The Ethics of Using Recreational Drones in Nature

Okay let's get my bias on the table right away… generally speaking, I do not like to see or hear mechanized toys that make annoying noises when I am in the natural world. So, before I had my first real life experience with a smaller scale camera-mounted drone a few weeks ago, I was of the opinion that these recreational unmanned aerial vehicles (UVAs) were more hassle than helpful.

Then I saw the aerial footage my new friend Michael Altenhenne had taken of the El Dorado Nature Reserve in the Santa Marta mountains of northern Colombia. I had already been living at the reserve for a week, and so I knew of its beauty from eye level. However, seeing the landscape from above definitely had an eye-opening affect on me, and strengthened my perception of how big, and beautiful, and intact, the reserve is.

Drone captured photo of the lodge at El Dorado Nature Reserve

photo courtesy of Michael Altenhenne

Michael's images reminded of my long-standing support of the conservation organization Lighthawk, which – as America's environmental air force – enlists volunteer pilots to show decision makers, policy makers, and the media conservation values and threats from the air. Now, Michael's smaller, quieter, and less expensive technology – a UVA – had given me my first personal experience with the value of using recreational drones in the service of conservation.

Photo from Lighthawk's website

Shortly thereafter, I saw an article about an organization called Air Shepherd, which is using drones, along with high tech infrared cameras, to locate, track and stop poachers, by aerially patrolling the “porous, poacher friendly borders of Africa's national parks.” This was yet, I thought, another good use of drone technology. And when I started poking around online to learn more about drones for conservation, I found that they are being used – almost literally – around the world: in Suriname, Borneo and Sumatra, in Belize and Brazil, from Florida to the Arctic, and likely other locations as well.

Photo from article about Air Shepard in www.gizmag.com

And as if I had opened up a new window to the world, drone-induced aerial videography for conservation purposes was not the only examples popping up around me. On Facebook and Twitter, I started seeing what was obviously drone-captured footage for promoting recreational activities as well: surfing, kayaking, and other outdoor pursuits.

Given the less immediately obvious societal benefit of using drones to capture recreational activities, my first response was to say, “That's where I draw the line. Do we really need to bring this fairly noisy technology into nature just so we can record our every recreation pursuit?” Isn’t a Go-Pro camera mounted on your helmet or surfboard good enough?

“Larger societal value”

Here is where my view of the recreational drone world started getting a little fuzzy, because even here I can see the potential “larger societal value” of capturing drone footage of surfing or kayaking. It comes from my having learned, early on, about the progression of change that comes from natural history interpretation: from awareness comes understanding, from understanding comes appreciation, from appreciation comes concern, and from concern comes action. As a conservation activist, I want to move more and more people to that place of taking action. As I thought about it, I came to see how people could be so inspired by drone footage of waves or whitewater, that they become moved to want to protect the seas or rivers that are their playgrounds. Appreciating nature is how I got into the conservation business, after all.

It was much easier for me to draw my ethical line when I stumbled upon an article about how drones are being used by hunters to locate wildlife before the hunt. This use of UVAs seems entirely antithetical to the concept of fair chase in the hunting community. If I ran the world, this sort of use of drones would be forbidden…. which is why I am grateful that the national organization Backcountry Hunters and Anglers is pushing state wildlife agencies to ban hunters from using drones to look for and track wildlife.

In the recent past, many technological advances have "come on line" so fast that we – as a people – are forced to deal with their consequences before we have had time - as a society - to thoroughly debate and decide what is appropriate. Witness doctor assisted suicide, organ transplants for profit, fracking, the recreational drone's larger cousin, military drones…. and…. well, the use of recreational drones in a natural setting.

And while the use of smaller, recreational drones in the natural world may not be as politically or culturally-charged an issue as some of the others we face today because of new technologies, for me, as a conservationist, smaller scale drones in nature pose a vexing internal debate. What is appropriate and what is not; what is acceptable and what is not? I love the fact that poachers in Africa may be stopped because of the use of drones. However, at the same time, I am certain that some of the close-up aerial footage I have seen of wildebeests and giraffes running across the African plains is not because those critters decided they needed the exercise.

I am not sure what the answer is, but I think certainly one litmus test is whether the drones are being used for a greater good, or a selfish pleasure. And as I have done for years, I would favor uses that are for the greater good, where the pleasure of a few doesn’t affect the experience of most. What are your thoughts on the subject?

The Personal Ripples of a Tsunami Ten Years Past

Ten years ago this morning, I dodged a bullet when I left the coast of Thailand's Phuket Peninsula an hour and a half before the Indian Ocean tsunami came ashore. Seeing as how modern humans are typically fascinated by ten-year time frames, I have found myself thinking about this approaching anniversary a good bit lately. If you care to stroll down that memory beach with me, I invite you to this link – the start of a week’s worth of up close reporting from the tsunami’s aftermath.

