Inspiring Action for Endangered Species and Conservation:
Founding a Non-Profit During Personal Transformation
Author: Meg Sczyrba
Founding the non-profit, Wildlife at Heart, by learning to use empathy, inquiry, and community to inspire online members to actively support endangered species and conservation initiatives.
Program: Advanced Inquiry Program - Woodland Park Zoo, 2024
Keywords: Non-Profit, Endangered Species, Wildlife Conservation, Conservation Motivation, Empathy, Inquiry, Community
Introduction
It all started with a dream. During my 30-year career as a lawyer and financial services regulatory compliance officer, I pondered what to do with my life after banking. I had honed my talents as an advocate for justice, public speaker, and adult educator and wanted to use those skills to better the world. I wasn’t sure what form that might take until news broke that Cecil the Lion had been lured out of his sanctuary home and killed (Killing Cecil the Lion, 2021). As I read the flurry of news articles that followed, my passion for wildlife conservation ignited.
According to the authoritative IUCN Red List, the lion population has plummeted by more than one-third in less than two decades (2023). Other iconic African species, like the elephant, declined by 30% in just 10 years (2020). The lesser-known bonobos face a more dire situation, being decimated by more than half in just twelve years (2016). These animals face a myriad of problems such as environmental issues spurred by climate change, lost habitat due to human expansion, and poaching (IUCN, 2016; 2020; 2023). Globally, 44,000 species are threatened with extinction, including nearly 4,000 that are critically endangered (IUCN, 2024). Upon learning these facts, I knew I’d found my calling – animal lovers needed to understand the plight of endangered species and how to help them. But first, I needed to educate myself on the subject matter.
It felt like providence when I heard about Project Dragonfly, an online master’s degree program in biology offered by Miami University. They partner with zoos around the country for in-person learning experiences, such as Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo where I attended classes. Progressing through the program, each course helped me think through how I could be part of the solution. I discovered that educating someone on a conservation issue is generally not enough to encourage them to remedy it (Myers et al., 2009). People need to be motivated to act (Myers et al., 2009), and the best inspiration is empathy for other living things, particularly animals (Schultz, 2002; Young et al., 2018). In other words, helping people sense and experience an animal’s emotions (Young et al., 2018), such as happiness, sorrow, rage, or fear, can inspire them to take conservation action (Cuff et al., 2016). I also explored social marketing techniques to encourage environmental stewardship. For example, showing people positive actions occurring within their community can inspire like behavior since humans are highly influenced by what others are doing (Clayton & Brooks, 2005). Likewise, making someone’s commitments public encourages them to follow through (McKenzie-Mohr, 2011).
Each piece of the puzzle allowed me to solidify the focus of my graduate work (internally dubbed a “master plan”) to encourage environmental stewardship, primarily by founding the non-profit, Wildlife at Heart. My goal is to provide an online community that allows adult animal lovers to have fun and connect with like-minded others while learning about endangered species. Long term, the objective is for members to see species as sentient beings they want to actively support by taking action to help the planet. To facilitate these plans, the nonprofit’s website will feature a knowledge center on highlighted species, weekly thought questions, games, and information on how members can help, including a searchable database to connect them with opportunities to donate to conservation non-profits or participate in citizen science projects.
Having completed my master's degree in biology, my life has been immeasurably transformed by Project Dragonfly. I am now retired and focused on building Wildlife at Heart. I can confidently discuss the conservation topics I once knew so little about and have found both a local and national community to support me in my new mission. After starting the program with nothing but a vague idea of what I wanted to accomplish, this portfolio demonstrates how I have cemented plans for my non-profit. My journey has enabled me to delve into how I can motivate members to modify their behaviors to actively support wildlife and conservation initiatives using empathy and inquiry. On a personal level, while I transitioned from banking to conservation, I meshed both interests by establishing a program to plant trees in minority communities and writing an article on climate change for bankers. I have also taken opportunities to write content for Wildlife at Heart's website. And so, with a little kind indulgence, I would like to share these highlights of my learning experience with you.
Preparing to Transform: Harmonizing Empathy and Inquiry
I began the program naïve about conservation psychology, starting with the fact that I would need to motivate people to become better environmental stewards. Learning about this topic sparked new ideas on inspiring Wildlife at Heart members to actively support conservation initiatives and endangered species. It turns out that, like ebony and ivory of song, empathy and inquiry go together in perfect harmony to serve that purpose.
