seawildearth, as an online identity signifies who I am as a person, in a name it defines my core values. Yes of course I love my family, above all my family comes first. But beyond that I am a man of nature. I've never really been the socialite, never been the life and soul of a party. Yeah I like to laugh and joke with friends and acquaintances, who doesn't? But at the end of the day if it comes to a coin toss there's nowhere I'd rather be than in some way or form tucked away in one of nature's little corners convening with one or more of the life forms that captivate my soul and demand the attention of my camera lens.

It took me four years to find a blue morph of Ishikawa's Frog in the jungles of Okinawa. If it would have taken another four, it would have been worth it.

It comes as no surprise that I therefore hang my head in shame as I come to this point in time, or better yet this point in the timeline of man(kind). As a child I never heard anything about the concerns of our planet. I grew up in the 60's on the South coast of England as reckless and carefree as any child could given the cards I'd been dealt in life. In fact the saving grace from being a statistic within the social care structure of society at the time meant that I probably spent a lot more time outside than most of the kids I attended school with. The facility in which I lived had a massive tract of land which we would be 'evicted' on to at any glimmer of sunshine, which was not too often in the UK as we all know. But that allowed me the start in what went on to become my lifelong love affair with nature. I'd sit for hours looking for slow worms, lizards and spiders. I'd sit motionless in the orchard hoping to catch a glimpse of the wily old Fox I'd seen in the wooded borders between ours and adjacent farmlands. Hedgehogs would be an all too common sight. Those were days of reckless and plentiful abandon. Sadly they are no more.

Fast forward to today. Like many I'm sure I really cannot understand the journey our species have taken us, especially when it deals with the impact we're having on our home, the one and only planet on which we can survive. The devastation wreaked on numerous species since my childhood has resulted in their respective populations being literally on the verge of extinction. In naturally biodiverse environments being destroyed at an industrial scale without as much, it seems, as a second glance. I'm not going to go into underlining that demise, we've all seen the pictures, been lectured by supposed 'conservation' entities in their respective drives for increased donations from an ever expanding human population. Instead we need now to start thinking about solutions.

Yep, that's me hanging out on the back lawn at my dearly departed Grandmothers house in the Kinson area of my hometown, Bournemouth. Footloose and fancy free as any wee bairn would have been in the 60's. Yet it only seems like yesterday. Time flies. I'd like to think I kept my boyish good looks but those golden locks have long since gone. Leaving not much at all in their wake. That smooth baby faced complexion now creased with what could be seen as the lines of an old treasure map hewn from the adventures, near misses and good fortune I've been lucky enough to stumble through in my journey to date. And yet I believe there to be something more, something that as yet remains incomplete, a task. I believe that task to be associated with the all encompassing digital identity of everything I hold dear, encapsulated in the moniker, seawildearth.

For those of us who really care about the state of our planet, about the rescue and survival of numerous species that are key to the longevity of our life on this planet, we need to act and we need to act now. As a group we need to stand together and find a solution to safeguard all that remains dear to us in a natural sense. But where to start? It seems the majority of the larger CONservation concerns are now so large that the goalposts of their vision have been dragged so far from their original targets that donations to them now are prioritized to cover the maintenance of their corporate structure with only a much smaller amount actually going toe causes they suggest they support. Through fear of not wishing to incite legal proceedings I won't be naming names but with just a little bit of imagination I'm sure you can place names on those entities.

I stopped and thought about something the other day that actually makes a lot of sense, well to me anyways. It seems that in the general consensus of seeking continued stimulus from digital platforms that a potential solution has been placed before us, without many of us even noticing it. The exponential explosion of popularity that surrounds the online video platform that is YouTube is unprecedented. It has, on its own merit, become the second largest search engine on the planet, second only to the digital behemoth that is Google. So powerful had it become as a platform that it was ultimately purchased and absorbed into the portfolio of the latter. One key to its success is in the relationship it has with folks willing to put in the work and create their own specialized Channel within the platform. On top of that the main driving factor is the ability for those content creators to then share in the ad revenue of corporate entities looking to reach the audience of the individual channels. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the key.

All of the conservation entities are asking for monetary donations. They have payroll to meet, office space rentals and marketing budgets to appease. They have online campaigns and websites that require hosting. Imagine the amounts we're talking about of say that entity employs a global workforce of 10,000, 20,000 or more? It's huge. Not to mention the carbon footprint of all those office AC's, Coffee machines and corporate machinery.

What I call the 'YouTube Solution' is not without fault though. Asking people to contribute to the massive computer servers powering this digital delivery service is an 'ask' in itself. That said I don't think that realistically in this day and age that we can do anything well intentioned that doesn't have a downside. Everything has a carbon footprint, it's just a decision process to prioritize what is acceptable given the long term goals.

So what am I blathering on about? Well here you can see a screenshot of the current seawildearth YouTube Channel. At this point in time I have exactly 3,530 subscribers. This in turn generates an ad revenue through the monetization of the channel based on certain performance criteria as stipulated by the powers that be at YouTube. In reality with this number of subscribers the channel generates about $100 every two months, not a lot but at least a small incentive. Ad revenue generated by larger accounts start to give one an idea as to the potential this platform and approach could yield. To look at a respected source of information Forbes ran this editorial in January of this year about the YouTube earnings of some of the platforms top content creators / performers. Sit down when you read it, the numbers will knock you on your butt! Now imagine if those figures could be generated and given back to environmental and conservation issues.

Until recently I've been mainly creating photographic tutorials and such for my channel with the few wildlife interaction videos thrown in for good measure. If truth be told it is some of those wildlife shows which went on to become my biggest crowd pleasers! So this year I intend to delve more into exploratory videos documenting my search for, and interactions with, the enigmatic and sadly all too often endangered wildlife species throughout the Okinawa region. Given the current global hurdles with international travel for me to have this amazing and naturally diverse location at my feet in these needy times further reinforces my inner sense that this in fact is intended to be.

My drive is now to request that folks take the time to subscribe to the seawildearth YouTube Channel with the goal of generating ad and associated sponsorship funds. These funds will then be redirected back into conservation projects and drives, initially here in Okinawa, and eventually into global campaigns. Such a venture does not require any financial input from those supporting it. Their presence alone as a channel subscriber, drives the associated ad revenue. Some people will ask "How would I therefore make a living from my efforts"? Once a YouTube Channel generates an audience of 30,000 subscribers the creator can then initiate a feature that allows the audience to become members of the Channel if they so wish. This membership comes by way of small monthly donations, the amounts of which are set out by the creator. Supporting the channel as a Member will by no means be implemented as a requisite, that will simply be down to the desire of the individual channel audience member. There is of course also the Patreon platform that allows creators to create a digital portal where followers of said creator can show their appreciation by aligning with a monthly membership to support that entity, again at a sum decided by the creator.

Initially the goal is to get to 30,000 channel subscribers. On that journey any associated generated revenue will be used to round out my equipment needs to be able to  bring the best quality and range of wildlife content from my area of filming. This basically translates into a newer camera body and some zoom lens options for greater reach through the jungle foliage. Everything else I already have. So there you have it. One solution that, at least to me, makes a little sense. We often ask ourselves in the struggle to better conserve our planet and therefore the future our children will face as to what we can realistically do? This is just one example of channeling the revenue created by brands vying our attention back into environmental and conservation issues that they themselves may even be contributing to. In a sense a case of sweet revenge, sweet justice.

Or am I just completely fruit loops? Either way, your subscription would be welcomed.

"Be careful to leave your children well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant".

Epictetus