Landscapes That Define Us | Audubon

Not way back, I used to be again at Harvard, talking with college students about careers in local weather and conservation. After the occasion, a lot of them got here as much as me, filled with concepts, asking for recommendation, taking my card, promising to comply with up. And, to my delight, they did.

As we talked, I might see my outdated dorm within the distance. It jogged my memory how a lot my life has been formed by just a few defining locations. Some I handed by way of. Others are the place a profound change took form. I used to be as soon as the scholar standing there, making an attempt to know what sort of scientist, and what sort of group member, I hoped to develop into.

I arrived as a psychology main, fascinated by habits, nonetheless looking for the place I slot in science. Whereas I used to be there, a category with the legendary E.O. Wilson helped me see that the questions I used to be asking about folks additionally utilized to the pure world. This consciousness didn’t give me all of the solutions, nevertheless it modified my route. My path started to take a special form.

Standing on campus once more, I discovered myself excited about how little of who we develop into is unintentional. We’re formed by the locations that maintain us lengthy sufficient to alter us. Birds depend upon locations like this, too. Their lives are outlined by motion and by the landscapes the place they return, keep, and lift the following era. Seeing birds this fashion modifications how conservation must work.

At Audubon, now we have set a transparent ambition: to preserve 300 million acres of linked habitat throughout the Americas. Reaching a objective like this takes many companions, in lots of locations, utilizing many approaches.

One of many methods we’re advancing this work is thru Conserva Aves, our hemispheric partnership on the coronary heart of this concern, co-led with American Chook Conservancy, Birds Canada, BirdLife Worldwide, and RedLAC. Along with local people companions, this effort is securing a linked hall of an important core habitats throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, locations birds return to and depend upon, 12 months after 12 months.

When Conserva Aves launched, we set an formidable objective of serving to defend 100 essential locations. We’re on observe to exceed our objective, and we’re already getting ready to goal increased. This progress is constructed the identical approach sturdy locations are constructed: by way of shared function and long-term dedication.

As I left campus, I saved excited about how my very own life has been formed by just a few key locations that gave me route. Throughout the hemisphere, birds depend upon locations like this, too. Once we do our work properly, these locations stay, and the journeys and generations they assist endure.

This piece initially ran within the Spring 2026 concern because the Audubon View. To obtain our print journal, develop into a member by making a donation today.