Kate Stephenson, the power of the Wildlife Crowd - Connections With Nature: 50 moments of meeting the wild
Emily sat down with Kate Stephenson, aka kate on conservation - award-winning conservation blogger and all-around inspiration in the world of environmental activism. Kate talks about the Wildlife Blogger and Nature Maker crowds, their recent book, and how to sustainably create something new...
Illustration by Caitlin Noble.
Image of Connections With Nature: 50 moments of meeting the wild - photo by Kate Stephenson.
Who are you, what do you do and why do you do it?
I’m Kate on Conservation; a blogger, conservationist, and campaigner for animal rights. I believe passionately in the education of future generations; having worked as Education Editor at National Geographic Kids UK and Sub Editor at Discovery Education. In 2017 I became the youngest Trustee of Born Free Foundation, where I serve on the board, Marketing and Partnerships Committee and Programmes Committee. I am an ambassador of IAPWA (International Aid for the Protection & Welfare of Animals), an Oceans Advocate for Ocean Conservation Trust, and a sustainability ambassador for Wasteless Market. In 2020, I founded The Wildlife Blogger Crowd community for nature and wildlife writers, content creators and storytellers. Six months later I established the Nature Maker Crowd - a similar community for creative conservationists.
I’ve always had three major passions in life; wildlife, storytelling and education. Although the road has been far from straightforward, I believe that after 10 years of building my ‘Kate on Conservation’ blog as a brand, I’m reaching a point of bringing my passions together.
As a wildlife conservationist, the causes I primarily focus on are ending the illegal wildlife trade, human-wildlife conflict mitigation, banning canned hunting, and rewilding Britain.
You’ve recently launched a book called Connections With Nature: 50 moments of meeting the wild. What is it about? What made you think of working on it? What do you hope to achieve from it?
Connections With Nature: 50 Moments of Meeting the Wild is an anthology of 50 tales of memorable moments with nature fromThe Wildlife Blogger Crowd.
I tasked members of the crowd with the incredibly open brief of sharing their most memorable connections with nature — to be submitted in whichever medium they were most comfortable with (i.e. blog post-style, poetry, prose, art or photography). I wanted the genuine thing; I wanted our crowd of wordsmiths and visual storytellers to share their truths, their passionate and unrestricted tales of connections with nature.
I knew that this meant that there was a risk that it may not ‘fit together’ in the way that one would expect of a book. Nonetheless, it was a risk worth taking, as searching for a thread to weave each piece together actually came quite easily; from connecting with nature in pregnancy to looking back on a lifetime of experiencing wildlife, the reoccurring sentiment from almost every writer was that everyone fell in love with nature when they were young; and for the lucky ones among us, that love remains eternal.
This anthology takes readers on a journey to meet the wild, reminding us of the wonders of the natural world, the benefits of making connections with wildlife and wild spaces and highlights how our lives are often a lot more entwined with ‘the wild’ than we might realise.
Since the book’s publication, I partnered with Talek Primary School in Narok South, Kenya, through Wildlife Blogger Crowd member Jack Lekishon, to use our books to help support education in the Maasai Mara Conservancies.
At a time when rural communities around the Maasai Mara have been affected by Covid-19 outbreaks and a subsequent food crisis due to loss of income through halted tourism, I’m using sales of our books to raise money for an emergency food relief programme that serves the children at this school (Talek Primary School is a public day and boarding school primary school with 438 pupils enrolled across 10 classrooms).
I also run an initiative at the point of sale on my website, where buyers can sponsor a copy of the book to be donated to Talek Primary School, which I’ll be sending out with other school supplies — so that we can share some of our stories of living alongside our own local wildlife with these future guardians of Africa’s wild species.
Throughout the publishing process, Kate ensured all steps were done sustainably. Image of Connections With Nature: 50 moments of meeting the wild - photo by Kate Stephenson.
How did you find it trying to sustainably make/print/distribute/fund this book?
The book is privately funded by me, and as it is self-published, I’ve been able to make all of my own decisions when it comes to the printing and distribution of the book. This has also meant I’ve had the opportunity to consider and uphold the values of all the contributors included, including my own. I just wouldn’t have felt right representing the work of wildlife conservationists and sustainability advocates, and navigating this project through spaces that don’t align with those values.
It was important to me to consider the environmental impact of producing a book and putting it out there in the world. I haven’t calculated exactly what it would take to make this book publishing venture carbon-neutral, but I knew I wanted to make it as eco-friendly as possible, and even self-induce some kind of ‘eco tax’.
The first £100 raised from sales of Connections with Nature was used to purchase an acre of rainforest land for protection via the World Land Trust, and I ensured through our publishers, Journey Books that the book would be printed on FSC certified paper. I also made a number of design decisions to reduce the amount of paper used; for example I chose not to print every new chapter on the recto (beginning on the right-side page, as is often used in publishing), so as to eliminate any blank pages. As it stands, there are no blank pages at all in the book.
The choice to go with Journey Books also came from the fact that they are an imprint of Bradt Guides, who are themselves independent publishers that specialise in travel books with ecotourism values -- as well as printing memoirs by well-respected conservationists. I felt a sense of pride in placing this anthology among the other releases from Bradt Guides.