If You Build It, They Will Come
My first class, Foundations of Inquiry, introduced me to the concept of inquiry. Rather than simply giving information, this method asks open-ended questions that allow people to draw their own conclusions. Research shows it is one of the best ways to inspire learning (Hase, 2016), such as helping people understand how to best benefit species (Wojton & Heimlich, 2016). I felt this technique could engage adults in the kind of online environment I wanted to create for Wildlife at Heart and used my term project to conduct a literature review exploring how to wield it effectively.
Trying to research informal learning for adults proved challenging due to the lack of published information. To produce a well-rounded result, I combined studies on using inquiry in formal adult education with information on what adults seek in informal education. One key finding is that adults need to feel safe within their community before they participate in inquiry-based learning (Akyol & Garrison, 2009). They pursue informal learning online primarily to help others, improve themselves, or learn about other cultures and want learning to be fun and stoke their sense of adventure (Bonk et al., 2015). When selecting a learning site, adults seek one that provides expert opinions, real-time discussions, and games to test their knowledge (Chunngam, et al. 2014). Also, because an emotional connection is integral to education (Hase, 2016), allowing adults to explore their connection with animals cements the learning process (Clayton et al., 2009).
With a nod to Field of Dreams’ theme of "if you build it, they will come", my foray into inquiry allowed me to consider how I could construct Wildlife at Heart’s website to attract and engage members. To get started on the site, members will need to complete a simple profile to resolve safety concerns adults may feel in dealing with unknown people. To promote a sense of fun using real-time discussions, I conceptualized smaller, species-focused groups such as the lion pride, elephant herd, or bonobo party with weekly light-hearted inquiry-style thought questions. Wildlife at Heart can also sponsor live discussions with zookeepers and field researchers to stimulate members’ sense of adventure with the desire for expert opinions. Speakers can address issues impacting communities surrounding species’ habitats to promote understanding while satisfying those that seek cultural learning. Members can also challenge themselves with quizzes and brain teasers on featured animals and conservation matters. In the spirit of lightheartedness, playing off the old saying of being wild at heart, I found the name for my organization while working on this project. It encapsulates the ambiance I am striving to create by stressing that we “heart” wildlife and want to have a little fun in the process. The logo (Figure 1) incorporates a similar sentiment.
Figure 1. Wildlife at Heart logo.
Wildlife at Heart is now represented by a logo, which showcases a lion, a tiger, and a bear (oh my!) in the shape of a heart.
Inspiring Empathy for Wildlife Online: I Second That Emotion
While researching inquiry, I found that empathy could enhance its benefits and sought to learn how to incorporate this additional tool into my website plans. Existing research has focused on instilling empathy for wildlife through in-person interactions (see e.g., Clayton et al., 2017; Young et al., 2018). However, zoos and other organizations have gradually embraced digital sources since the 2020 pandemic and one leading organization found moving its in-person empathy program online encouraged increased levels of empathy (Educate Minnesota Zoo, 2022). Seizing upon this momentum in the hopes of expanding virtual empathy programs beyond the traditional in-person experience, I conducted a literature review for a semester research project called an Inquiry Action Project. This allowed me to explore proven strategies to inspire empathy for wildlife, which can be utilized effectively in the digital environment.
Online sites have a distinct advantage in encouraging empathy for wildlife by virtue of readily facilitating the necessary repeat exposure to species (Myers et al., 2009). While familiarity bolsters empathy, conservation sites need to exercise caution to not emotionally overload members, thereby causing them to disengage (Young et al., 2018). Instead, they can utilize numerous techniques for positively eliciting empathy, such as increasing knowledge of a species’ natural history (Clayton et al., 2009), stressing similarities to humans (Plous, 1993), and telling stories from the animal’s perspective (Young et al., 2018). Online sites can also easily encourage social interaction among members to further enhance empathy (Pimental, 2002). As part of the project’s required action item, I created ten examples of how to combine the covered tools for inspiring empathy, often layering in inquiry.
