What is conservation haiku all about?

Conservation haiku* started on the social media platform Twitter! In June 2015, Steph tweeted that she will share a haiku on Twitter for every week of the coming year. Sam picked up on Steph’s tweet and said, ‘Love! Can I join you? Can we make this a thing? #conservationhaiku’. The goal of our blog is to offer a unique engaging and learning experience for visitors through the combination of poetry, imagery, short stories and informational text about our haiku topics. We hope that you enjoy your visit and learn something new about our natural environment, biodiversity, and other topical issues related to the conservation of nature around the world. 

*Haiku is a traditional form of Japanese poetry. Modern haiku is written in three lines following a 5/7/5 syllable count. Traditionally, haiku focused on images from nature. Haiku emphasize simplicity, intensity, and directness of expression.

About the authors

Sam Oester

Sam Oester

Sam is an environmental scientist and doctoral candidate at George Mason University. Her research interests include marine conservation, aquatic ecology and water-borne diseases. She studies ecosystems, animals, plants and microbes associated with water, mostly. This includes oceans, streams, estuaries, and wetlands. She has also researched non-aquatic ecology, as the terrestrial environment is a major part of watersheds. She has worked around the globe and is currently launching a large pilot project incorporating all her research interests in Haiti. Sam mentors students across the U.S., especially girls, who are interested in a future in STEM and speaks to schools, clubs and organizations for budding scientists. She is an arts enthusiast and lover of stories. You can contact Sam directly by email: soester (at) gmu (dot) edu.

Steph Januchowski-Hartley 

kites

Steph’s research, creative practice, and engagement centre our aquatic environments, particularly fresh waters. She applies inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to research, engagement, and learning with communities on- and offline, including in schools. She is passionate about this conservation haiku initiative and hopes that using diverse forms of writing and communication platforms, along with striking imagery will open new doors for sharing about our environment with different audiences. Learn more and find opportunities for engagement and enrichment activities on her website: http://srjanuchowski-hartley.com.