In terms of the book’s launch campaign, I’ve prioritised genuine members of the conservation community to receive press copies or to handle the coverage of the book (hence doing this interview with Bloom in Doom!), and I’m distributing through my own website, where I’m raising funds for the afore-mentioned Talek Primary Schook Kenya, and through independent book shops and gift shops attached to nature reserves. There’s only one Amazon that will see profits from Connections With Nature, and I’m proud to say we’re now protecting an acre of it!
What are the Wildlife Blogger Crowd and Nature Maker Crowds, and how much involvement did they have in the book? How can people get involved?
The Wildlife Blogger Crowd is a diverse community of storytellers from across the globe; a collective of wildlife and eco content creators, spanning online bloggers, social media curators, podcasters, filmmakers and more, working together to amplify one another’s voices in sharing a common passion for wildlife, nature and conservation – and communicating a desperate need to save the natural world.
After 10 years of blogging, and constantly reaffirming the power of storytelling, my vision for The Wildlife Blogger Crowd came from a desire to create a safe space for wildlife and nature bloggers of all ages to share posts, join discussions and support other content creators in our combined cause.
The platform was designed as a positive and safe space for wildlife and nature bloggers to share posts, join discussions and support other content creators. I chose to call it a ‘crowd’ and not a ‘club’, as I wanted to create a sense of levelling out. A ‘club’ raised connotations of exclusivity, membership fees and hierarchy; a crowd symbolised the collective: infinite in its ability to grow, yet still, each individual remains equal in status and decidedly as valuable in raising the collective voice. The more we stand and speak together, the greater the strength of the crowd.
As our community grew and connections between members became stronger, I launched a free mentoring scheme to provide members with a means of committed connection to other conservation communicators, where they can explicitly ask for the help and guidance they need. Having utilized the value of mentors in my own career journey, I hoped to re-create something similar for others.
Before too long, the ‘holy grail’ of a printed book crossed my mind. A chance to give every single person in the Wildlife Blogger Crowd community the opportunity to list themselves as a published writer.
Through our monthly newsletter correspondence, every person who had joined the community had the opportunity to submit a piece for publication, and I included every single submission from those who did. I also commissioned one of our members, Chloe Harmsworth, to complete the cover artwork too.
After 7 months of celebrating wildlife storytellers through the Wildlife Blogger Crowd, I realised that there are plenty of creatives and artists raising awareness of the plight of wildlife and nature, not only through blogs, writing, poetry, podcasts, photography and film — but also through designs and products that they’ve made or ethical brands they are creating.
I’ve also realised that perhaps the best way of showcasing these incredible creatives and makers was to create a sister community to the Wildlife Blogger Crowd, that more specifically caters to this niche; and so the Nature Maker Crowd came into being.
The Nature Maker Crowd offers a positive space for wildlife and nature brands and start-ups to share their creations, join discussions and support one another. There’s also multiple opportunities to have work and brands showcased.
What’s coming next from you and the Nature Maker and Wildlife Blogger crowds?
My hope now is to get this book ‘out there’, so that the contributors can see their work celebrated and shared widely, and hopefully it’s something they can feel proud of, adding it to their CVs, portfolios, or published credits.
Behind the scenes I’m working hard on getting it stocked in new places, and I’m working on some in-person events to help share the message of what ‘Connections With Nature’, The Wildlife Blogger Crowd and The Nature Maker Crowd are all about.
I’m hoping to start involving members of the community in these events, and I’m always exploring possible new ways of creating collaborations across the communities. Of course I want to continue promoting and spotlighting the great work of all the people across the world who are involved in the crowds in as many ways as possible, and finding measurable ways for us to protect the wildlife that’s brought us all together.
Thank you to Kate for taking time to share more about her book, career and opportunities with us. You can find out more about the Wildlife Blogger and Nature Maker crowds, and links to purchase the book below.
More information:
You can join the Wildlife Blogger Crowd here.
You can join the Nature Maker Crowd here.
You can buy your own copy of Connections with Nature via Kate’s online shop, and you can also buy a copy to donate to Talek Primary School Narok South, Kenya.
Thank you to Caitlin for her beautiful illustration. You can find more of her work on her Instagram @caitlinniamhillustrations.
Kate Stephenson
Kate Stephenson aka Kate on Conservation is a blogger of 10 years, a Trustee of Born Free Foundation and Founder of The Wildlife Blogger Crowd; a collective of wildlife and eco content creators, spanning online bloggers, social media curators, podcasters, filmmakers and more. She has 15 years of journalism experience and has previously worked at National Geographic Kids, Discovery Communications, Discovery Education, Channel 4 Learning, Channel 4 Talent, BBC Blast and BBC Norfolk.
Emily Gilford
Emily is a Zoology BSc (Hons) and Ecology MSc graduate from the University of Exeter, currently based in Cornwall. Her interests lie in animal behaviour and blue health. Over the past few years, Emily has managed The Beach Clean Project in Cornwall, connecting people over a mutual love of keeping our coastlines clean. Emily enjoys being out with her camera spotting wildlife and learning as much as she can. Emily is a senior editor and contributor here at Bloom in Doom.
Instagram: @emilygilford
Twitter: @emilygilford