Completing this project allowed me to reconceptualize how to provide species information to Wildlife at Heart members. Rather than simply curating facts, I could write from the individual species’ perspective to increase the impact. Quiz questions can also reinforce empathy, particularly by stressing species’ similarities with humans (Plous, 1993). The project was also valuable in allowing me the opportunity to practice for my future endeavors through creating sample social media posts and reflective questions (Figure 2). For example, I focused on species that are known to encourage empathy, like lions (Shreedhar & Mourato, 2019) and suggested their ability to think freely (Young et al., 2018).
Figure 2. Examples of thought questions which combine empathy with inquiry.
Figure 2A features a lion, a large endangered mammal known to encourage empathy. The post further encourages empathy by focusing on his eyes while suggesting his ability to think freely and asking the reader to consider this perspective. Figure 2B showcases another large, endangered mammal known to encourage empathy, the elephant. The post encourages empathy by placing focus on the infant elephant and inviting the audience to take her perspective.
Transformation in Progress: The Butterfly Effect
As I learned to apply empathy and inquiry, I was still very engaged in the banking world. I chaired several American Bankers Association (ABA) boards and was a frequent speaker and author. As I started progressing through the master’s program, I sought intersection points between my existing community and my new one. I hoped to pass along my conservation knowledge to create a so-called butterfly effect. By educating a small group of people, they could pass along that knowledge to others, thereby turning my small actions into a larger transformation.
My graduate coursework exposed me to the concept of environmental justice. While explaining that minority neighborhoods tend to have fewer trees, Wolch (2014) argued that we need to create new green spaces while avoiding pricing out the current residents. As someone who built a career ensuring banks were lending to minorities, it seemed like an extension of the problems I was already managing. This paper inspired me to (carefully) consider how to plant trees in a low-income, high minority area so the residents could experience the benefits that a tree canopy can provide such as better air quality, reduced surface temperatures, lower energy costs (Scenic America, 2024), and less violence (Tyrvaiinen, 2005). Working with experts like the Arbor Day Foundation, I wanted to establish a program to plant trees without disrupting the local community. My project served as my community leadership project while advancing my master plan goal of inspiring people to become better environmental stewards.
After I formulated my basic plans, a bank executive called for innovative ideas. I proposed my “Green Dream” project and outlined the support I had secured throughout the bank. He approved my plan in concept, and I secured funding by convincing the mortgage group head to support the initiative. My small project team chose Milwaukee, Wisconsin as our location due to its significant minority homeownership gap. We worked with the Arbor Day Foundation and county park officials to design plans that would not negatively impact the community as Wolch described. Our plans came to fruition on Arbor Day 2022 when 30 U.S. Bank employees planted 39 mature trees in a minority neighborhood park (Figure 3). It was a huge win for the community because over 40 years, these trees will sequester 92.5 metric tons of carbon and 0.31 tons of air pollution and prevent 65,311 gallons of water runoff. Due to the project’s success, the bank now sponsors an annual planting event for an ever-increasing number of communities, including plans for four new communities in 2024.
Through this project, I learned bankers were open to learning about conservation. Most were surprised when I shared the benefits of trees but were eager to pass that knowledge to others as they joined our working group. By teaching the bankers around me, it was rippling outwards to more people than I could reach by myself, including when the bank’s market leader shared the information during a TV interview. While we were ultimately successful, my team faced obstacles along the way. As the project leader, I had to learn patience as we worked through budget and other approval issues. I also had to stay positive and push things along as much as possible while also understanding when it was time to stop pressing someone. These are valuable lessons I’ll need for working with potential Wildlife at Heart donors.
Figure 3. Bank employees on tree planting detail.
Figure 3 shows the U.S. Bank team that volunteered to plant trees at Custer Playfield, Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Arbor Day, April 29, 2022. The photo was taken after the trees were planted and also showcases a banner announcing the event.
The Increasingly Hot Topic of Climate Change
While I was lobbying my bank to plant trees, I also looked for a way to share conservation knowledge with my ABA community. Climate change was making headlines as bank regulators began to mandate that financial institutions address associated risks. I didn’t know much about the topic but was eager to learn since climate change is frequently cited as a reason for species decline. I recommended this topic for the ABA Bank Compliance Magazine and volunteered to author it.