I have also found myself reflecting on what has transpired in my life since that event. Given the significant impact that morning, really that next week, had on me, the tsunami was – more or less – the beginning of this "gran adventura" I am on now.... shifting my career to a greater focus on human communities in an international context. The first five years were the equivalent of this idea’s gestation period. The plan was fully birthed in late 2009, when I left my job, and my home, in Bozeman for parts unknown.

I say parts unknown, because much like a baby just born, and much is my style, I set sail on this global sea of possibilities with little understanding of what I was getting into. I had as good a map as Columbus, and one could easily argue far fewer provisions. I had more passion than knowledge, more vision than plan.

What I did know was that after twenty years of work which, by the end, seemed focused on meeting those human needs at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, I felt a pull as big as the world to offer my services to those seeking to meet their needs at the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid. Specifically, I wanted to shift my work from the realm of self-actualization, to that of securing one’s physiological and safety needs. This is, I believe, how the tsunami really left its mark on me, much the result of my having spent a day working in a hospital, and a day at a make shift morgue, immediately after the tsunami.

Two Bottoms of the Pyramid

My desire to work at the bottom of a pyramid of needs was, I quickly learned, very fitting, because a predominant concept and focus of international development is supporting populations of people living at the bottom of the economic pyramid. My bottom of the pyramid interests aligned well with a major focus of the international development field I wanted to enter. Also, as I learned more about this field, I found myself being emotionally and intellectually inspired by such aspects of it as women’s empowerment and gender equity, human rights and land rights, enterprise development and sustainable livelihoods, renewable energy and climate change resilience.

To me, it all seemed interconnected through the lens of sustainability, and I found my socks going up and down with excitement when thinking and talking about programs that provide economic, social, and environmental benefits to their recipients. I came to believe, and still do, that this idea of pursuing a “triple bottom line” strategy is really the only strategy that will work if we, as a species, want to have a prayer of sustaining ourselves over the long run.

Two Entities Heading South

Equally fitting was the timing of my departure for international waters: late 2009. As I pointed my career south (with a preference of focusing my work on Latin America or Africa), the U.S. economy had just finished heading south. Fast forward to today, and I can see how the economy’s slide has influenced my present situation in at least one way, and possibly a second.

The second way has to do with the fact that I am again looking for work, and some have made the argument that the downturn in the economy means there are generally fewer jobs, and thus generally more competition. That is probably true. However, I think my present situation has more to do with the fact that there is a huge pool of talented people interested in working in international development, and most of them have more formal training in this field than I do (what I have learned about how not to pursue a mid-life career change is a topic for another time).

The Allure and the Reality of the U.S. Economy

More intriguing than the lessons I learned about career transitions, particularly at an older age, is how both the power of the U.S. economy, and the downturn in the U.S. economy, have led to my feeling less of a need to work internationally. To be sure, I still want to work internationally. However, if my professional objectives are to support communities of people struggling at the bottom of the pyramid while also experiencing different cultures, I have come to realize I can satisfy these objectives on any continent, including my homeland of North America.

What has shifted for me is fully realizing that a person can work in an international context without having to work internationally. What made this shift possible are my learning more about the allure and the reality of the U.S. economy. Just like with Columbus and his crew, the allure of North America, or more specifically the United States, as a promise land continues to inspire people from around the globe to risk much in order to travel to the U.S. in pursuit of a better life. This is still so much the case that the continued influx of people into the states is now one of the leading national policy discussions in the U.S.

There's No Place Like Home

Another leading national policy discussion has to do with the increasing number of people living in poverty, and the growing economic divide, in the U.S. I have heard that the poverty rate is at about 10% of the citizenry (not surprisingly, many or most of whom are of non-European decent), and the economic divide has some notable economists warning of a future oligarchy. This reality of the U.S. economy has captured much of my political attention in the past year or so, even now as I find myself spending time in Ecuador.

The possibility of helping address this reality, while at the same time fulfilling my professional objectives, is why I was psyched to recently apply for jobs with the following nonprofits: [1] Adelante Mujeres, which provides education and economic empowerment opportunities to low income Latina women and their families in Oregon; and [2] Economic Inequality Media Project, which is promoting the film and campaign called Inequality for All (about Robert Reich’s take on the widening income inequality in America).

The human experience is a global experience

So, ten years out from the Indian Ocean tsunami, the effect of that seminal moment in my life continues to ripple through my life. One such ripple is the broadening of my perspective about where I need to go, where I should go, where I can go, geographically speaking, to provide my skills to those who could use some help meeting their most basic needs. Another ripple is the broadening of my perspective about where I need to go to experience different cultures. My realizations make my search all the more global than I had previously allowed myself to think.

