First of all – thank you for so many inventive, creative and fun interpretations of last week’s challenge – Pick a Word! Fabulous!
Rusha Sams of Oh the Places We See is our host this week, and she has chosen to highlight all those people who work for a better society and a better world. A Labor of Love.
As so many of us do these days, I think of the health care workers, police and firefighters – all those brave people helping us in this unruly world. But my thoughts also go to all those who work for a sustainable world and helping vulnerable species to survive – because biodiversity is essential to us all. Without biodiversity we will all perish and our planet is lost. Even if we are living in a pandemic now, we know that other problems will not go away – we have to fight them all, simultaneously. Tough. But, the pandemic is also a result of how humans have abused and misused Nature and our only home, planet Earth.
In the header, the dotterel beach in Coromandel.
She worked mostly with inventory of traps and keeping the forest open. All voluntary work is of course unpaid (monetarily…) work – A Labour of Love for the planet.
A big threat to all endemic animals, maybe especially the NZ flightless birds (the kiwi is only one of them) are the invasive possums. Emma brought home several skulls and bones from roadkills.
In 2016 we went to Ecuador, the Amazon Basin and the Galapagos Islands. Threatened already then by the oil industry and new settlers burning down the rainforest, but little did we know of the many fires that would arrive through mismanagement and the pandemic.
A vast piece of jungle was once bought by a man from the Netherlands who wanted to save it from getting destroyed. We stayed at his eco-lodge with local people guiding and lecturing about herb medicine and Amazon plants and animals. These people were born and raised here, lived here and knew the jungle like the back of their hand.
”We hope you’ll join us in sharing your interpretations of “A Labor of Love” whether you showcase a person or a group or an object notable for the labor or laborer involved.” Publish your post and add your link to the Comments section at the bottom of Rusha’s post. Please don’t forget to add the tag Lens-Artists so you can be found in the Reader.
Next week we will be back on schedule, and Amy will be our host for challenge #114. Until then – stay well and be kind. To yourself as well.
Leya 
Great post! I admire people who volunteer all around the world.
Thank you – that is something i would ave done had I been young again. That possibility wasn’t there for me 40 years ago.
Pingback: Lens-Artist-PC-113-Labours-Of-Love – WoollyMuses
hi a.c., great pictures you have chosen i like them very much, not so easy to find pictures for the theme, here is my contribution https://wp.me/p2AvI7-3AS.
many greetings robert
Thank you, Robert, for joining in again!
A beautiful post and photographs Ann-Christine, the people you met who are contributing to the preservation of the Amazon rainforest are a true blessing and inspiration 💚
Thank you – I just hope the fires will stop and that they will be untouched.
Your images are a fitting (and beautiful) tribute to so many around the world (your daughter included) who are working for all of us. I think the pandemic has brought many issues into sharper focus – environmental problems as well as societal inequities. We must all learn not to take our planet for granted.
Indeed – taking it for granted is often because we are spoiled and have too much lost contact with nature. I hope we will learn…
I hope we will learn too. It is crucial.
True, crucial.
I admire your volunteerism and your tribute to those people who want to preserve the beauty and timelessness of nature. Their commitment and dedication are truly heroic. A wonderful post, A-C. I’m glad your internet connection finally worked!!
Thank you, Patti – and I am glad too that the connection worked. And happy to have met so many dedicated people!
I love these nature photographs. My youngest brother volunteered in the Peace Corps for two years, helping save nearby woods from deforestation for firewood. Given what I know about his experiences, it was definitely a labour of love. Praise to your daughter for her work in New Zealand.
Thank you so much – good on your brother for those years, and a labour of love is always of love.
Fabulous – and well done your daughter, who presumably feels well-rewarded, despite no pay.
Thank you – and yes, she loved this all the way through. A valuable experience for her future life.
Indeed. My son went to India as a volunteer straight from school. Such a life-changing opportunity.
Good on him! Emma went straight from school as well. What does he do for a living now? Did he go to more places for volunteer work?
He’s certainly worked in the charitable sector, but he’s been a a political researcher and advisor for years now. Let’s just say it’s NOT for Boris Johnson! And your Emma?
Glad to hear! She is very much a nature person and will always be, but she will be a dentist after finishing her exam in three months now. She also works in herb medicine doing research and writing manuals for the same company.
🙂
Oh, I can’t help but love the little monkey in the last pic. Sweet … I smiled the minute I saw him.
Lovely photos showcasing the theme this week. I enjoyed the pics and the informations.
Have a wonderful week … Be Safe
Isadora 😎
ps – I’m adding my url since I was in your SPAM last week … Mmmm … WP?!
https://isadoraartandphotography.wordpress.com/2020/09/08/lens-artists-challenge-a-labor-of-love/
Isn’t he sweet? He loved looking at us, and followed our canoe swinging happily through the canopy!
Wishing you a wonderful week as well – did you put your link to Rusha Sams as well? She is our host this week.
Yes, I did add my link to Rusha’s site. She had a wonderful choice for the challenge this week. I’ve been to the rainforest and was fascinated by the freedom nature has while we’re viewing them. The Cappuchine monkeys did scare me a bit in Coasta Rica as they stick their teeth out when they’re happy. They have very sharp teeth. : O
Be safe … Isadora
♥
Great stories of those who serve out of love from all of the posts I’ve read since Saturday. The bridge above the jungle is spectacular. What I wouldn’t give to walk that walk!
