I'm writing to you from Abu Dhabi, where I joined the Reverse the Red team at the IUCN World Congress.

For conservationists, this is the Olympics. It happens once every four years, and this event has nearly 10,000 attendees from around the globe.

It's pretty incredible.

But why am I here?

I built software to help Reverse the Red coordinate endangered species interventions all over the world. We've collected over 4,000 pledges to reverse species decline. The RtR team is using this conference as a chance to raise awareness about their campaign and invited me to join.

I almost didn't tell you because I feared it might come across as bragging. (Which it may very well be.) But I changed my mind when I remembered that you subscribed to a newsletter on a website called tedkriwiel.com. What did you expect? I also remembered that many of you are rooting for me and like to celebrate these things. (Thank you!)

Over the last couple of days, I've begun to learn the nuances of conservation.

That there are thousands of conservationists who exclusively focus on frogs. These are "frog people."

And that conservationists who focus on plants and fungi (these are not the same people, mind you) are united in their frustration that animals get all the attention.

That supporting an ecosystem and supporting a species are not the same thing. Someone pointed out to me: "You can save a rain forest and still lose the lemurs."

Conservationists from virtually every country have gathered in this place, united around a cause while holding radically different approaches, values, and perspectives that frequently come into conflict.

There are those who want to preserve land. And those that want to preserve species. And some who want to protect ecosystems. And these are not always the same thing.

I say all this to say that I'm honored to be invited into this world. People took time out of their day to explain these nuances to me. To remind me what invertebrates are. To invite me into this complicated story.

All because I built a little software.

Over the next decade or two, the software I create will become obsolete. I'm not precious about this, in part, because software is just my way of helping people, today. I build tools that people use to plant seeds. (Or fungi,* to my underrated fungi brethren.)

Long after this software is obsolete, an endangered species may continue to survive in a small part because of it.

I believe that is worth celebrating.

Until next time,

Ted

*I'm aware that you don't 'plant fungi,' but rather 'inoculate a substrate.' I just couldn't make that work in the sentence. I'd like to go on the record as saying Fungi is its own thing and deserves your respect.