Hi all! This is a topic I've been thinking on lately and this tweet sparked it again in my brain: 

!Migration Alert! The forecast is for 300+ MILLION birds in the air over the U.S. each of the next three nights, according to @DrBirdCast. Try turning off nonessential lighting, and treating reflective glass to help protect birds. Learn more: https://t.co/CboDf0WiNr pic.twitter.com/TQ5kLzwZDu

— Cornell Lab (@CornellBirds) May 3, 2023

Conservation tech allows us to have access to so much data on wildlife, and it's helping us understand how we SHOULD be using this data to inform human behavior and policy - but it seems like one of the most frustrating things about working in this field is that even with all this information about what we should do, it doesn't always lead to immediate impact on a large enough scale.

In the case of the bird migration data, a lot of cities have started Lights Out campaigns, which is great news!! So this is a nice example of data that is resulting in more and more impact over time as its importance is recognized.

But I'd be really interested to hear from early career folks about your feelings on the data you collect and what steps you'd like to take in your own careers to translate all of your hard work into impact and not just academic findings. A BIG question, I know! And one that has probably been discussed to death already! But impact will always be an ongoing conversation, and I'm sure you all have really great perspectives on how you think about impact within your own projects!