimism movement has gone far into spreading a positive outlook on conservation locally and abroad. Moreover, we had the opportunity to share the Middle East’s perspective on youth-led conservation through a joint workshop with our partner organisation Kuwait Dive Team represented by Hamad Bouresli, and chaired by our research partner Becca Farnum.

At Dar Si Hmad, we believe strongly in a positive hope about Earth’s future. Our award-winning fog collection project gives people a future of prosperity, progress and optimism in Southwest Morocco, which was among the key messages we’ve disseminated at a special seminar held at Stanford House, University of Oxford as part of our research visit. We presented DSH projects and their social impact on the local communities. The team felt especially lucky to meet Dr. Michael J. Willis, the King Mohammed VI Fellow in Moroccan and Mediterranean Studies at St Antony's College, and Dr. Michael Gilmont, Research Fellow at the University of Oxford Environmental Change Institute, and get their perspectives on our work.

Many thanks to Rebecca L. Farnum and King’s College London for their generous support of our trip.

Join the #ConservationOptimism conversation on social media and tell us why you’re optimistic and how you’re making a change. Let’s celebrate our success and be positive about our Earth and its critters. After all, as our newest research partner Rafael knows: "little creatures like me are born every day!" We believe that, working together, we can make a great future - for him and for us.

Theatre Week

Once again, I have been dreadfully spoiled this week.

Thanks to the Easter school holidays, I took Iorwerth to a matinee of Aladdin on stage on Tuesday. The magic carpet was quite spectacular, and he certainly enjoyed his day out (though our vote is definitely still with "The Lion King" as Disney's most wonderful stage musical!).

Thanks to the visit of an Australian research partner, I went to Book of Mormon Wednesday evening. (Yes, we rounded out a day full of meetings about water and energy policy and rural infrastructure with irreverent musical comedy. Deal with it!)

I don't have any photos from the theatre, so please accept this adorable koala in lieu:

And then Thursday, I treated a dear friend to a dear singer. Audra McDonald is in London right now - having performed at the Laurence Olivier Awards, she's now doing a few evenings at the Leicester Square Theatre. The fabulous Seth Rudetsky (writer for Rosie O'Donnell, radio host, etc.) accompanied her and acted as host, chatting about memories from stage performances in between numbers. Her husband, Will Swenson (who, among many other things, was Javert in the Broadway revival of Les Miserables and is now playing opposite Sara Bareilles in Waitress), came in and gave us "Stars" and "I Am a Pirate King" while Audra was feeding their infant, Sally.

Skyler and I got to sneak in a quick meet after the show. She really is a ton of fun, and it was a delightful evening. Which was then rounded off by an open mic cabaret show of folks currently performing on the West End. The Birdcage is a new monthly free gig that gives professionals the chance to have fun with different repertoire. We had a great few numbers - including "I'm Changing My Major", "Way Ahead of My Time", and "Wall Lovin'".

All in all: London is being good to me!!!

Launching AMENDS Oxford - please help!

Several weeks ago, I shared how current US political actions have impacted AMENDS, the network of Middle East activists that has been so important to me.

Many of our delegates are currently denied entry to the US, threatening this year's Summit. I spent a frantic week in February in meetings, trying to figure out how we could move forward.

I am thrilled to announce that something really beautiful has come from this: the launch of AMENDS Oxford.

This June, over sixty amazing activists from across the US, Europe, and Middle East will gather in the UK for a week of resource sharing and idea building.

This has been a major shake-up for us in terms of organization and funding. The basic conference is secure, but visa fees and flight prices remain barriers.

In order to bring as many members of our community together as possible, we are asking for your help. Funding from this emergency campaign will go directly to travel costs, supporting activists who currently can't get into the US to instead come to Oxford to share with each other.

I can promise you that this week will lead to very direct change. Workshops at AMENDS have launched new initiatives for education, peace, environmentalism, women's rights, and so much more.

I spoke at the UN because of AMENDS. I led an international tour for an Israeli-Palestinian youth choir through AMENDS. I spent a year living in Morocco, Lebanon, and Kuwait thanks to AMENDS.

These conversations matter. And they work.

Your support - whether it's $5 or $500 - will empower a young person from the Middle East to join us.

This is a direct way to transform potential into reality. I hope you're able to help.

Thank you so much for making this difference...and do let me know if you would like to talk further!