As I drafted the article, I worked with climate change experts and bankers to ensure I was hitting the mark with my audience. During this editorial process, I faced the hurdle of keeping the article current. Things were changing so rapidly that I was rewriting my draft almost daily to keep up with new banking mandates and scientific data. During my research phase I noticed that climate change is typically covered in terms of what will happen in 30-40 years and sometimes as far out as the end of the century. Recalling that humans have not evolved beyond a rather short-sighted approach to problems (Van Vugt et al., 2014), I wanted to change that conversation. It took a lot of digging, but I was able to focus on what has already happened or is predicted to occur within the next few years. For example, rather than talk about the projected increase in wildfires, I noted that forest fires in the western United States are now burning at twice the rate they did in 1984, while California wildfires increased fivefold between 1972 and 2018 (McFall-Johnsen, 2019).
By challenging myself to write this article, I learned about climate change and successfully shared conservation knowledge with a new audience. The editor featured it as the cover article (Figure 4) and ABA expanded readership from compliance officers to all bankers. Publishing the article also resulted in several opportunities to speak at bank conferences on climate issues. As the information reached an increasing number of bankers, I received the biggest kudo: the 2022 Apex Grand Award for environmental writing (Figure 4). (The judges were as surprised as anyone that a banking journal produced an entry, let alone a winner, in the environmental category.)
Figure 4. ABA Bank Compliance Magazine cover and award.
Figure 4 shows the cover of the ABA Bank Compliance Magazine featuring The Increasingly Hot Topic of Climate Change. To the right is the award it garnered.
Transformation (and Website Content) Complete
Spreading conservation within my banking community was remarkably fulfilling. But as I continued my master’s coursework, my attention turned to engaging a broader audience through my non-profit. To complete my transformation to full-time conservation work, I needed to operationalize what I had learned throughout the program. It was time to create content for Wildlife at Heart.
Having taught myself about climate change, I wanted to do everything possible to prevent the problem from worsening. Knowing that these environmental changes pose a horizon threat to endangered species (Bonebrake et al., 2019) made it even more critical. When I took Science Leadership & Media Workshop, a class that focuses on scientific writing, I developed content for the Wildlife at Heart website that explains how members can help their favorite animals by reducing their carbon footprint.
After researching the primary usages for residential energy, I wrote an article titled Actions We Can Take that articulated six impactful, but less obvious actions members can take to help with climate change. I undertook each action myself so I could provide solutions to common challenges. The article provides the actions in order of least to most effort: washing clothes in cold water, deleting unwanted emails, unplugging appliances that aren’t in use, taking shorter showers, modifying the thermostat by 2 degrees, and eating less beef and dairy. I supported each with scientific reasons regarding how it helps and how to take each action to the next level.
It was exciting to learn how to protect the environment while developing the initial content for the website. My biggest takeaway from the class was how much peer feedback improves my writing. Through their comments, I was able to fill gaps I hadn’t noticed and add more information they wanted to see. I also got practice writing science-based information for the public – a critical skill I will need for Wildlife at Heart. I utilized an upbeat tone by adding a positive spin to each action such as how dropping the thermostat promotes better sleep (Silver, 2019). While researching this assignment, I was surprised to learn how much energy we can save by simply deleting old emails (Garg, 2019). I’ve been able to grab many people’s attention by noting that if everyone deleted just 10 old or unwanted emails a day, it would save a whopping 39,000 metric tons of carbon.
After writing Actions We Can Take, I began to consider how to present information on featured species since that would be the heart of the website. After researching empathy, I planned to write from the species perspective but needed to work out the logistics. I started this process with bonobos, a species that epitomizes empathy with their caring (De Waal, 2013) cooperative, and peaceful nature (Pisor & Surbeck, 2019). For an independent study project, I focused on what science tells us about their daily lives in the wild, family ties, social structure, intelligence, and emotions.
Because bonobos are our closest relatives and have such a unique culture, they have often served as research subjects for studies examining human evolution. The sheer amount of information available made structuring the results in a manner that flowed well challenging. My literature review culminated in writing the bonobo story as matriarch Maya, in terms of her daily life, her family, bonobo social structure, how members can help bonobos, and what we can learn from the species. I supplemented my draft with information gleaned during an interview with a bonobo field researcher and had her review the end-product for accuracy.
