Why conservation needs a Code of Ethics

This is a post that originally appeared on Lonely Conservationists, run by Jessie Panazzolo. I’ve decided to reprint it here in my “signature style” (I’ve been watching lots of Forged in Fire), to open this conversation to people outside of the conservation industry, and because it’s been about 25 years since I’ve posted anything.

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Introduction

Dear conservationist person, 

I’m thrilled that Jessie invited me to write for her blog. I’m a little different from the average Lonely Conservationist, though: I have not been trying to enter the conservation field, but to leave it.

I’ve been working in conservation-related jobs for about 15 years. While I’m certainly not where I’d like to be, I’m also doing okay: I’m saving money, I have a government benefits package, and I have a supervisory position. So why leave?

There are several reasons why I want to shift my career path. First, I want the next phase of my life to be more directly about helping people. Second, my experiences in the conservation industry have shown me that this field isn’t for everyone: it’s for people who look a certain way, dress a certain way, talk a certain way, have all the same hobbies, and come from a specific background. I’m the wrong type of “character” to be a conservationist, and this will hamper my career growth no matter what I do.

Third, and most relevant for this post, in the past few years I’ve noticed a rise in unprofessional – and frankly inexcusable – behavior in this field. These are behaviors that would get employees fired in most professions, but in conservation they seem to be tolerated. This hurts our public image, creates toxic workplaces, and keeps good candidates out of our field.

Below are some of the behaviors that I’ve either witnessed or heard about, followed by a potential solution.

Background

First, though, I’m going to talk a little about myself, so that you can understand where I’m coming from. I’m not a “normal” conservationist: I didn’t grow up in the country or in a fancy suburb, where most American conservationists seem to be from.

I was raised in an impoverished, dying town outside of Cleveland, Ohio, which is the second-poorest city in the United States. To put things in perspective, while some conservationists find rare animals at work, my coworkers and I find bodies. Most of the bodies we find are victims of suicide, whereas others may have been murdered.

Being surrounded by poverty means that I have little tolerance for the conservationists who seem to have no idea how much privilege they have, nor for the following behaviors, which strike me as ways to openly flaunt that privilege (i.e., “Look what I can get away with”).

Conservationists Behaving Badly

Drunk Driving

One example of bad behavior comes from a former supervisor of mine. This supervisor got drunk almost every night, and then would show up to work talking about how hung-over he was. The fact that this was treated as funny irked me, because “back in my day” we were expected to show up to work ready to go.

One time, following a work event, this supervisor and another colleague got plastered drunk, and decided to take one of our work vehicles for a joy-ride. Thankfully they didn’t crash, but the fact that this was seen as acceptable bothered me. Operating a company vehicle while you’re off the clock should incur strict penalties, and doing so while drunk should get you fired. In conservation, however, it’s good fun.

We didn’t feel like doing our job, so we left

Another example of bad behavior was particularly frustrating.

A few years back I was working for a government agency, and this agency was hosting its biggest event of the year.

All of us employees were tasked with leading educational sessions and games for this event. One day, during what was supposed to be my lunch break, I noticed a crowd of people around a vacant tent. The two employees who were supposed to be leading that session were absent; so, being friends with both of them, I decided to fill in until they showed up.

I hadn’t been trained on that session, but I knew enough to muddle through it. As time went on, I began to wonder where my friends were.

They never appeared. I ended up leading the entire session by myself, and having to skip my lunch as a result. After the session had ended, I ran into my friends, and I asked them where they had been.

They replied that they didn’t feel like leading their session, so they left to go enjoy the event.

That’s it. They simply abandoned their session and left all of their guests there, so that they could have some fun together. I was beyond furious, and reported their behavior to our collective supervisor. He did nothing.

The last I heard, one of those ‘friends’ had been promoted to a management position within that agency.

Banging the Intern

This last example of inexcusable behavior was told to me as a second-hand story, so some details might be inaccurate. Nevertheless, it was relayed to me by a reliable source.

My most pleasant experience in the conservation industry took place while I was serving in AmeriCorps through a large, nationwide conservation organization.

I learned, from the source mentioned above, that one of the employees at this conservation organization had been caught routinely sleeping with an AmeriCorps member.

For context, AmeriCorps members are basically interns, and have little power within their organizations. The staff member in this scenario was two steps above the AmeriCorps member in the company hierarchy, and was acting as her direct supervisor. He was also the only staff member around her at the time, so she was completely isolated, and realistically didn’t have the option of saying “No.”

Taking advantage of someone so far below you, in such a vulnerable position, should lead to immediate termination. However, when this story was told to me, the employee who’d been caught sleeping with the AmeriCorps member was still with the organization.

Moving Forward: Establishing a Code of Ethics

As many Lonely Conservationists have pointed out, securing a paid job within the conservation industry isn’t easy. By protecting “conservation frat boys,” we’re depriving more deserving candidates of opportunities. We’re also creating negative work environments where some employees are able to act with impunity, which drives away the best workers.

Furthermore, in today’s world, nothing stays secret forever. Conservation in the United States is a political issue, with some people being strongly opposed to anything we do, and much of the American public simply not caring about conservation (we also help them not to care, more on that in the future). When they see us acting unprofessionally, or hear stories about the behaviors that some conservationists get away with, then this doesn’t help our cause.

As such, we need to stop tolerating unacceptable behavior in conservation. One solution would be to create a unified Code of Ethics, similar to what the Mental Health Counseling field has, that establishes a baseline for professional behavior in our field.

While some organizations, like Conservation International, have their own codes of ethics, we need one that reaches across different companies and regions, and that has teeth. Having a unified, publicly available, and enforceable Code of Ethics would go a long way towards improving our public image, making room for the best candidates in our field, and creating positive workplaces that will retain those individuals.

Your Turn

Have you encountered inexcusable behaviors in your workplaces, and been shocked to see that nothing was done about them? If so, use the comments section below to share your stories. It would be interesting to see how many people have had to put up with these sorts of things, and it might help us to generate ideas on how to address these problems.

Important: Please don’t mention any names or other information that could be used to identify people! This isn’t about attacking people, but about finding solutions.