Conserve the World! (earthwatch.org)

Member Name: nickyturnill

Product:	earthwatch.org
Date:	03/03/06 (676 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Save the world, travel, meet new people.

Disadvantages: It is very expensive.

**** What is Earthwatch? ****

Earthwatch is a diverse community of scientists and volunteers who work together to promote worldwide conservation through research. Put simply, this is a company who send volunteers on conservation based research placements worldwide.

Earthwatch was founded in Boston in 1971 and there are now offices in the United States, England, Australia, and Japan, in addition to 20,000 global members, 4,000 eager volunteers each year, 50 collaborating conservation organisations, and 50 corporate partners.


**** My Project ****

In the Summer of 2001 I travelled to Washington State and to a city called Ellensbugh. This is the location of the University of Central Washington which is the site of the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI). A huge centre in which five* chimpanzees are housed. Washoe, Tatu, Moja, Loulis and Da arn't just any ordinary chimps, for they have been raised as human babies and are able to communicate in American Sign Language (ASL).

*Since I attended CHCI one of the chimps, Moja, has sadly passed away.

I attended CHCI as part of a two week placement as a research volunteer. This placement was arranged through a little known but simply amazing company called the EarthWatch Institute.


**** Other Projects ****

The Earthwatch insitute is basically a company which sends people on research based conservation related projects worldwide. There are a whole host of projects and chosing which one you most fancy is a challenge. Here are a few examples to wet your appetite:

* Tracking endangered sea turtles in florida

* Investigating factors which led to the ruin of the indigenous people of Easter island.

* Tracking black bears in China.

* Exploring caterpillar defenses to better preserve rainforests in Costa Rica.

* Surveying Australian frogs and their habitats for clues to the amphibians' worldwide decline

* Exploring human-elephant conflicts in northern Ghana

* Helping to lay the groundwork for archeology digs in Britain.

* Investigating the ecology of a healthy koala population to improve conservation elsewhere.

Interested yet? Seriously this is just a brief sample of some of the many projects that are available. There are 100's and they take part in almost every country of the World.

The lengths of the projects varies between three days and a month, the average placement is usally two weeks, as mine was. The projects run year round although some will be specific to the time of year. For example if you want to track whales you have to fit in with the migratory patterns of the whales according to the season.

Some of the projects also require specialist skills. Particularly the sealife based projects which may require that you are able to dive. Others may require trecking and thus it is specified that you must be healthy fit and well bodied which is fair enough if you need to spend three weeks walking through the rain-forests. But otherwise most of the projects don't require any special training or skills. You will learn everything while you're there.


**** Prices ****

Sadly the price is the downfall of Earthwatch. This is an expensive endeavor. I paid over £1000 for my two week placement, although the costs can vary considerably between placements. In addition the placment does not include flights and connection costs, but while you are there everything is inlcuded: food, accomodation, equipment, and if you are there for a weekend they will organise activities.

Insurance is included for the time you are placement but if you are going to travel in addition then you will need extra cover.

Occassionally students can be sponsorsed and in some cases it may be possible to attend a project in order to gain college or university credit. I don't know much about this so check the website for more information.


**** Application ****

I had absolutely no problem with the application process, the forms were easy and straightforward to complete and the staff at Earthwatch were very helpful and professional. I completed the forms on paper but there is also the option to complete online.

You have to specify several preferred dates because places fill up quick, especially on certain projects. If you contact the office they are happy to tell you more about this directly and will let you know if certain dates have been taken.

A non-refundable deposit when you book if also required and the total costs must be paid a month before you attend.


**** My experiences ****

I flew to Vancover, in Canada initally and spend a couple of weeks exploring British Columbia. Then I travelled down to Seattle in Washington State and headed to Ellensburgh from there. A big advantage of the placements for me was that I got the opportunity to travel both before and after.

We were met at the bus station in Ellensburgh by a CHCI represenative on the Sunday night before we started and from then on in everything was arranged for us. All meals were taken in a canteen and at the weekend they took us all out to see some of the local sights and for dinner.

There were 12 of us on my placement and we were housed together in halls of residence on campus. Most of the other volunteers were American but there was also a couple of Canadians and a girl from Germany. The age range was very broad. At the time I was 20 and there were others in their 40s. Most of these people were simply primate crazy, I attended the project becuase of my interest in language development (at the time I was studying for a psychology degree) and also to try to get me a little research experience which is what I hoped to pursue in the future.

During the first week we learnt alot about chimpanzees in the wild and the history of the chimpanzees at CHCI. We had to learn to recognise the five chimpanzees from sight to 80% accuracy or the data that we collected would have been useless. This isn't as hard as it sounds, chimpanzees have distinct features and personalities. We then learnt about the data collection techniques and the aims of this study and the center in general.

In this case the aims of the study were to examine the chimps use of novel and recyled objects. On day one the chimps would be left 40 items to play with and then on day two 20 of these items would be changed. The point was to see if chimpanzees interacted with the novel objects more frequently. It was hoped that this evidence could be used to change legislation in order to help improve the lives of captive chimpanzess who are frequently kept in appalling conditions e.g. by creating laws which would mean that chimps have to have larger cages and some form of stimaulation.

Most of the second week was spent collecting data. We would each be assigned one chimp to eye ball and we would sit in the dark on the other side of a glass barrier in the observation room. Every minute a buzzer would sound and we would have to record in code what the chimps were doing at that exact moment of time. For example were they interacting with another chimp? Were they eating? Were they interacting with an object within the enclosure? If so we would record which object and what they were doing with it again in code. Outside the observation sessions we would help to input this data into computers and assist with other administration tasks around the department.

About a year after I attended CHCI contacted us all with a copy of the published findings we were involved with. The hypotheses were accepted which was wonderful.

I really enjoyed my time at CHCI, I learn alot and came away with a fascination and deep respect for these amazing creatures and a desire to do more to help them. I am still a member of CHCI which contributes to their cause. I also got to learn alot about research, I met alot of nice people and I saw some interesting places.

I must stress that depending on the type of placement you attend your experiences are likely to be very different. For example you may well end up camping in the middle of no-where and helping to carry and cook food for the group etc. The project specifications should cover such details specifically.


**** Further Information ****

http://www.earthwatch.org/

The Earthwatch website is easy to navigate and contains a full specification for all of the projects available, as well as prices and available dates etc.

It is a really interesting website to check out even if you know you'd never go on one of these projects yourself. There are many amazing pictures and accounts from people who have taken part in projects in the past.

The results of the research conducted are posted on the website upon completion and there is the opportunity to become a member of the institute or to donate money which will go towards general conservation.

CHCI are still taking volunteers for Summer placements. So if you are interested check out the website. http://www.cwu.edu/~cwuchci/

The CHCI website is also worth a look if you are interested in chimpanzees in general or the history of these chimps specifically. There is also a live webcam updated every minute or so and if you are lucky you might get a look at of one of the chimps, but be aware there is a time difference so the chimps could be sleeping!

If you are interested in knowing more then please see my review of the book 'Next of Kin: My Conversations with Chimpanzees' by Roger Fouts. It is a wonderful book and I can't praise it enough.


**** Summary ****

The Eartwatch institute is a wonderful concept and anyone interested in completing conservation work abroad, or in fact anyone who is interested in conservation in general should have a look at the website. I loved my placement at CHCI and I have nothing but praise for the company. Easily five out of five.

Summary: Wonderful worldwide conseveration projects. Help to save the world!