Bugs, frogs, barn owls, great blue herons.

My passion for nature started young, and from an early age I was interested in all of these creatures and so many more. By the time I was a young adult I knew one thing for certain: humans were surrounded by the most beautiful, awe-inspiring world, and it deserved our respect.

The message I heard from society, media, and academia was that an interest in the natural environment meant a scientific career path. So with this goal I set off to get an education that would help me support and protect the environment.

But then I hit a bump in the road.

I didn’t enjoy the classes, couldn’t motivate myself to learn the material, and I was beginning to doubt that a career in the sciences was the right fit for me. There was a disconnect between what I was passionate about and how I could channel that passion. I appreciated the work that biologists, conservationists, and other -ologists did, but I didn’t feel called to be one of them. 

Where did that leave me, as a nature-passionate person, I wondered.

 Years passed and I continued to try and reconcile my love of the natural world with the strengths and skills that came naturally to me. I tried different jobs – interior design, folk art museum, sustainable agriculture nonprofit – but no matter what I did, it didn’t feel like enough.

I wasn’t in the science. I wasn’t nerdy enough. Wasn’t outdoorsy enough. Wasn’t an adventure seeker. I wasn’t committed enough. I still had that “science is what counts” mentality, and yet couldn’t live up to that standard.

All the while I was living my passion for nature. I was gardening for pollinators in my yard. I was noticing nature every day in the world around me. I was enjoying natural places, seeing and appreciating the billions of lives, big and small, that make our planet run.   

Do you know what I wish someone had told me all those years ago when I was a nature-passionate young person?

 There is no one, right way to contribute to nature.

 The natural world needs all of our contributions in order to inspire others to pay attention to the beauty that surrounds us. The knowledge I’ve gained through living my passion for nature is just as valid as knowledge learned in a classroom, a field site, or a lab – it just has a different application.

Nature needs the scientific – absolutely – but also the creative and artistic, the logistical minded, the dreamer, the doer. There’s space for all types of nature-passionate people to share their skills, talents, and gifts, and they are all important.

Here I am, in mid-life, still passionate about bugs and frogs and blue herons and all the other amazing creatures and plants I encounter. I know now that my preferred area of study is story, not science, and I love that discovery. I know that I can use those story skills in support of the natural world around me.  

And that is a superb way to contribute.

 What about you? What in nature are you passionate about? Are you ready to share that passion through writing?

If your answer is Yes, let’s schedule a time to talk about your project.