Field Notes Blog

The Rainforest is My Teacher

May 11, 2023

So, what did I learn, and continue to learn from the Rainforest? So much more than the trees, birds, monkeys, dolphins, fish, or the things that glow in the dark. I experienced scientific content in a multi-dimensional way. I floated on the Napo River at night with a…

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morpho institute conservation projects in the amazon

Weaving a Future in the Amazon

November 16, 2021

Supporting Indigenous Craftsmanship by Dr. Nancy Trautmann Imagine lying in a hammock in an open-air shelter in the Amazon rainforest. Hearing torrential rainfall and watching sheets of water cascading off the roof, you wonder why you’re not getting wet. You notice that the roofing seems to be made…

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So, what’s your transformation story?

September 14, 2020

by Dr. Kelly Keena, Board President. I was sitting in the dark movie theatre watching Frozen 2 with my almost-adult daughter. The end scene is Olaf, a snowman made of two girls’ imaginations. And then, he articulated something I spend a lot of time thinking about. Perfectly. “While…

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Why Morpho?

July 22, 2020

by Dr. Kelly Keena, Board President We sat in the green and white wooden Explorama boat nosed into the bank of a small tributary stream. The dense branches had a clearing and the equally dense brown water was still. The perfect place to fish for piraña. It’s a…

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Teachers in the Amazon Rainforest

The Power of Partnerships in the Amazon

June 16, 2020

by Dr. Nancy Trautmann, founding board member of the Morpho Institute As an environmental scientist and educator, my career has centered on helping educators reach beyond lectures and textbooks to engage students in investigating real-world environmental science issues. When I traveled to Peru in 2015 as a faculty…

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We are listening

June 5, 2020

Black Lives Matter. Black Voices Matter. Dear Morpho Community, The past few months we’ve weathered the heart-wrenching news of loved ones lost to a global virus disproportionately affecting Communities of Color in the U.S. and our friends in Iquitos, Peru. In the past few weeks we’ve grappled with outrage…

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What a difference a month can make

April 22, 2020

One month ago. We were finalizing the roster for our 2020 Educator Academy in the Amazon. We were celebrating a fruitful collaboration with our conservation partners.We were hatching plans for student research projects in the Amazon. One month ago, we had no idea how much the world would…

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Taking Flight! Children’s Love of Birds Inspires Hope for the Amazon

December 10, 2019

Taking Flight! Children’s Love of Birds Inspires Hope for the Amazon Authors:  Brian Landever, Director of CONAPAC & Christa Dillabaugh, Director of the Morpho Institute What happens when you mix 1000+ students, 250 teachers, 75 binoculars, 26 remote Amazon rainforest communities, a host of international partners, and one…

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A Bird in the Hand & A Mentor in the Jungle

September 25, 2019

Have you ever had one of those moments that stopped you in your tracks?

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Inquiry in the Amazon: Orchid Bees

July 19, 2019

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