Rethinking how we talk about conservation—and why it matters

Founder s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. For a movement so often framed by loss—and confronting a particularly difficult moment—conservation is relearning how to talk about itself. This shift may signal something deeper than messaging: a recalibration of what persuades people to care, to fund, and to act, especially as the world edges toward 2030 amid ecological strain, political volatility, and thinning public trust.

A few months ago, I put out an invitation to the conservation sector: share how you are navigating this moment, which many have described as a period of crisis. That invitation resurfaced recently when Crystal DiMiceli referenced it during a fireside chat with me at the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders’ 20th anniversary event in Washington, D.C.

DiMiceli asked what lessons are emerging so far. One of the most consistent responses has centered on communication: “Less crisis, more agency.” Not because the crisis has abated, but because alarm on its own no longer mobilizes as reliably as it once did.

If anything, it exhausts. Years of grim headlines have revealed an uncomfortable truth: when people are offered only catastrophe, many disengage. They stop reading, stop caring, and, in some cases, stop believing that anything meaningful can still be done. What seems to be gaining ground instead is a focus on success—often partial, sometimes fragile, but demonstrable.

Not triumphalism, but optimism grounded in evidence. Conservation framed as something people actively do, rather than something that merely happens to...This article was originally published on Mongabay