In a world full of problems, why work for paltry gain when you can do the seemingly impossible and put a dent in the universe? This is the path Ted Schmitt has chosen to tread. The Director of Conservation at Vulcan, a company founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen with the mission of making and leaving the world a better place, Ted spoke with us about discovering his purpose in conservation and how he’s using technology to solve some of the world’s toughest problems.
You began your career as a software engineer but discovered your vocation in wildlife. How did it find you and how did you know you had a place in the conservation world?
Finding conservation as my passion was a culmination of many things that I didn’t really discover until I was about 20+ years into my career. I started out at IBM and it was a great learning experience, but I remember constantly wondering what people were doing with the stuff we were creating. Most engineers focused on creating stuff; I wanted to know what problems we were solving.
About 10 years into my career at IBM, I had this moment of obligation. I remember walking out of work one day and thinking, “I’m an expert at this one little thing. Am I okay doing it for the next 20–30 years. Is that all I want out of life?” It was very clear the answer for me was “No”.
Technology has the potential to solve lots of problems, but often doesn’t because it chases money rather than problems.
Eventually, I went back to school and got a graduate degree in Science and Technology Policy. That was the first step in realising that I had a passion and gift for figuring out the barriers to solving some of the world’s big problems. I worked at the National Academy of Sciences for a few years and that led to working for Paul Allen, whose philanthropic focus was on conservation, oceans and climate. Within the first few weeks of working on those issues, I realised that I had found the perfect connection of all these things. I loved wildlife and the natural world and wanted to do something to preserve it. I also knew that technology had the potential to solve lots of problems but often didn’t because it chased money rather than problems. Paul Allen believed in using technology to solve problems, so it was the perfect place for me.
It was a long journey, but I always tell younger people to not get fixated on a particular job or position or company or university. Figure out what it is that you are particularly good at and passionate about and find a path to get there. The path you’ll end up taking will likely surprise you. I never would have imagined that I would end up working for a philanthropist in Seattle, but it’s where all those things came together. I didn’t have wildlife or conservation in mind, but I did have problem solving.
Innovation is about solving problems.
The other thing when you’re looking for your purpose in life is you have to weigh the risks. I could have been safe and stayed at IBM and would have done financially well and would have been seen as a good member of the community, but would I have fulfilled my inner purpose? No way. My journey has had plenty of bumps and setbacks along the way, but I’ve found that when you hold on to your purpose and keep focusing on that, the path will present itself before you.
Now that you’ve found your purpose in conservation technology, how would you say it’s driving innovation in the conservation space?
Typically when technologists think of innovation, they think about stuff that needs to be invented, like drones, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence or changing the way satellite imagery is done. And those things may be part of it, but to me innovation is about solving problems. Many technologists innovate around the solution without understanding the problem they’re trying to solve. I think that’s the thing we’ve done at Vulcan, maybe better than most companies in this space; we’ve partnered with folks on the frontlines that understand the problems deeply and we work with them to create innovative solutions.
An ecosystem of conservation technology is being created, and that’s huge progress from a few years ago, when there were all these siloed solutions that would fall apart in the end.
What are some of the biggest issues in wildlife conservation that need our attention right now?
Poaching and wildlife trafficking are huge issues that we’ve placed a lot of energy on and actually have made big strides in addressing, but I think an even harder and bigger problem is that there are just a lot of us humans living on the planet.
Humans run the planet today and are doing so really badly. We need to look at how we can do a better job at that. In the climate change world, this conversation is pretty far along. However, the conversation that needs to go with it is the impact on our oceans and wildlife and biodiversity. We have to value the ecosystems we live in and then figure out which tools we can use to manage the planet on a global scale. And that’s what technology is; it’s a tool, not a solution.
It’s been 5 years since The Great Elephant Census — the largest wildlife survey in history. What progress has been made since the survey was conducted?
The Great Elephant Census was the first big conservation project that we undertook. After we counted the elephants and got a baseline idea of where they were located, Paul [Allen] asked us, “What are we going to do to save them?” We had learnt a lot from some amazing folks, and one of the biggest things that came out of that survey was the Earth Ranger tool which we’ve developed for Protected Area Management. From a technologist’s point of view, we’re starting to see that technology is being applied in meaningful ways to help with conservation — not just through our work, but with many other groups too. An ecosystem of conservation technology is being created, and that’s huge progress from a few years ago, when there were all these siloed solutions that would fall apart in the end.
On the management and policy side, African countries have made huge progress on policies around poaching, around Protected Area Management, and engaging in public-private partnerships for organisations like African Parks, Peace Parks Foundation and Wildlife Conservation Society.
I’m also eager to see the pipeline of young Africans coming through who will be the conservation leaders of the next generation. I think we need more organisations like the African Leadership University School of Wildlife Conservation, the Southern African Wildlife College and the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute to build that leadership up.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your work?
The most rewarding part, and what I have deeply missed during COVID times, is seeing the animals in their natural settings. I do some amateur photography, so I’ve had to enjoy the wildlife through the photos I took early last year. There is nothing more rewarding than going to a place I’ve previously been to, where the wildlife was not thriving, and seeing our efforts pay off through thriving wildlife — that’s huge. Another thing that inspires me is the people that are out on the frontlines doing the hard work. The rangers who walk through the bush in very uncomfortable situations every single day; that’s very inspirational.
If we all work towards our individual little goals, it becomes a race to the bottom and that’s the dynamic we have to change.
Do you think the crisis of the global pandemic has engendered a deeper appreciation for the environment and an awareness of our need to protect it?
I hope so. I guess I’m skeptical because I think we humans have short memories; we see what’s right in front of us. There was a pandemic in 1918, and that changed things for a couple of years, and then everybody went back to what they were doing. So I’m a bit skeptical about lasting change, but it’s true that this is an opportunity for us all to take a breath and look at things differently.
I still think there’s a deep urge to see the natural world as a resource to be exploited. We use nature directly and indirectly to survive. This is where innovation and technology have real promise, because we can do these things much more efficiently. The question is, “Do we have the will to do it?” It takes collective action and working together towards a common goal. If we all work towards our individual little goals, it becomes a race to the bottom and that’s the dynamic we have to change.
Empty hope doesn’t get you anywhere. You have to do the hard work to deliver on that hope.
Though you’re skeptical about whether the pandemic has changed our relationship with nature, you also have to be a bit of an optimist to do this work. As we celebrate Earth Day, what are your wildest hopes for the future of the planet?
If you aren’t an optimist, you will give up very quickly, but empty hope doesn’t get you anywhere. You have to do the hard work to deliver on that hope. What I’m optimistic about is that humans have the ability to be really smart and come up with incredible solutions to really hard problems. I’m particularly optimistic about young people and their zeal for change. When I go to a protected area, and there are young Africans that are dedicated to conservation, I’m energised by that. But we can’t underestimate the challenge we have before us. It’s an enormous challenge.
We certainly resonate with that. It’s not idealistic hope; it takes hard work.
I absolutely agree. To me, the only problems worth working on are the wicked problems. Those are what get me excited, because they’re really hard. Making the next widget is just not interesting to me. I recognise that they won’t be solved by the time I’m done with my career, but if I can help to push forward progress in some small way, then I will have led a meaningful life.
