EKOS Communications, Inc.

It's intriguing, isn't it, how quickly social media and citizen journalism are revolutionizing communication and, by extension, education. I firmly believe that we who wish to preserve as much of the Real World Wide Web as possible must learn how to work with them. They are enabling the emergence of a fundamentally different social ecosystem. One in which people who care about something can come together across time and space to share their mutual passions; these people some commentors have called "tribes."

What many of these tribes are seeking is leadership. They are often looking for guidance as to where to direct their energies. With respect to the environment, and in particular, with respect to the protection of wild species and their habitats, we can provide some of that leadership if we learn how to work with social media to engage, educate and empower individuals and organizations in doing the right thing.

In fact, I'm convinced we must learn out of a deeply-felt sense of responsibility and to remain relevant. To lose relevancy is to become disconnected. A very scary place to be. And yet many great organizations are facing this prospect.

Visitation to national parks and provincial park systems is declining in Canada and the United States. Back in the late 1990s, Canadians ranked their national parks as the third most important icon after the flag and national anthem. Today, I'm told, they show up somewhere around the 34th or 35th position. Hence Parks Canada Agency is being reorganized to boast visitation through an initiative named External Relations and Visitor Relations (ERVE). They are obsessed with finding ways to better communicate their message and to regain previous visitors while gaining new ones. As is the National Park Service in the US which is offering free weekend passes for the same reason.

The fear is: declining visitation + declining relevancy = declining political relevancy = declining revenue to operate and protect the parks.

In British Columbia's provincial park system is rapidly being starved to death. Another round of budget cuts has left many more parks and protected areas without rangers and campground operating seasons are being shortened. In the US, the state of California has proposed closing a great many of their parks, and other states are following suit.

The stakes are very high. Time is running out. We who care passionately about the protection of the planet and its miraculous Web of Life of which we are a part must learn and master how to work with social media. It's perhaps stating the obvious, but it needs to be said.