--- title: far away is still specific canonical_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/far-away-is-still-specific markdown_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/far-away-is-still-specific.md subtitle: "a fjord they hadn't seen in years was the right answer" category: philosophy --- # far away is still specific *a fjord they hadn't seen in years was the right answer* You can care about a place you don't live in, haven't visited in years, and may never see again. That care is not a weaker version of local care. It is still specific: one place, one reason, one person. In January 2024 we asked Owen for a place anywhere in the world that he holds dear. He named a fjord with forest, sea, and rivers, and said he cared about its ongoing preservation. Then he hesitated: it was very far from where he lived, he hadn't been in a long time, should he pick something closer to home? No. The fjord was the answer. A fjord already exists and already works, whether or not anyone who loves it lives nearby. Ensurance is how the place someone names gets funded to keep working. It is not the fjord. ## "local" was never the point There is a common shortcut in conservation messaging: people care about what is close, so make it local. It is half right: local work is real, and it often works. Care is specific and personal. That does not mean it stops at the county line. What people actually answer with is a place that means something to them. Sometimes that is the creek behind the house. Sometimes it is where they grew up, where they met someone, where they go when everything else is too much. Distance does not make it general. "Nature" is general. A fjord you think about from the other side of the world is not. We wrote about the difference between general and specific care in [people don't care about nature. they care about theirs](/guide/people-dont-care-about-nature-they-care-about-theirs?from=guide). This post is about one consequence: don't make people pick a closer place to qualify. ## you might be thinking: what can I do from far away? Fair question. If you live next to the creek, you can show up on a workday. From the other side of the world, you can't. But most of what keeps a place working is not done by visitors. It is done by the people who already look after it: rangers, landholders, local groups, the communities who live there. What a faraway person can do is find out who they are and back their work. Naming the place is where that starts. It does not send them money; it starts the research on who they are and what the place depends on. ## the answer that came back home One of the first people to answer our question, in 2022, was a man we'll call Rafa. He pinned an island in the Caribbean and named it "blue-paradise." He didn't live in the islands anymore. They were where he came from. Four years later he is doing the science on that archipelago's coral reefs, and working with us. We didn't know any of that when he answered. His answer named a place, and he turned out to be one of the people already working on it. :::johnson **distance is not a weaker kind of care.** Name the place you love, wherever it is. The people who look after it are already there. [name your place →](/place?from=guide) ::: ## what happens when you name a faraway place On [ensurance](/place?from=guide), the map opens near where you are, then flies to the place you name, however far. Your answer starts the research on what the place depends on and who already looks after it. Leave an email and the page is kept for you to come back to. You don't have to choose between the place you live and the place you love. You can name either. You can come back and name the other. ## frequently asked questions ### can you care about a place you don't live? Yes. Care follows meaning, not distance. For many people, the most important place is somewhere they grew up, visited once, or have never been but feel tied to. ### is it better to protect a place close to home? Close places matter and are easier to visit. They are not more legitimate. The useful question is which place someone will keep caring about, and that is their answer, not ours. ### what can I do for a place I can't visit? Support the people and groups already looking after it. Start by naming the place and seeing who they are. A place can hold an account that receives funding; naming it is the first step, not the funding. *Names changed for privacy.* ## the series 1. [the one question that gets people to care about a place](/guide/the-one-question-that-gets-people-to-care-about-a-place?from=guide) (read first) 2. [the waterfall that asked a question back](/guide/the-waterfall-that-asked-a-question-back?from=guide) 3. **far away is still specific** 4. [the place that's mostly gone](/guide/the-place-thats-mostly-gone?from=guide) 5. [the home you won't pin](/guide/the-home-you-wont-pin?from=guide)