Volunteering in Kenya — Choosing the Right Programme Sharan Bahra, Earthwise Aware‘s Vice-President, was recently in Kenya, where she helped a conservation organization focused on protecting both giraffes and lions. Here is her first post of a series, where she shares about the difficulties of finding ethical conservation venues, and how she led her research […]
Before considering cub petting or volunteering in a facility that allows close interactions with cubs, pause, research and think about the consequences… A vast number of animal lovers choose to ‘volunteer’ at cat parks and sanctuaries that are nothing else than big cats breeding & cub petting facilities posing as conservation enterprises. This includes lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards, and […]
Is that selfie really worth it? Why face time with wild animals is a bad idea The phenomenon of kangaroo selfies hit the headlines earlier this month, when several tourists were injured while feeding wild kangaroos in Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney. They may have wanted a memorable holiday snap, but ended up with rather […]
You see something that you don’t understand, or that concerns you… Should you ask? Is there such thing as a naive question? The answer is ‘Yes’ you should ask. And ‘No’ there are no naive questions when the welfare of animals is at stake. Dare to ask, and engage in a respectful discussion with the […]
Get your ‘Bear’ings & Keep your Distance In the wild, remain vigilant in all circumstances and certainly so when you roam in bear country! Having traveled quite a few remote and wild places I am becoming relatively good at it. However one late afternoon, I relaxed my attention after a long trek in the mountains […]
“Sustained by values that are based on an eco-centric view of the world, prioritizing the importance of ecosystems and all forms of life therein, regardless of their use to man.” (Excerpt from the Conservation Land Trust’s mission) My mom stumbled upon Esteros del Ibera (the World’s second largest freshwater reservoir) when browsing a newspaper’s traveling […]
I am going snorkeling and diving. Should I worry about sharks? Worried? It depends. But in all cases, you should be prepared and know your sharks. How Likely Are Shark Attacks? Source: Shark Attack FAQ (Florida Museum). Of all the existing species of sharks, only about a dozen should be considered dangerous when encountered. White, bull […]
The Red Apes of Bukit —How Ethical is Orangutan Tourism? After 2 days flying across the world, we finally arrived! We were now few miles away from where some of the last Sumatran orangutans survive. Maybe a mother and her infant were even peeping through the canopy across the river right when we were opening the door of […]
I am going to visit great apes in the wild (chimpanzees, orangutans or gorillas). Should I wear a face mask? Yes, you should. IUCN’s experts recommend as a best practice that all visitors, including staff, tourists and researchers, who approach to a distance of 10 meters (33 feet) or less from wild great apes wear surgical […]
I am so happy to have gained a better understanding of what it takes to be an ethical wildlife volunteer. This has been, and still is an ongoing journey into realizing that our actions are not always ethical –not because we don’t want to be but rather because we don’t know– and that organizations may not […]
At EwA (Earthwise Aware) we are committed to protect Biodiversity and to lead people to join us in doing so, reconnecting us all to our ecological self. It’s a critical mission in the era of Biodiversity decline, and we can’t do it without you!
Since we started EwA, we’ve accomplished so much. By now, you know that we develop science-based ecology and wildlife guides and etiquettes, with companion Nature lessons accessible for all globally. Our Nature lessons are also the backbone of our experiential learning events in the region. The most important effort being our public participative science program (a.k.a. citizen science) that we run in the region. Our science program covers biodiversity occurrence recording, phenology, plant community assessment. These field study programs are a means to rekindle people to their ecological nature. They help science and their scientists directly. They give us critical keys to understand better and faster a world that is going through a rapid transformation (climate change, invasive species impact, and biodiversity shift and loss).
This past year, we started a citizen science program in the Fells, with the collaboration of the Friends of the Fells. This year, we’re expanding and adding a vernal pool monitoring program, and a plant visitor survey that we’ll also run at the Fresh Pond Reservoir in Cambridge (with the Cambridge Water Department), and at Mass Habitat in Belmont (with Mass Audubon Habitat).
We pair these field conservation programs with EwA guides and nature lessons accessible online so that these studies can be replicated anywhere. We’re excited about that because citizen science, as a means to connect and nature-coach people, has been part of what we do at EwA from the start. We have tremendous experience in that arena, we have fantastic scientists and expert collaborators, a team of genuine volunteers, and we have great partners.
Your gift, today, will directly impact our citizen science projects, allowing us to provide online and field training material, as well as run live events. This will help both to raise the profile of citizen science, and to create a community of naturalists and citizen scientists empowered by knowledge and the support of a growing community both at home and globally!
We invite you to give to EwA; we invite you to join our community. And if you’re in Massachusetts we invite you to come to any of our events! Please also share this page with your friends and family.
Thank you for your support!
— Claire O’Neill (Earthwise Aware Founder)
Earthwise Aware is a 501(c)(3), your donation is tax-deductible!
At EwA we respect your privacy and do not share information that you submitted to us.
Your donation will help us specifically with the following:
▹ Retain our 501c3 status! (without you we can’t keep this important status)
▹ Continue developing and promoting new guides & etiquettes in collaboration with experts
▹ Develop further our citizen science projects, nature connection & nature leadership programs
▹ Run more nature events in our local habitats for the benefit of the people and our local Nature
▹ Continue reaching out to local and global communities
▹ Recruit talented volunteers & interns
▹ Develop the fundraising & membership structures
Note that donations to Earthwise Aware are not used for any of the volunteer and citizen science trips of the EwA staff and board members.
Thanks for your support!
EwA is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent provided by law.
Copyright © 2017—2019 Earthwise Aware Inc. All Rights Reserved.