Follow the Conservationists on Twitter!
It is the case not only with the first two recipients of the Indianapolis Prize, but with all the nominees over the past five and a half years, that animal conservationists are often not accessible via the standard communications tools. They are far flung, each pursuing a mission of studying some of the rarest animals on earth in some of the remotest places on earth. From a conservation standpoint, that is the really exciting part of their work – to be there, on the ground, doing something directly to save lives and habitat.
This year, we are beginning a new project that we hope will connect the public with the conservationists in an immediate, personal way, and we are utilizing technology to do it. The Indianapolis Prize Twitter feed will feature a long list of the most outstanding animal conservationists in the world “tweeting” for a period of time from wherever they are, doing whatever they do to save animals. Throughout 2010, the public can join the discussion with tweeters such as Dr. Laurie Marker (Cheetah Conservation Fund) in April, Jana Johnson of The Butterfly Project in early March, Pati Medici of the Lowland Tapir Conservation in Brazil (also in March), and our own Dr. Jan Ramer, who will tweet about her experiences with mountain gorillas in Rwanda beginning in February. Over 20 individuals will participate this year, many of them past or current nominees for the Prize, including Carl Safina of the Oceans Alliance, Joe Riis of Pronghorn Passage/USA, Charles Foley of the Taranguire Elephant Project, and Steve Shurter of the Okapi Conservation Project.
You can start now – the process is simple. If you’re new to Twitter, it’s easy to create an account. Just go to www.twitter.com and sign up. Click the Find People tab and type indplsprize in the search box. Once IndplsPrize appears, click on the icon that looks like a person to start following. You can also “retweet” information to others, so the word can spread exponentially.