Through this project, I learned that embedding stories helped bonobos leap off the proverbial page. Rather than stating that bonobos are intelligent, I wove in anecdotes such as how Maya crafts rain hats from leaves to stay dry (San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, 2024) and navigates complex social networks (personal communication, A. Porter, March 7, 2024). I didn’t simply say bonobos are a playful species, I described how Maya loves to pirouette, spin, tickle, chase (Friends of Bonobos, 2023) and make funny faces (San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, 2024). I also learned that I need to look beyond the surface to recommend ways to help species. For example, bonobos are susceptible to human respiratory disease. Because limited health care exists for the human community near bonobo habitat, members can help the species by contributing to groups that promote well-being in rural Africa. Limiting human disease ultimately prevents it from spreading to the bonobos (A. Porter, personal communication, March 7, 2024). Using this initial content as a model, I can more easily create additional species knowledge pages and am working on material about additional species.
Figure 5. Bonobos.
Figure 5 shows pictures of bonobos, the subject of a Wildlife at Heart article. The figure on the left shows a baby bonobo while the figure on the right shows an adult female like the matriarch Maya.
Conclusion
As I transformed my life by retiring to focus on Wildlife at Heart, I’ve steadily brought my non-profit to fruition. It is incorporated with 501(c)(3) status and a formal Board of Directors. They provided an excellent sounding board while I worked with a graphic designer to create the logo, developed the motto Saving Species, Saving Ourselves and crafted a statement about Who We Are. I’ve also established a site map which incorporates the features I’ve explored throughout the program:
Wild Wikis Knowledge Center will provide each featured species’ natural history as told from their own perspective and modeled after the bonobo content.
Weekly chats for each featured species will feature fun, inquiry-style questions designed to instill empathy while promoting real-time discussions and community interaction.
Games such as interactive quizzes and brain teasers on species and conservation matters will allow members to challenge themselves.
Taking action will include the Actions We Can Take content, a simplified version of The Increasingly Hot Topic of Climate Change, and a searchable database to connect members with projects based on their criteria (e.g., types of projects, species, or geographical location).
Member Profiles will be required to participate on the site and are designed to help everyone feel safer within the community, including a mandatory kindness pledge.
Scrolling honor rolls to showcase actions members have taken or pledged to take to demonstrate both the community spirit and make the commitments public to encourage conservation actions and follow-through, respectively.
I have purchased the rights to both WildlifeAtHeart.com and WildlifeAtHeart.org. Before launching the official site, I will need to write content on additional featured species while a website designer builds out the above site functionality. Now that I have a comprehensive understanding of what I want to accomplish, I am in a great position to finalize the work over the next few months.
I started this program to learn about wildlife conservation but have graduated with so much more. I mastered empathy and inquiry and understand how to effectively use these tools on Wildlife at Heart’s website. I’ve also learned how to motivate conservation action through social marketing, which is more subtle than I had previously considered. Through this journey, I found my conservation voice, which I discuss in the video below (Figure 6). I’ve also had the opportunity to step back from my previous concept of leadership. While I was a people-manager during my banking career, today I have colleagues to inspire with my vision. In both cases, I use a collaborative and inclusive leadership style (Porter & Daniel, 2007) but with the new distinction of having learned its benefits during my master's tenure.
Going forward, I am committed to getting Wildlife at Heart up and running. I have a new Board of Directors composed of people I’ve met while completing my coursework who are ready to help make my dream a reality. Together, we can launch our site and start making the world a better place, one member at a time.
Figure 6. YouTube video with personal statement.
Figure 6 is an embedded video wherein Meg speaks about how she found her conservation voice.
Acknowledgments
I want to thank my friends Barry, Laine, Mike and Stu for stepping up as my inaugural board members for Wildlife at Heart, with a special thanks to Laine for her edits along the way. I am also grateful to Julia Walz, Rama Callen, and Alicia Lamfers for granting me the flexibility I needed after being diagnosed with breast cancer in early 2023. Rather than having to pause my Dragonfly journey, classwork became a beacon of light that helped me through that very dark time. And finally, I need to thank Julia Walz for always being available to help or talk about wildlife and conservation.
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Personal Statement
Meg Sczyrba is the founder and president of Wildlife at Heart. After serving as an industry leader in bank compliance for three decades, Meg decided to pursue non-profit work. She plans to utilize her learned skills of advocacy, writing for and educating adults by breaking down complex topics with her passion for wildlife and a penchant for puns. To make this dream a reality, Meg began pursuing her master’s degree in biology in 2020. She has since published several articles on conservation topics, including The Increasingly Hot Topic of Climate Change and the Oregon Wolf Trail.