The Trouble With Conservationists

The thing about conservationists is that although many of us begin with the best intentions, we align ourselves with groups competing for the same limited resources. Overlap of of issues leads to inefficient investment of time and energy as repetitive efforts concurrently strive to accomplish similar goals. Last year, I would often take meetings from my Senate office with different lobbyists sharing the same principle mission who were clearly not communicating with one other. The result was conflicting messages confusing to Congressional staffers. And there's no question that scientists lose credibility when the preceding meeting's expert came with an entirely different priority or perspective. I guess that's a big part of the trouble with conservationists. Communication breaks down quickly so we become disjointed with far too many opinions of the best approach. We undermine our efforts by pointing fingers at each other when we should instead be presenting a unified voice and message. I think it's time we try organize based on allegiance to a cause rather than an institution. I expect we'll accomplish far more when we're collectively on the same page. And this weekend's a promising start...