Early January, I had the pleasure of attending the Everglades Coalition Conference in Captiva Island, a small beautiful place on the Gulf Coast. The conference was filled with a diverse group of people dedicated to the conservation and restoration of what has come to be one of my favorite National Parks. The weekend was filled with invigorating discussions of the challenges the Everglades faces including limited water flow, decreased space (because of pesky people moving onto Everglades land), as well as the all-present problem of pollution. To a newly inspired Everglades advocate, these challenges seem insurmountable, however, without skipping a beat the panelists at the conference presented numerous ways to face each of the listed challenges. The sessions were filled with nods to environmentalism - "Climate Voter" buttons, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax making his appearance on one attendee's shoes - and it was frankly inspiring to be in a room of people not daunted by the local apathy or corporate greed which threatens the very existence of our Park. A Park that I might add that is not only valued in the United States as a region of important value, but has also been listed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The 2020 Everglades Coalition Conference Scholarship Recipients (photographed by Cara Capp). I was among a lucky 20 students who were granted a scholarship for participation in the conference by the Everglades Coalition and the National Parks Conservation Association. These students were fellow graduate students as well as undergraduates who had a passion for the Everglades and conservation on their mind. Our weekend was filled with panel discussions, breakout sessions, and more networking than you could shake a stick at! From 8:00 in the morning at breakfast until 9:00 in the evening we were learning and listening and trying to keep up with the science, policy, and politics of an enormous Everglades watershed. One inspiring notion that I know I and a number of the other scholarship recipients was spoken by Dr. Melissa Abdo of the NPCA; "we have hope instead of dwelling on doom and gloom." Another wonderful feature of the Conference was something organizers did not take advantage of (in my opinion): the Full Moon. Walking down the beaches of Captiva Island with nothing but the moon shining bright enough to cast a shadow while discussing all of the things we learned was one of those nights that I think I will carry with me for a long time coming - along with all of the friendships that were solidified in the nights after the lectures had stopped with boisterous conversation ringing out into the chilly nights. Jumping dolphins in Captiva Sound The end of the conference was a trip out on Captiva Sound, the water body to the east of the hotel we had been staying in. During the tour we learned about the cultural and natural history of the water body, punctuated with visits by diving cormorants, leaping dolphins, and a single bald eagle staring out at our boat from a sandbar within the sound. Each piece of the trip was a reminder of the importance of protecting beautiful natural areas, and the value of raising your voice. Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Everglades Champion and personal hero of mine, once said, "Speak up. Learn to talk clearly and forcefully in public ... Do your part to inform and stimulate the public to join your action ... Be depressed, discouraged and disappointed at failure and the disheartening effects of ignorance, greed, corruption and bad politics - but never give up. You have to stand up for some things in the world." Between this incredible woman who fought for what she believed in for her entire life, and the energy at the Everglades Coalition Conference, I have been inspired to continue raising my voice for what I believe in, which in this day and age is the protection and conservation of natural places in the world. Mangroves in the morning sun In addition to the conference attendees who have dedicated their careers to the conservation and restoration of the Everglades, I find myself inspired by the amazing women I got to spend time with at the conference. Women who have such passion and drive for the outdoors that they all collectively decided to get up and explore the Ding Darling State Park before our wildlife cruise on the sound, just to get a sense of the place we had been staying in. The crisp morning air and the shared sense of wonder wandering through mangroves brought a hushed chapel like atmosphere rather than the exuberant one expected from a group of twenty-something year-olds. Caroline Lewis of the CLEO Institute looked out at the conference and told us "I'd rather choke on greatness than nibble on mediocrity," and I think these young women are doing just that.
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In case getting to be-bop around Oahu and Maui for the week(ish) following the trip on the Launcher, I flew home to California for a mere 40 hours before doing laundry and re-packing to go to Boston, Massachusetts for the 2018 National Ocean Exploration Forum, which was held at the MIT Media Lab. The idea behind the conference was that because the ocean affects EVERYONE that we need to make the ocean accessible to everyone. This spoke to me because, well that's more or less what I've believed for my entire life/career, and all it takes is looking in a newspaper to see that the message about conservation is not being communicated effectively to the general public. The organizers of this event wanted to bring some diversity to the figurative table, and as such, the members in attendance were as diverse as was feasible. We had people of all ages - I was in a workshop in discussion with a 13 year old who's voice was heard with the same weight and value as the professor also in the same small group! In addition to a variety of ages, we had a variety of interests - we had artists, scientists, educators, film makers, and many more! Bringing together so many types of people led to some incredible discourse - the conversations ranged from silly to serious and spanned all topics! But before I dive deeper into that, I'd like to talk about the focus of the talks and workshops. The event was centered around 6 themes that are critical to ocean exploration in this day and age. These themes are:
Play. For the first theme, play seems an odd word to associate with science. It is something deemed childish and a word that I found myself using less and less in my vocabulary as I grew up. But play most certainly played a HUGE role in my love of the ocean - from playing in the waves at the beach to pretending to be a mermaid in pools as a young girl - play is something that not only inspires but it ingrains a sense of ownership over the places we played as children. I'm comfortable at the beach and in the ocean because I played there growing up - and I think that integrating play into how we teach the public and especially the youth about the oceans will ensure that the oceans have a bright future - not the dim future we hear about in the news. Imagine. A powerful word that can sometimes get lost in the learning of science in the modern day. As a young biology student at university, I was taught to memorize facts and regurgitate information, often with little to no imagination involved. However, as I grew into the field, it was DEMANDED of me to think and use my imagination to solve problems and, scarier, to come up with ideas that might explain what is happening in the natural world. Though I (obviously) made it through these challenges, I don't think (and I am happy to be wrong about this assumption) that imagination isn't associated with marine science. I'd love to bring imagination to the forefront of marine exploration. Immerse. An important point in the conference was how to immerse people in the ocean. If we can't literally bring people to the ocean and show them just how incredible it is, then there has to be a way to communicate that with the public. One way we talked about immersing the public was through story-telling, something that I have been trying to accomplish with this blog! Pictured below is me talking at a workshop on transmedia story-telling (it only seemed appropriate to post it on my transmedia story-telling page XD). Through interacting with people that tell and create stories for a living, I have been inspired to continue the blog, and maybe post a little more. We shall see. Create. This seems like a given, but it is increasingly important to come up with new ways to explore the oceans more efficiently. Some of the speakers at the conference were designing autonomous underwater ROBOTS that are going to be able to explore the coral reefs in ways that would take people hours upon hours of underwater documentation! Truly creativity is crucial to coming up with ways to document the oceans if for no other reason than that our oceans are changing at unprecedented rates. Explore. A pretty obvious theme for the National Ocean Exploration Forum, but the idea of exploring is one that I feel has been left out of the ocean science conversation. There is still A LOT to be learned about our oceans. Connect. The final, and arguably most important theme of the conference was connect. How do we connect EVERYONE to the oceans? Well my current plan is to continue sharing my passions about the ocean using everything I've got - blogging, talking to high schools, and ideally getting involved in a career that lets me share the oceans with EVERYBODY! First step in that career path is … COMPLETING MY MASTERS!!! So welcome to the next phase of the blog: connecting the ocean to the rest of the world - buckle up, it's a gonna be a wild ride! |
AuthorBree Gibbs, here. I'm a recent Master's Grad just trying to share what it's like to be a trash scientist (for those who aren't in the know, I'm a marine biologist). Categories
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