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ISG+ Update: Tasting Sustainability at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
This guest post is submitted by Debbie Colodner, Director of Conservation Education and Science from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and is the second in a 3-part series on their Innovative Solutions Grants+ project where they are partnered with Leading for Good to see if they can move the needle on sustainable seafood in Tucson, Arizona. As described previously, the Tasting Sustainability Project partners the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum with the Leading for Good Internship Program in Tucson, Arizona to test strategies for engaging local restaurants on sustainable seafood issues, and encouraging changes in their sourcing. As a secondary goal, the Museum is testing strategies for engaging young adults (millennials) in its mission and programs. We are happy to report progress on both fronts. Identifying restaurants and understanding their interests Based on their interviews, the team divided restaurants into four types (upscale, tavern, family/cultural and hip/urban), finding that at least in this small sample the upscale and hip/urban tended to be more interested in the issue. They then developed and presented customized strategies for raising awareness and engaging customers, specifically young adult customers. The four strategies included in-restaurant signage (table tents, posters, menus), social media campaigns, training for wait staff, and co-hosting partner events with the Desert Museum. The team prototyped each of the strategies with “mini experiments” at four of the restaurants, learning lessons on the first three before deciding to go forward with the fourth. Signage - The feedback on the table tents/signage was that restaurant owners didn’t feel like it was their role to “educate” their customers on this issue, but rather respond to customer questions. Social media campaign – The group proposed having customers post pictures of themselves and their sustainable dishes and tagging the restaurant, but that was thought to take too much time to explain and compile into useful advertising for the restaurant. Training – The group also tried offering training for wait staff during a staff meeting, but time was very limited. The restaurant where this was prototyped, as well as one other continue to be interested in this as part of an ongoing partnership with ASDM, however. Events – The feedback was much more positive on the possibility of co-hosting events at restaurants and/or at the Museum, so the group determined that this would be the strategy they would like to test further, including social media and marketing for the events. Restaurants value the potential for increased exposure from this strategy. Next we will be testing two restaurant events and featuring sustainable seafood at World Ocean Night at the Museum (We’re compiling those results now!) Some promising results so far on our primary goal of engaging local restaurants on sustainable seafood issues: 8 of the 13 already have said they are interested in going forward and partnering in the Museum’s sustainable seafood efforts! One is already a Seafood Watch partner and 6 are interested in learning more about this possibility. Another has already explored this, but their parent company is not ready to pursue it. (The Museum is also exploring the interns’ recommendations to develop a local seafood sustainability partnership program that might be a steppingstone to a full partnership with Monterey Bay.) Two new restaurants have been recruited to offer sustainable seafood tastings at World Oceans Night, and will join two that have participated before. With respect to our secondary goal of young-adult engagement with the Museum, this project has been extremely successful with the interns themselves. The college interns showed positive change in measures of self-efficacy, became confident and competent educators around sustainable seafood issues, developed a much greater affinity for the Desert Museum, and were much more likely to recommend the Museum to their friends. What we’ve learned from this program also has helped us recruit many more “millennials” to our interpretive volunteer corps as well, with 30 of the 46 new stingray interpreters coming from this younger demographic. Our next steps: We will try to answer the following questions related to co-hosted Sustainable Seafood events: Do they increase the likelihood of action on sustainable seafood issues? Do they drive more customers to restaurants that serve sustainable seafood? Do they increase the Museum’s engagement with younger audiences? More soon! In the meantime, have a look at our power point presentation on our project: [pdf-embedder url="https://theoceanproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ASDM-Tasting-Sustainability-Final-Presentation-May-2016-1.pdf"]
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ISG+ Update: Zoo-Alive teen volunteers at the Saint Louis Zoo take the #byetobags pledge and spread the word!
