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This has been festering in my head for weeks, and a Friday seems like the perfect time to put it out here.

My DMs are littered (like trash) with messages sharing posts from environmental “influencers”

And yes. I meant the “like trash” part. And this is what’s been simmering:

Influence without maturity is manipulation.

We live in a time where gaining applause and likes is what matters most, and, if you can get attention, clearly you’re qualified for this attention.

This is the most dangerous thing in conservation.

A platform doesn’t equal permission. There’s a responsibility, an obligation, to lead well. To lead from a place of knowledge and wisdom and care. 

@simonsinek talks about leaders eating last. Choosing their team, those in their charge, over and over and over again.

My DMs are littered, like trash, with messages featuring people who have lived in Florida for 10 minutes, people who have never darkened the door of a county, state, or federal office, never stood up off camera someplace and fought in the shadows, stood in the arena, as we like to say.

Conviction for conservation (or anything, really) doesn’t need a stage and validation. It means most of what is done happens in dim light if light at all.

I get it. A standup comic pretending to run for governor and quipping as though he understands development codes scratches an itch. Making dramatic voice overed videos with “facts” gathered only from single sourced articles. Grifting as a transplant who thinks they’re God’s gift to wildlife and Florida. Proposing a massive policy change with zero policy knowledge, presenting surficial “facts” as evidence. 

It’s catchy.

And, each of them will read this post as a “badge of honor” - it’s why I won’t name them.

But we need to be better. Do better. It’s never been more important to understand conservation, to be part of movements, to grasp the nuance of these topics. Social doesn’t lend itself to this, though. It lends itself to mobs, which, in the course of history, have rarely done good things - the absence of witches in Salem is exhibit A.

Anyway. It’s a little provocative, but I’ll say it again:

Influence without maturity? It’s manipulation.
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