Earth Optimism is a movement promoting a positive outlook towards problems related to environmental or climate issues. Earth Optimism provides an alternative narrative to mainstream environmental news by highlighting the potential for humans to positively impact the environment by making small changes at individual and community levels. It focuses on positive technological advances and ecological success stories to illustrate the potential for hope in the face of environmental challenges.
Due to occurrences such as habitat loss, the increasing number of endangered species and the rapid escalation of climate change, there tends to be a negative outlook towards the impacts of human on the Earth. The Earth Optimism approach seeks to minimize defeatist mindsets concerning the environment and has become an increasingly popular strategy that many individuals employ in order to slow and reverse negative anthropogenic impacts on the Earth.
Overview In 2017 Nancy Knowlton founded the Earth Optimism movement in an attempt to highlight the success of large- and small-scale actions taken to better the Earth. The Earth Optimism Summit is a result of the promotion of Earth Optimism and has taken place annually since 2017. The Earth Optimism movement encourages environmentally beneficial actions by giving people a reason to hope for positive environmental developments. Through examples of success stories, the movement aims to convince people that positive environmental progress is attainable. The goal of Earth Optimism is to promote people to be supportive and enthusiastic towards environmental restoration and climate change relief programs.
Agencies, organizations, and individuals advancing Earth Optimism
The mission of the Smithsonian Conservation Commons is to apply "the Smithsonian's cultural and scientific expertise to achieve outcomes truly consequential to sustaining Earth's biodiversity and ecosystems". The mechanism of the Smithsonian CC's success is this organization's ability to create and engage an interdisciplinary network of experts that are mobilized to take action and affect change in everyday environmental problems. The Smithsonian Conservation Commons focuses on four major areas of sustainability: Earth Optimism, a movement to change the conservation conversation, finding opportunity in environmental problems; Movement of Life, a field that researches and communicates wide-scale movements of species and ecosystems; Sustainable Food systems, an area focusing on real-life practices that cultivate sustainable and accessible food options while preserving natural resources; and Working Land and Sea Scapes, which focuses on researching and implementing sustainable practices in cultivated lands, both terrestrial and aquatic.
The Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI) is a unique collaboration between the University of Cambridge and leading internationally focused biodiversity conservation organisations based in and around Cambridge, UK. Together, the CCI partners represent an unparalleled source of knowledge and experience about biodiversity conservation, with projects in over 180 countries and over 250 years of combined experience. Cambridge, UK, is the hub of the largest cluster of conservation organisations in the world. CCI is located in a Conservation Campus in the David Attenborough Building – where leaders in academia, business, government and non-governmental organisations can interact and work together.
Influential individuals
Nancy Knowlton: Dr. Nancy Knowlton is the Sant Chair for Marine Science at the Smithsonian as well as a coral reef biologist and author, credited with notable works such as her book Citizens of the Sea. In Citizens of the Sea, Knowlton discusses the Census of Marine Life, which was a global effort to explain the biodiversity present in the world's oceans. In 2014 she took part in launching #OceanOptimism, a facet of Earth Optimism on social media in order to encourage positive efforts towards marine conservation. The success of #OceanOptimism lead to Knowlton becoming Co-chair for the Smithsonian Conservation Commons' Earth Optimism summit in 2017.
Ruth Anna Stolk: Ruth Anna Stolk has developed and hosted hundreds of discussions to change peoples’ attitudes to conservation. She is currently a Smithsonian Research Associate, focused on US Conservation in the early 1900s and was recently awarded a Bell Research Grant by the Forest History Society at Duke University. Stolk is currently working on a book, “Citizens of the Trees,” set to publish in 2025. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Forest History Society and the Endangered Species Coalition and is a member of the African People and Wildlife (APW) International Advisory Council.
In addition to her research, she also led the elite team at the Smithsonian that coordinated the Earth Optimism (EO) Summits from 2017-2022. In partnership with EO co-founder Nancy Knowlton, Stolk also formed an Earth Optimism Alliance with dozens of global Institutions, including Cambridge Conservation Initiative, National Museums of Kenya, Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, and more. In 2020, EO reached over 400 million people around the world and was the main theme for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2022.