This guest post is submitted by Kirinne Slaughter at the Saint Louis Zoo, and is the second in a 3-part series on their Innovative Solutions Grants+ project. Since our last post, our Zoo ALIVE (ZA) teen volunteers have been hard at work helping Zoo visitors say #byetobags! Successfully building on the lessons learned from the Better Bag Challenge, our teens have developed a campaign that asks visitors to be a part of the plastic pollution solution by switching to reusable bags to help sea lions. The teens designed a reusable bag giveaway, and a pledge that states: “I pledge to switch to reusable bags in order to keep our oceans clean for sea lions & all ocean animals!” Since our official launch on April 23rd, they have asked more than 1200 people to take this pledge. As the main question under our grant, we wanted to know how effective social media was at amplifying an on-grounds conservation ask and, at the same time, how effective it could be as a standalone medium of asking people to take conservation action. Specifically, our teens wanted to know: Could they get visitors who took our pledge on-grounds to become active on #byetobags social media, and share the #byetobags pledge with friends and family? How many people could they get to take the #byetobags pledge just through discovery on social media, without the on-grounds bag offer? If people do share the pledge with their friends and family, which method of sharing do they use most? How can we measure all this? These were a lot of questions, and it took a lot of hard work to figure out a way to track the data that we needed to answer these questions. But, with the help of the Zoo’s marketing department and advertising agency, we developed an innovative online pledge taking platform that not only adds a level of sophistication to our campaign, but is the first online campaign of its kind at the Saint Louis Zoo. To properly track data in order to answer these questions, two separate pledge pages were created: one for visitors to sign if they visit a #byetobags table on-grounds, and another for people who accessed the effort through our social media streams or through the Saint Louis Zoo website. The forms are identical in almost every way, save for the fact that the on-grounds form is a ghost page, accessible only to #byetobags staff when on-grounds. Both forms require visitors to give their name, email and zip code. It also gives them the option to give their age, and answer the question, “how often do you use reusable bags?” Have you taken the #byetobags pledge? Do so now, and then help spread the word! The online pledge form can be found here. After taking the pledge, everyone, no matter which pledge form they use, receives an email thanking them for taking the pledge, and asking them to spread the word to their friends and family. The teens came up with three share options to choose from: Facebook, Twitter, and email. No matter which method they choose, an automatic message is provided for them to spread the #byetobags message. For example, if you were to choose to share via Twitter, the following message will be automatically tweeted from your account: “Keep sea lions safe from plastic bags in the ocean! Join us and take the pledge!" The tweet contains a link back to the #byetobags online pledge page. Because these separate pledge pages generate two separate lists of people, we are able to track whether someone took the pledge on grounds, whether they found the pledge on our social media or on the Saint Louis Zoo website. Additionally, through analysis software provided through Google, Formstack and our email service provider, Sharpspring, we are able to track through which social media channel people access the pledge, and what share option people use most often when spreading the message to their friends and family. As we continue to collect data, there seems to be no limit to the number of questions we can answer with this sophisticated software. What have we found out so far? So far, since our launch on April 23rd, the Zoo ALIVE Teen volunteers have collected data that begins to shed light on their research questions: On grounds: A total of 732 on-grounds pledges have been taken! Meaning this many more reusable bags are being put to use! Additionally, across all events at which the teen volunteers were presenting #byetobags information, 90% of the people that the teens interacted with and asked to take the pledge, did so. While relatively few of these people have shared the pledge from the email that they received, our Facebook following and reach has been increasing steadily each week, with a total Facebook reach of 17,081 people! Online: We also have seen success on our online pledge, with an additional 168 pledges received with no on-grounds interactions at all, due only to presence on social media and the Saint Louis Zoo website. Since the first posting of the online pledge link on #byetobags social media on April 26th, we have averaged around three online pledges taken per day. These pledges come mostly from people responding to our posts on social media, however we do get pledge takers who stumble upon the pledge while simply navigating the Saint Louis Zoo’s website. Which share option has proved most successful so far? Facebook has been used three times as often as other share options for spreading the word about the #byetobags pledge. Anecdotally, however, our Twitter account has garnered lots of attention from other sustainability organizations, such as