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Hello shark friends!

Though my early years shaped my conservation spirit, life got in the way of immediately going down the conservation career path.

A real-world job

Over the nine years of my doctorate, my husband and I became the proud parents of three children. So, when I finally finished my degree, and it was time to find myself a job in the “real world,” my attention was focused on providing for my family. That’s why I found a job in public administration, which meshed nicely with family life, since it was easily accessible, reasonably well-paying, close to home, and had convenient work hours. Because the main focus of my work was not conservation, I compensated for this by devoting my spare time to writing, rewriting, and re-rewriting a novel on climate change. When that tired me out, I turned to exploring other ways of contributing to nature conservation.

Why aren’t there more conservation efforts?

How could I add more conservation into my career path? I had originally undertaken a degree in agronomical engineering in order to work in the field of developing new technologies that would aid the environment and lessen the burden of humans on nature. However, after a few years of observing the world and its current state of affairs, I realized that the problem was not sufficient technology or know-how to care for the planet. The technologies were available, but just not being implemented on a large enough scale. Many solutions existed, but they weren’t being adopted. The real problem was rooted elsewhere.

Why aren’t there more regulations that protect the environment?

Rules, regulations, and policies, that protected the environment properly were not being adopted. Often, the policies and treaties were only lip service or hollow statements derived to appease public protests but continue the economic activities that pillaged, robbed, and polluted the natural resources of the planet.

An example of this lip service is the concept of “marine protected areas” that are not completely protected. In reality, it is possible to continue extracting resources in these areas or to fish with towed equipment that scrapes and ruins the sea bed. So while, marine protected areas are a step in the right direction, special attention needs to be given on banning destructive fishing methods. A petition can be signed here concerning such a ban in marine protected areas.

In society in general, the form of opposition that often comes up is brandishing the spectre of “economic collapse” if the environmental measures applied are too drastic. As a result, the change will not come from the economic actors, who generally prefer the status quo and business as usual.

What would foster a more environmentally aware society?

If technology and policy were not creating a society that was more respectful of the planet, I wondered what would? In light of this new revelation, I deduced that only public pressure could sustain the necessary systemic change towards an earth-friendly economy. But how to achieve such a change in mindset?

Still on my spare time, I began exploring ways to raise awareness for nature conservation. All sorts of mind boggling questions poped into my head. Why didn’t people set a high priority on the preservation of natural resources? Perhaps it was out of a lack of time, money, knowledge, or interest?

That’s all for today. I’ll leave you hanging with these questions to ponder…

Ocean conservation, let’s go!