Dear conservationist, do all of us work a second unpaid job?

Dear conservationist,

If I could hazard a bet, I’d say that your day job or studies do not comprise the entirety of your sustainability or conservation efforts. Maybe you volunteer, maybe you have sustainable habits ingrained into your daily routine, or maybe you have a social media presence and invest hours of your life in science communication or public education. Maybe you collect rubbish on your runs or walks or use citizen science apps when you are out in nature. Maybe you spend a lot of time talking to people in your life about sustainable changes they could make or maybe you even lobby the government or participate in special interest groups to try and encourage people in power to make changes on your behalf. Maybe you do a combination of these things or something else I have not mentioned- but either way, I bet that your conservation efforts are not restricted to a 9-5 timeframe.

Like many of you and your own change-making efforts, every aspect of Lonely Conservationists and Conservationist Care is done outside of work hours. This was challenging when I was unemployed or working casual jobs, as when strangers asked what I did, they meant for money, not what I was passionate about and investing all of my time into. This question is still challenging now as I work a full-time job and advocate for conservationists on the side. What do they want to know? What I do during the day or what I am consistently working on regardless of my job? “What do I do?” has always been a loaded question for me and depending on who you are or in what context you ask the question, I may give you a range of different responses.

I have often felt that activities done outside of a paid capacity aren’t respected much by the rest of society, and so I have often asked professionals what more I can do to become more valid in my conserving conservationist efforts. In a response that’s equal parts frustrating and validating, I am usually told that I am on the right track, but that change takes time and if I keep chipping away as I am with little ripples, eventually I may start to see waves of change crashing on the shores of the conservation industry. Recently though, a scientific activist reminded me that unfortunately, much change-making needs to occur outside of established systems, as the existing systems are the entities that are mostly perpetrating climate and nature-related issues in the first place. Regulations, reputations, and red tape shroud many large and small NGOs which can restrict their abilities to act in the radical ways our world needs, which is why decisions they make often don’t align with the urgency we all feel. Suddenly, it made sense that so many of us are having to chip away outside of established organisations and businesses to be the change we want to see in the world.

But, if we are expected to do the real change-making out of hours- this severely limits the diversity of potential changemakers. It takes a certain level of privilege to have the time, energy, and capacity to contribute to extracurricular activities, in addition to working, studying, child-rearing, caretaking, hobbies, housework, preparing meals, and grocery shopping. Especially in this cost of living and housing crisis, more people will be contemplating side hustles and second jobs just to get by.

Considering this, if you, like I sometimes do, experience feelings of guilt for not contributing to the change you’d like to see in the world because you are merely trying to survive- please try and show yourself some kindness. Recently, I made a post reminding myself that sometimes the positive sustainable actions I take are so engrained into my life that they feel passive and unimportant. At one time in my life, each of these habits, like buying second-hand, carrying a Keep Cup, or recycling, felt intentional and purposeful. It’s important to remember that even if these actions come naturally now, without much effort or thought, these small actions still matter and sometimes the small things are actually the big things. It’s hard to see your impact when you don’t see the coffee cups you didn’t use or clothes you didn’t buy- but they would be there, piling up in landfills if you weren’t doing those amazing small actions that add up when we all do them as a collective.

So what is the solution to the problem of conservationists needing to put in those extra hours, stripping the diversity from the change-making pool of individuals? Well, the same scientific activist that I was speaking to sent me this article: From Publications to Public Actions: The Role of Universities in Facilitating Academic Advocacy and Activism in the Climate and Ecological Emergency by Charlie J. Gardner, Aaron Thierry, William Rowlandson and Julia K. Steinberger. In the article, the authors encourage universities to recognise advocacy as a part of staff workload and update hiring and promotion policies to reflect this. They also recommend defending and promoting staff rights to protest and engage in activism to encourage taking action in conjunction with uncovering scientific findings.

Imagine if all employers paid for, resourced, and allocated time for their staff to make the world a better place. Not just in conservation organisations, but in law firms, consultancies, and tech companies where money and resources are more abundant. Imagine the people this would activate in the change-making space, who would otherwise not be able to participate in the ways they have wanted to. I also believe that these encouraging changes would entice more individuals to learn more, try more, and do more in climate activism and nature conservation spaces. These increased efforts would also lead to more tangible and positive outcomes for institutions, so it would be a win for us, a win for the organisations and a win for our planet!

Until this becomes mainstream, I can only help to validate your efforts in whatever form they exist for you. Your change-making actions are valid, EVEN if:

• you aren’t getting paid to do them
• they seem small or too easy
• they face social stigmas
• you do them in secret to avoid hard conversations with people who don’t understand
• you don’t always have time for them, especially in chaotic periods of your life
• you don’t entirely know what their impact is/ will be

To end, I must say that I talked to another established professional last week and as is my habit, I asked them what more I could do. They reminded me that cultural change comes from people talking. Maybe not many people will talk about our changes at first, but soon, more and more people will start talking about them, the more our ideas appear on their radar. So hopefully, talking about the need to value our efforts is enough to put the idea on your radar, who can put the idea on someone else’s radar who may be in a position to make these kinds of decisions. If contributing to a conversation about topics I believe in is all I can do- at least it’s something.

And maybe that’s the mantra, if what we can do is all we can do, at least it’s something.

Thank you for all the small ways in which you are positively contributing to the world we live in, they have not gone unnoticed.

Jessie