St. Louis County Recycling and Coast Plastics. I anticipate that our visibility and networking with these organizations will help us greatly as we continue to spread our message into the St. Louis community at large. As we continue to move forward with this campaign… Our teens are focusing on modifying our messaging to emphasize the importance of sharing the pledge with friends and family. Additionally, they will be increasing their engagement on social media in an effort to increase the number of pledges taken online, and the number of followers on our sites. Just this past week, we unveiled a #byetobags challenge that asks followers to post a photo/video with their reusable bag. With this challenge we hope to increase awareness and engagement with our campaign. As we continue to interact with visitors throughout the summer, we expect to see these numbers increase, with more and more people joining the pledge through social media, and spreading the word! The whole Zoo says #byetobags! In addition to the primary aspect of our grant, we have also been involved in many other important parts of Zoo culture. Our gift shops have been very involved with the project. They have incorporated signs into their shops encouraging people to choose reusable bags, and ask visitors, “Do you need a bag today?” upon checkout. Additionally, our #byetobags messaging has been integrated into our Sea Lion Show. Before each show, an audio clip recorded by the Zoo ALIVE teen volunteers plays that gives an overview of the #byetobags project. During the show, the trainers explain how important reusable bags are, and give away a #byetobags reusable bag. The sea lions themselves also take part and during the show they put their “lunch” into a prop #byetobags reusable bag. https://theoceanproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/OPR-Audio-Clip-2-Final-1.mp3 Finally, we are an integral activity at our weekly summer concert series, Jungle Boogie. We have formed strong connections with visitors who attend this event each week, and they have become advocates for our project as they encourage new visitors to stop by our table. An overwhelming majority of our guests have been nothing but positive when interacting with our #byetobags table. They seem grateful for the information, and excited about receiving our help in starting to work towards more sustainable behaviors. Our next steps include continuing to work with the various departments around the Zoo and the Saint Louis community to increase the spread of our message. We will be at an increasing number of events throughout the summer, and new ZA’s have been trained and will begin working with the #byetobags campaign. Additionally, as we continue to analyze different parts of our data, we will continue to answer our research questions as to how we can most successfully amplify an on-grounds ask using social media.
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ISG+ Midterm Report: Woodland Park Zoo teens inspire peers to take a stand on climate change
This guest post by Eli Weiss of Woodland Park Zoo is the 2nd in a 3-part series on their Innovative Solutions Grants+ project, exploring how teens in the Seattle area can empower each other and their peers for action on climate change. In 2016 our focus for Seattle Youth Climate Action Network has been to build on the success of our pilot year and expand our engagement model to be inclusive and relevant for teens in the Seattle area. In year one we worked primarily with teens that were already committed through volunteer and internship programs at Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle Aquarium and Pacific Science Center. For the culminating Youth Climate Action Summit, we invited teens from other youth programs to participate and had a great response. As relayed in our last post, our primary goals for the project this year are to get more teens from across the city to join the network, and develop a more widespread and more engaging Summer Transportation Challenge. In keeping with our first goal, we have been looking to recruit teens that don’t already have a connection to Seattle Youth CAN. Noting our earlier finding that our in-person events have proven to be surprisingly successful as an engagement strategy, we have been focused on the following: Encouraging teens who are already involved to invite their peers to our events Asking other youth programs to join the network and attend and promote our events Tabling at local teen and climate change events that have been developed by others We have seen mixed results with this approach, and have continued to evolve our outreach strategy as we go. What did we do? Our teen leaders have presented at a range of youth action and climate events including; Gates Foundation’s Youth Action Summit, Museum of Flight’s NASA Climate Night, Seattle Art Museums Teen Night Out, and the Youth Ocean Conservation Summit at the Seattle Aquarium. What’s been working? One element that teens developed that has been effective for engagement at outreach events has been the “climate tree” activity which asks people to add one leaf that represents what they are doing to fight climate change and one for what they are concerned about. Since this was developed, over a hundred leaves have been added and thirty new teens have joined the network! What have been the lessons learned? Youth leaders have identified a range of barriers to participation in Seattle Youth CAN from the broader youth community including