Fulfilling our physiological and safety needs is part of the human experience, as is the existence of people who struggle to meet those basic needs. What I have always known, but now I really “get”, is that the human experience of struggling to fulfill one’s basic needs occurs all over the globe..... even in the land of plenty. So, if one of my professional objectives is to support people in their efforts to meet their basic needs, through my experiences of last five years, I have been reminded that I need not travel too far to fulfill that objective.

As well, I also now fully “get” that I don’t need to go to another country to experience its culture. It may be the best way to do so, but it is not the only way. Due to the global nature of economy, communications, and travel, communities or diaspora of people from one country can be found in many other countries. This is particularly true in the states, given the allure of the United States to people throughout the world. So, if I want to have the human experience of immersing myself in a Latin American culture, or an African culture, I now know I can find that experience somewhere in the states.

Work at the Local Level by Going Global, or Think Globally and Act Locally?

Time will tell where I end up next, and I look forward to time telling me. In the meantime, as I reflect back on all I have done, and seen, and learned, since this day ten years ago, I am reminded of the Darrel Scott tune “A Crooked Road.”

I walk a crooked road to get where I am going,
To get where I am going I must walk a crooked road,
And only when I’m looking back I see the straight and narrow,
I see the straight and narrow when I walk a crooked road

To those of you who have supported me along this crooked road, thanks so much for all you have done to make this gran adventura a reality. It has meant the world to me, both figuratively and literally. To those of you whom have been part of my living and work experience during this great walkabout, you have been part of what is easily the most fascinating five years of my life. Gracias a todos…. here’s to making a difference, and having fun doing it.

Same Same But Different

It was seven years ago last week that I jumped a plane to Beijing, first stop on my seven month trip around the world. Literally around the world, this planet of blue, green and so much more. What a concept. What a trip.

And what an affect it had on me, including inspiring me to focus more of my attention on international development - near the intersection of conservation, climate change adaptation and resiliency, rural and indigenous community empowerment, and small entrepreneur/enterprise development. But that is for future stories (or blogs in today’s vernacular).

What I want to focus on here and now is how big and diverse and different the people and cultures of the world are. But not really. Not in what it is we want in life, what we hope for, what we strive for, what we need. I am reminded of a slogan used amongst the traveling “backpacker” community when I was in southeast Asia. Same Same But Different.

As my experience has it, the phrase was originally coined in southeast Asia - I think it started in Thailand. It grew out of the typical response given by the owner of a backpacker lodging, or the waiter at a restaurant, or the agent at a tour company: Same Same. It was their broken english way of saying that what you just asked about (a different room, another meal, an alternative trip) is the same as the one about which you previously asked. When, in fact, they were not the same. They were somehow different. The second room had a better bed, or a shade on the window. The other meal had more sauce, or a different side dish. The sunrise tour to the Wat was different than the one that arrived in the heat of the day, when the crowds were greatest.

So, the backpacker community came up with “Same Same But Different.” Enough so that it was a common conversation piece at the local hostel, restaurant or bus station.

It was not until I arrived back in the states that I realized how Same Same But Different was a metaphor for the human experience on this planet. I was asked to give a presentation at the local library about my time in Thailand (I had been there for the December 2004 tsunami, which gave my story some extra spice). As I was developing the presentation, and re-living how the locals acquired their food, worshipped their god(s), celebrated their holidays, commuted to work, built their homes, played with their kids, and all the other things we humans do, I realized that we all do the same things.... but we do them in such amazingly diverse, and thus intriguingly different, ways.

Thus..... Same Same But Different.

This is the first story, or article, or post, or blog (call it what you will) that I plan to write as part of my desire to explore – and share – my experiences from around the world, as well as the observations I’ve made, curiosities I’ve had (and still have), and understandings I’ve gained from what is now 15 months of travel to 22 countries in the past 9 years. These writings will generally fall into four categories:

Same Same But Different: as defined above. For instance, why did the local Thai people say it was the same, when so many backpackers thought the options were different? Was that just a language barrier, or was there some broader cultural difference at play? I don’t really know, but I’d like to.

- Turning Our Disadvantage into Our Opportunities: interesting and exciting ways we humans can get our collective selves out of the worldwide mess we are in - or are rapidly creating. I want to learn, and share, more about clean energy technologies, triple bottom line businesses, enhanced cultural understanding and acceptance... stuff like that (have you heard about the highway surfacing material that produces solar energy?).

- Sustainable Development: what does it mean, what does it not mean (according to me and other scholars!?!); what works, and what doesn’t work (again, according to me and other scholars!?!).

