Project Leader Directory
Jessie Panazzolo
Lonely Conservationists ⋅ Australia
Conserving the people who are conserving our planet through the creation and development of a new community.
I created Lonely Conservationists after struggling to establish myself in the conservation industry. Having contributed to many conservation projects across seven different countries, I am now working to provide community support and resources to budding and burnt out conservationists across the globe. The Lonely Conservationists website has enabled conservationists everywhere to be able to tell the stories of the hurdles they have encountered and their journeys to overcome them.
Lonely Conservationists started as a blog, but has evolved into a community for conservationists to collaborate ideas and support each other in all their endeavours.
My vision is to grow Lonely Conservationists into a social enterprise which incorporates an ambassador program where conservation leaders can host events for Lonely Conservationists around the world and form localised communities. I also wish to use the information gathered from the weekly blogs to highlight key problem areas for the conservation industry and discuss these at a summit or conference for Lonely Conservationist members. In the future, I hope to provide budding and burnt out conservationists with the educational and mental health resources they need to prosper in the industry.
I am currently looking for a mentor to guide me through the next steps of evolving this community from a blog to a social enterprise. The success of the community so far highlights the need for growth in this sector, and as a conservationist myself, I require some guidance in developing the business aspects of this enterprise.
Passionate about presenting, I was awarded the best student presentation award at the Conservation Asia conference in Singapore in 2016. Since the creation of Lonely Conservationists, I have helped a young Indonesian conservationist escape the bullying she was receiving from her boss. From this, she was able to move into a new role within her organisation and has been able to manage her work independently in an environment which fosters positivity and growth. Lonely Conservationists has become a community which has provided a support system for many young conservationists to feel safe who are part of the LGBTQI+ community, have un-supportive families and friends or are exposed to cultural pressures. This has been the most rewarding accomplishment to date.
If you are a budding or burnt out conservationist, you can join the Lonely Conservationist family on Instagram (@lonelyconservationists) to contact like-minded people, share your work and stories with others and become a part of the solution.
If you would like to share your conservation journey on the blog, visit www.lonelyconservationists.com and submit your story, a new blog is published every Wednesday.
If you aren’t a conservationist, but still want to contribute, you can donate to our Patreon page which will help achieve the goals incorporated in my vision for this community.
I am passionate about forest restoration and I actively am involved with planting trees in community groups as well as educating people about wildlife and ecosystem conservation. I am always excited to speak to school groups, community groups and the public about environmental matters as I find that connecting with people the old fashioned way creates long lasting impacts and has the potential to inspire.
The younger generation has had enough with the current way that society works. We are actively reducing our plastic consumption, protesting for climate action and now we can come together to make positive changes for the people who are saving the world so they don’t get burnt out doing their jobs. We are the change makers and it’s so clear that the next generations won’t tolerate the way society used to and still is currently operating. Every single person can make a positive impact for our world, no matter how small, and it is up to us to encourage those changes so they can ripple across the nations and help to protect our planet into the future.
