Earlier this month, Jeremy Hance’s “‘An epidemic of suffering’: Why are conservationists breaking down?” and the follow-up commentary “Emotional and psychological stresses beleaguer conservation professionals” by Vik Mohan and Nerissa Chao gave fresh urgency—and language—to a crisis many in conservation have been naming quietly for years. This piece builds on their reporting and reflections, and draws as well on my own earlier work, including “Conservation’s silent strain: Nature’s protectors face a mental health crisis,” along with other writing I’ve done on loss, grief, and endurance in the field. It also sits alongside the Nature Obituaries Project, a series of tributes to fallen conservationists, scientists, and environmental defenders, rooted in the belief that the people who protect life on Earth are not expendable. I’m not writing as a clinician here. I’m writing as someone listening to what conservationists keep describing, across roles and regions. There is a particular kind of exhaustion that does not come from long hours alone. It comes from paying attention. Conservationists are trained to notice what most people do not see: a reef that has lost its vibrancy and color, a forest that no longer holds the same birds, a river that carries less life each season. They are trained to count, to measure, to document change with discipline. But they are also people who entered the work because they love something outside themselves. A species. A place. A living world that felt worth protecting. That love is not a weakness. It is the fuel. And lately,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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