There are some great minds and labourers out there – I agree, and I think this challenge brought many of them to our attention!
You would have loved that walk! But only very early in the morning. By midday there were thousands of biting, flying things. The night after this was not a happy one. BUT WORTH IT.
It’s wonderful that your daughter volunteered in New Zealand working in a Nature preserving program. Thank you for sharing the photos, Ann-Christine.
It makes me proud she did! Thank you!
I’m sure you are, Ann-Christine!
A lovely post Ann-Christine, a wonderful tribute to unsung heroes. Your daughter volunteered in New Zealand and my daughter volunteered in Cambodia…makes us mothers so proud of our kids.
Thank you, Teresa – and yes, we can be proud!
Great photos. Love the crystal clear waters, the tree canopy bridge, the banner shot. Nobel endeavors. If only they’d stop burning the Amazon basin!!!!!
Thank you for loving them, and John – I too wish and pray they would stop the burning of the Amazon forest. They are destroying our world. Sorry to say, but I believe it is Bolzonaro who must go, to help the forest recover. If it is possible.
You have focused your post on an issue near and dear to all of us: saving the planet. Thank you for noting and sharing photos of several areas of concern and also the people making a difference. You, too, are making a difference by making us more aware of what is happening and how we can help. I was struck by your comment that this area is one of the top areas you’ve ever visited — that speaks volumes about the care that you and others have for preservation.
Thanks again for allowing me to be the guest host this week. The work that the four of you are doing to create and maintain the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge helps us all become aware of what brings meaning to our lives.
Rusha, this is such a beautiful comment. Almost brings tears to my eyes… I think between bloggers we have a great responsibility of sharing good things and ways to help making things better in the world. We can all contribute with something, experiences will grow new experiences. Sharing and learning together is important.
I often think of the great fires in the Americas and in Australia. I am still in contact with our lodge in the Amazon, and it seems they are safe for now. So, You two Stay safe and well. Thank you for guest hosting with such a wonderful message!
My pleasure, for sure. And I do pray for all involved in fire fighting, providing meals and help to those in need, and taking care of those who are injured. So much is happening to us in 2020.
It is a strange and trying year. May we all endure and help as much as we can.
I love your take on this theme. It gives me much-needed hope to read about people whose labour’s of love benefit us all like this. Thank your daughter from me for being part of the amazing effort to save NZs precious and unique wildlife.
Su, I love these people who work from their heart. There really are many dedicated people out there…even if it sometimes seems nobody cares. New Zealanders are very dedicated and aware – was my impression already after a short month. ♥
Thank you to your daughter and all those who work towards preserving our world. I liked your photo of the monkey. So cute!
Thank you for reading and leaving a lovely comment – and I love that little one too. He is a spider monkey if I remember it right.
Great choices for the theme, Ann-Christine. I envy you your trip to Ecuador. What an adventure!
I hope we will all have the opportunity to go to our dream places – some day.
What an amazing post, Leya! What adventures you have had. Such nature as this is so beautiful and hard to even imagine from afar. Thank you for sharing your photos of the places and the lovely people. 🙂🧡
Even today I can hardly believe I really was there – for real, in reality, in real life…
And that is the beauty of photos and memories! And you get to share with others like myself 😊
True – photos are so valuable, precious for mamories and sharing. Whoever invented the camera never really could fathom its importance, I am sure.
Great post A-C. Love that beach photo. And good on your daughter for volunteering. We really do have to look after this planet. There is no other.
No plan B. I don’t want to live on Mars.
what a beautiful labor of love post, Ann-Christine. i salute your family especially your daughter for your love and dedication to our Mother Earth! truly remarkable! thank you for all you do! 🙂
We must all do what we can, because there is only one planet Earth. And everybody can do something!
Excellent post, A C!
Thank you, Sue!
Some very dedicated people
Yes, very
A very beautiful and special labor of love! Thank you for taking us there.
Thank you for going with me, Amy – you can feel it with your whole body and soul when it is genuine.
Beautiful images!
Glad you like them, Anne. Beautiful countries with beautiful people.
Wow Ann-Christine. Ranking number one in your long list of travels is amazing. It’s one place we’ve not been but really want to visit. We had a trip scheduled to the galapagos that had to be cancelled for a health issue which was a heart-breaker. Not sure if we’ll ever get there now. Fingers crossed. Loved your post and kudos to your daughter for her time at the Cormandel. We visited there years ago and their pristine environment was glorious.
Thank you, Tina, and I hope you will get there some day – even if travelling right now seems far fetched. Just the feeling of the people working there, how deep their engagement is, is overwhelming. And I know your love for birds – this is a haven for bird watchers. It would have been great to see what got caught through your magical lens.
I am so glad to know of these labors of love. Thank you.
Thank you for reading, Michael. Unforgettable laborers. Unforgettable nature.
I visited the Galápagos Islands in 1997. So I am always happy to hear about the continued conservation of the wildlife and natural environment there.
Unforgettable, isn’t it?
Definitely a special place!
Fabulous photos
Thank you, Sheree!