Woop Woop – The name of our magazine has created much discussion, and this is welcomed.
It has been called ‘different’, ‘catchy’ and even ‘frivolous’… most importantly it is being talked about.
From Australian slang for the outback, broadly translating as ‘A place far away, unfamiliar and difficult to get to’.
We believe this captures the very essence of a consensus on global conservation perfectly.
Woop Woop Magazine. Is it a wildlife magazine? Is it an educational magazine? Is it a travel magazine? Is it a lifestyle magazine?
It is none of these, yet it is all of these.
With the ethos to engage, entertain and educate we reach out to anyone and everyone; from the amateur photographer with a passion for badgers to the seasoned photo-journalist wanting to share their eyes, from established zoos at the forefront of breeding programs to boots-on-the-ground NGO’s fighting against the flow, from volunteer led projects operating on a shoe-string to multi-national corporates giving back, from sole individuals with personal ideals to the tribal leader fighting for their ancestral home and culture – Everyone gets a voice.
We have no agenda, and there certainly are no ego’s; just a simple idea to get the ‘Conservation Conversation’ going… and keep it going; in a way that appeals to all with a visually-led, coffee-table style magazine that is easy on the eye, informative in a way that doesn’t take a PhD to understand and, to hopefully, raise awareness of the vast array of issues facing the planet.
Without human intervention the planet would continue as it has for millennia, a finely tuned macro-cosm that ebbs and flows, never quite reaching equilibrium but working in harmony.
But we have intervened, we have interfered and we are responsible for the global environmental crisis.
Conservation is the buzz word right now and not before time, but what does this mean to 99% of the worlds population, who aren’t academic, who have no real understanding or who are simply concerned about their very survival?
[Oxford Dictionary: Conservation – the act of preventing something from being lost, wasted, damaged, or destroyed]
It is not about sound bites, it is not about likes, click-bait, sixty-second thoughts or fifteen minutes of fame, and it is certainly not about political gains and one-upmanship; it is about a necessity for real action, real change and real mindfulness before it is too late.
It is not just about pandas, gorillas, cute baby lions, the Amazon…all the usual (and, of course, significant) suspects…
What about the vultures who are vital to the global ecosystem, what about the insects that are fast disappearing, what about the not so cute amphibians and reptiles, what about the ‘other’ forests around the world that never make the headlines?
What about our water systems, the soil beneath our feet, cheap food, fast fashion, convenience, raw material extraction, global population growth?
What about the oceans that are being depleted, destroyed and becoming devoid of species?
What about the people, the cultures, the way of life?
What about…eh?
What is conservation if it does not connect all these issues holistically and in a meaningful way?
This is where ‘bio-diversity’ comes in and is much more apt [it’s the hot topic at #COP15 right now!].
[Oxford Dictionary: Bio-diversity – the existence of a large number of different kinds of animals and plants which make a balanced environment]
Without joined-up thinking, then we at the mercy of the butterfly effect; an action, with all good intention, on one side of the world, could have a negative effect the other side of the world; An action to help one species or habitat or culture, could have a negative effect on another.
[Editor’s Note: Why is it that one end of the country, you have people rescuing and rehabilitating a ‘non-native’ species and the other end ‘cranial despatch’ to cull the population and help a ‘native’ endangered species – it borders on insanity, not to mention a waste of effort, time and money; and this is just one example from the UK; The whole issue of what is native and what is non-native is another story for another time].
Admittedly, I am a relative ‘newbie’ to the world of conservation and it has been a revelation and a steep learning curve – the people, the passions, the politics (and dare I say egos!).
This subject is so vast, so inter-connected, so polarised that this blog alone cannot do it justice.
So, at Woop Woop, we hope to play a part in helping our readers to learn and understand these complexities, as well as to realise that we all can play a part in the discourse and, indeed, we must all play our part.
We can take humans to the moon, yet we cannot sort out the planet we already inhabit. Kind of crazy really.
Have we a chance? I hope so, although it does seem like a place far away, unfamiliar, and difficult to get to, doesn’t it?
Join us, let’s have the ‘Conservation Conversation’.
Woop, Woop.
info@woopwoopmagazine.co.uk
[Images: Lewis James Phillips]