- Sectors of the International Development Field That Interest Me: entrepreneurialism, gender equity, rural/indigenous community empowerment, microfinancing, and more.

I don’t claim to know it all, and never will. But I sure am intrigued by it all, fascinated with it all. I hope to ask as much as I offer, and I encourage you - if you have read this far - to provide any facts or fodder to the conversation. After all, as the world gets flatter, hotter and more crowded, we are increasingly in this altogether.

For now, here are some pictures from my trip around the world that speak to the concept of Same Same But Different. More soon.


[NOTE: These images may not be the best representation of Same Same But Different from around the world, but I am traveling and most of my images are in storage at home.]


HOMES



We all need a home. Staying with a group of reindeer herders in northcentral Mongolia.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-10289




Fijians building a bure (traditional Fijian hut) at Long Beach, my third destination in the Yasawas.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-12613




Bamboo scaffolding in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-21529




This small village on the Nam Tha River in northwestern Laos did not have electricity, but it did have a stereo (they use car batteries recharged by boat engine for their electricity).
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22353


FOOD



In the town of Nong Khiaw in northern Laos, if you don't own an electric food drier, then you use a solar food drier.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22359




Preserving crops from the garden. In this case, it was rice that came from a field in northern Laos filled with small craters (remnants of bombing runs during the Vietnam war), and dried on the side of the road.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22359




At the start of a three day trek into the Hill Tribe region of Laos, I came across this food drying effort. The mats of food were made of a ground-up river grass sprinkled with onion and some other vegetable for flavor. Sort of like a fruit role, but not. Same same but different.




In northwest Laos, I rented a boat to take me two days up the Nam Tha river. The second day was filled with adventure, including watching some villagers drown a deer they caught fording the river. At first I thought they were swimming out to save the deer!?! One white guy's wildlife sighting is another village's meal.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22353




On a trip across northern Laos, we stopped at a bus station for a short break. And just like any other bus station, they had food available for the weary traveler.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22359




Portland, Oregon just banned plastic grocery bags, so maybe we'll start seeing these around town.... from the area around Doi Inthonan, Thailand's highest peak and surrounding national park.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-21902


NATIONAL SECURITY



The extremely busy Laos immigration office across the Mekong River from Thailand (north of Chiang Mia).
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22353




Building walls to protect one's country from invading aliens is not a new phenomena.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-11495




China, East Germany and Israel have done it. Any other countries come to mind?
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-11495




Are we really that different than the Chinese? Think Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-11362


RELIGION



Sunday service, fijian style, on Taveuni - Fiji's Garden Island.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-13975




Lucky boy. As a kid, I used to want to sleep in church...
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-13975




Religions.... maybe the ultimate "same same but different." The concept of "do unto others..." comes to mind as being universal amongst the world's major religions. A monk teaches the teachings of Buddha at Wat Po (the Reclining Buddha) in Bangkok, Thailand.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-21515


RECREATION



Recreation: "re-creating body, mind and spirit. An activity we humans enjoy around the globe, like starting the day with a good stretch. Freestyle tai chi at 6:00 AM at Beijing's Temple of Heaven.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-13962




Tai ball (part badminton and part lacrosse) at the Temple of Heaven.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-13962




Rugby practice on the small island of Wayalailai, in the Yasawas of Fiji.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-12613




Two things kids like to do, build stuff out of scrap wood, and enjoy the water. Also in the Yasawas.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-12613




Even off the beaten path, villagers are dependent on tourism dollars. I rented this boat to take me two days up the Nam Tha river in northwest Laos, and in doing so provided transportation for locals and their supplies.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22353


EDUCATION



An education of a different kind. At one village along the way, all of the students came out to see the bald bearded tall white guy that had hired the long boat to head up stream.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-22353




A sports field day competition for four local schools (green, blue, yellow, red) on the Fiji island of Taveuni.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-13961




A good track, maybe not as sophisticated as those typically found in the US, but plenty functional.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-13961




Striving to win, the world over.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-13961


ENTERTAINMENT



Evening comes, and as is often the case, you can find adults gathering together to have a drink in a poorly lit watering hole. In this case, the drink is kava, outlawed in the states because it is much more dangerous than alcohol!?!
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-12613




A night of music and dance at the theatre.... in this case, it is sufi dancers in Cairo.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-33880




Traditional costumes, traditional customs. All of it interesting, all of it the same, with most of it done in very different ways. Same same But Different!!!
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-33880




Yours truly wearing a full-sized traditional Mongolian garb (called a "deel") made of lynx fur, because the locals wanted the US predator advocate to see how nice and warm lynx fur can be. When in Rome, do as the Romans!!!
http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-10289