For more details and to give: https://www.generosity.com/volunteer-fundraising/amends-2017-fellows-forum

'Brothers' day out

My (American) flatmate from Norwich years came to the UK for a holiday this month...and promptly left us for Scotland. But her train brought her back to us yesterday, so Iorwerth and I headed into the city to pick her up. We haven't had a date day in quite a while - it was good to see the kiddo properly.

And naturally, since we were in the city...we grabbed the baby. Rafael is quickly becoming a toddler, though, as demonstrated by the wobbly walking:

Both boys are only children, but Iorwerth's inner 'big brother' comes out in the most adorable way with Rif.

We help get his shoes on:

And let him lecture us on the playground:

All in all, we're just kind of a rambunctious bunch!

And we did, eventually, manage to actually fulfil our agenda of Miss Audrey pick-up! (And now she's flying back to America. Blast.)

Hello hello!

It is truly shameful, how long it’s been since I updated this!

I spent the end of February at Yale, where I convened a session on environmental peacebuilding for the New Directions in Environmental Law conference: http://ndel.yale.edu/agenda-2016-2017

Then mum and I very cheekily snuck in a week in New York City, catching up with beloved friends and watching (a lot) of Broadway Shows. We got to see Josh Groban and Glenn Close on stage in separate productions, and also got our own backstage tour of “A Bronx Tale”, since a friend is in the cast.

Landing back in Heathrow, I picked up two friends from Michigan in the airport - and we got to see the “Harry Potter” play!! They both spent a week or so in London and Norwich with me. We’ve been frolicking about touring and seeing more shows.

In between all the theatre, I’ve been frantically writing job applications. I’m looking primarily at academic jobs in the UK, but it’s a bit of a ‘hail Mary’, as they’ll have to be able and willing to sponsor my visa as well! I’ve also thrown my name in the ring for something in the US that looks really up my alley, and am regularly exploring other options.

There is a beautiful irony in avoiding my PhD work by applying for jobs that require my PhD to be finished...

Representing the Kuwait Dive Team at OCEANS 2017

I've spent this weekend at the London ExCeL Exhibition Centre, talking with outdoor adventurers about the Kuwait Dive Team and marine conservation at a big Outdoors Show. 

Two years ago, we were at the London International Dive Show, where my audience was mostly divers themselves. LIDS is now part of a much broader operation, so I've been talking with all kinds of folks. 

A few of the Team members journeyed from Kuwait to speak with potential partners and swap ideas, so it's been nice to catch up with them as well!

We have a bunch of our environmental education tools with us, and the IncredibleOceans.org group are here with their plastics recycling project, so I've been doing ocean-friendly arts and crafts during quiet times with few visitors.

We also met and spoke with a number of other conservation charities that we hope to invite to Kuwait or visit at their Headquarters for joint operations.

I'll need to get back to writing this week, but it's been fun to do a mini "fieldwork" weekend in the middle of frantic typing and theorising!

AMENDS: We will not be shut down

A great many of you have heard me talk about AMENDS, the American Middle Eastern Network for Dialogue at Stanford. A week spent connecting with activists from across the region changed my life in profound ways.

Each of my three research partners (Dar Si Hmad in Morocco; the Kuwait Dive Team; and Lebanon's Media Association for Peace) are AMENDS connections. The YMCA Jerusalem Youth Chorus, whose UK tour I helped manage, was born after Forbes Under 30's Micah Hendler shared the idea at the first AMENDS Summit at Stanford University. 

AMENDS Fellows are my best friends, my closest colleagues, and my greatest hope for the world. They are people like Nihal, who works against sexual harassment on the streets of Cairo; Fadi, a young Palestinian entrepreneur whose alternative energy company is supplying the West Bank with electricity through wind power; and Ali, who brings literacy programmes to underprivileged youth in Yemen.

The 2017 AMENDS Summit is scheduled for 19-23 April at Stanford. Thanks to recent events, at least 8 of this year's incredible delegates will not be allowed entry to the US in order to spend this week sharing ideas, building their initiatives, and finding ways to collaborate for greater impact.

Today, the Stanford Student Team released a statement about how the executive order on immigration is impacting our work. The long and short of it: Communication matters. Relationships matter. Time spent together matters. And we are doing everything we can to make sure that this year's 33 amazing participants (selected from a pool of over 500 applicants) have the chance to have the same world-changing week I did.

 

Read more about the 2017 AMENDS Delegates, their initiatives, and what the Stanford Team is working for: http://www.stanforddaily.com/2017/02/01/amends-we-refuse-to-be-shut-down-by-trumps-ban/

Learn more about AMENDS and get involved: http://amends.stanford.edu/