Andrew Balmford: Andrew Balmford is Professor of Conservation Science in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on the costs and benefits of conservation, how to best reconcile conservation and farming and examining what works in conservation. He is the author of ‘Wild Hope: On the Front Lines of Conservation Success’ (2012). Andrew currently runs the Student Conference on Conservation Science with Rhys Green, Rosie Trevelyan and Ed Turner. After Nancy Knowlton's 2016 presentation at the Student Conference on Conservation Science, he and Rosie Trevelyan co-convened the 2017 Cambridge Earth Optimism Summit.
Rosie Trevelyan: Dr. Rosie Trevelyan is the Director of the Tropical Biology Association (TBA), an NGO that is building the capacity of conservation professionals from around the world. The TBA has offices in Cambridge and Nairobi, with over 2,500 alumni who have taken part in the TBA's field courses and specialist programmes. Rosie is a co-organiser of the Student Conference on Conservation Science and is a trustee of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, the SE Asia Research Programme and is a council member of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative. She co-founded the Cambridge Conservation Forum in 1998 and 2017 Cambridge Earth Optimism Summit with Andrew Balmford.
Steve Monfort: Steve Monfort is the former Director of the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. Monfort is one of the co-founders of the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation, which puts George Mason University students in an interdisciplinary, conservation-focused learning environment. Monfort is also the Co-founder and board chair of the Sahara Conservation Fund. Monfort is involved in many other conservation groups and organizations. He has published over 100 scientific papers addressing the discipline of reproductive biology. He has helped to pioneer non-invasive endocrine monitoring techniques currently being used to assess and evaluate the reproductive status and well-being of wildlife in zoos.
Tom Lovejoy: Tom Lovejoy served as the chairperson for the first Earth Optimism Advisory Group in 2017. He was a leading figure in the work of both climate change and biodiversity conservation movements. His successful tenure in biology and conservation began in the early 1960s when he developed the idea to conduct long-term studies on the effects of forest fragmentation in the Amazon rainforest. This idea eventually developed into the largest experiment in landscape ecology called the Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystems project (also known as the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project). Starting in 1982, Lovejoy served as an advisor for the new PBS television series Nature, a documentary series exploring global wildlife topics. He is recognized as founding the field of study known as Climate Change Biology, and helped to popularize the widely used term "biological diversity".
Anson Hines: Anson Hines is the director of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Maryland where he oversees all the researchers, technicians and students conducting research in ecological studies. His leadership in the research department at the Smithsonian has significantly influenced Earth Optimism by helping people in the non-science world easily understand the complexity of what is happening in our ecosystems.
Dr. Sarah Jaquette Ray: Dr. Ray is an author and teacher of environmental studies at Humboldt State University. In her book, "A Field Guide To Climate Anxiety", she reflects on many strategies and views that align with the Earth Optimism movement. Although she may not be directly aligned with the movement, this work truly reflects the core values of the movement. Dr. Sarah Ray suggests an orientation towards climate advocacy that avoids some of the pitfalls "caused by a superficial attachment to hope". Instead of a "utilitarian hope", the Dr. Ray suggests a "critical hope" that does not rely on immediate results of the impact to be felt, but rather orients people towards action on even the smallest of scales.
The author poses the question... what is better than hope? Proposing that empowerment to work toward a way of being in which one can yearn for is much more sustainable and effective in the long term. Desire is much more effective in being a positive motivator for individuals to take action than blind hope is. Dr. Ray also says in her book "We are of no use to the cause if we are burned out by apocalyptic fatigue or so overwhelmed by fear, shame, and sadness that we simply opt out to save ourselves from pain". Adding that it is important to "recalibrate ourselves to the small and local" in order to avoid such climate anxiety and actually be effective in action, rather than being paralyzed in inaction.Ray, S.J. 2020. “Move Beyond Hope, Ditch Guilt, and Laugh More” in A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Examples in popular culture
The Earth Optimism Summit Earth Optimism was brought into the public's eye by the Smithsonian and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative at their first annual Earth Optimism Summit in 2017. The summit's focus was to change the perception of conservation from that of doom and gloom to optimism and opportunity. Speakers from around the world convened to share stories of hope and examples of success in the field of conservation. A variety of interests are represented at the summits, ranging from branches of the government such as the United States Forest Service, to non-governmental organizations, including the World Wildlife Foundation. Similar events have developed across the country, each promoting instances of success in the field of conservation. The 2020 Summit looks to promote and focus on youth involvement in recent climate action along with a gallery of exhibits showcasing impactfull projects at small and large scales.