I have always had a desire to travel and contribute. I studied French in undergrad thinking I would go into diplomacy somehow. Now, years later I am a conservation professional working on international environmental policy issues. Recently I have been thinking about the power of effective story telling to inspire behavior change with respect to conservation. After years in theater, and working in both politics and education, I see myself well poised to bring my commnication skills to the realm of environmental policy making. This past year I was fortunate enough to travel to the World Conservation Congress as a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas. Participants lamented the need to engage young people around the world in environmental problem solving. As someone who recently got a Master's in International Environmental Policy and then worked for four years on ocean policy issues in the United States, I see the need for more compelling story telling with respect to conservation. Many stories focus on doom and gloom without sharing the human elements, linking problems to people, or providing solutions. We need to give people a reason to get involved, connect individuals, communities and leaders with the visceral reasons to shift behaviors, and bring people to action. I think photography has a huge part to play in effecting positive environmental change. I have taken pictures for a long time, but never received formal photography training. It is a dream of mine to travel and contribute. I think that gaining insight into how to create powerful photographs, combined with my foreign language, written and verbal skills could go a long way to helping me make the impact I would like throughout the world. I learned about the Travel Scholarship to Greenland last night through an ad on Facebook, and went to your page just now which appears to have crashed. I am trying to remember what you asked for from the scholarship requirements I read last night. Please let me know if you need any further information from me about my background and career aspirations. I would like to create a new kind of travel journalism around conservation. I see photography as being a critical element to telling the stories that need to be told in a way that is engaging, novel and comprehensive. I would welcome this opportunity and see it as well timed given that I am currently between jobs and looking for a new direction. Thank you for your time.