the challenge of getting reaching new teens through existing communication channels and the relevance of our events for youth who are not already passionate about climate change. We are working to address these potential barriers and continue to expand our community support and opportunities for youth and partner input on our outreach and engagement efforts. While expanding our network, we also took steps to strengthen its core. Specifically, we expanded youth leadership opportunities within the network, and in January launched the Youth Leadership Committee (YLC), a steering committee that is made up of teen representatives from each partner program. These teens meet monthly (and often more) to plan campaigns, explore new opportunities, and move broader project goals forward. In addition, each partner program has its own climate team with more youth members who in addition to the network-wide efforts are working on a on a range of institution specific projects - stay tuned! By creating new opportunities for teens to take on leadership roles, we are helping to strengthen the youth driven nature of the project and also the critical mass needed to move us forward. Then in keeping with our second goal, developing a more widespread and more engaging Transportation Challenge, the YLC is busy gearing up for another exciting summer of transportation related action. This year, teen leaders have modified the goals of the challenge: Increasing participation by expanding our network of partners and reaching more teens Engage participants in fun activities and events that help increase personal action and carbon reducing transportation choices The group is hard at work developing a new approach for engagement which they hope will be successful in getting many more youth involved in the action. The eight-week summer challenge will have weekly themes and prizes, and in-person events and contests to build excitement for getting involved and encouraging others to participate, as well as a strong social media focus through channels including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We also have launched a new blog, www.seattleyouthcan.org which is a great place for our teens to share their stories and will be a hub for the upcoming challenge. Not to forget that earlier this year, seven of our teens worked with King County Metro Transit to develop a complementary youth-targeted campaign, which will hopefully launch county wide this summer. In addition, a local website design and social media firm, www.rorymartin.com, has offered up their support to help build a more dynamic marketing and social media strategy for the campaign and will be training a team of Seattle Youth CAN teens to lead this effort. All together, we are hoping to inspire hundreds of local youth to take action during the months of July and August. We are hopeful that with more targeting outreach and communication during the challenge and a more dynamic experience for participants, that we will successfully engage a much larger group this summer both within and beyond our core network. Stay tuned for updates on our summer of learning and climate action!
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ISG+ update: Connecting Ocean Conservation and Community Engagement at the National Aquarium
This guest post, by Gabrielle Roffe and Curtis Bennett of the National Aquarium’s Conservation Department is the second in a 3-part series on their Innovative Solutions Grants+ project. This project will be addressing the issue of marine debris by implementing a new approach to community engagement, with a specific focus on building our connection with the Hispanic communities near Masonville Cove in the Chesapeake Bay. Review of Project Goals Through this Community Engagement and Environmental Stewardship Project, the National Aquarium’s Conservation Department is focused on building connections with the local Hispanic communities within the larger Brooklyn and Curtis Bay communities and addressing the problem of litter and debris. The specific goals of the project, as described in our initial post, have been two-fold: Engage members of the local Hispanic populations in the removal of debris Cultivate community champions in order to ensure ongoing engagement Step-by-Step Process The first and most important step for us was to identify “pillar organizations” within the local Hispanic Community. In each and every community, there are existing organizations, congregations or schools who serve community members in a variety of ways. We felt it was important to reach out to and ultimately collaborate with these groups, rather than going at it alone, because they have the prior trusting relationships with the communities and, as a result, they can provide that connection and help to bridge the gap between our organization and the community itself.For our project, we have wanted to ensure that our programs are engaging people of different ages, backgrounds and interests. With that in mind, we specifically targeted three pillar organizations that also shared our interest in addressing the issue of litter and marine debris: The Templo de Alabanza Y Restauración (TAYR) Congregation Lakeland Elementary/Middle School Parent Group and ESL students at Ben Franklin High School at Masonville Cove. Over the course of our project so far we have been fostering relationships with each of these groups and in the following paragraphs we’ll outline our engagement with each group to date. TAYR TAYR is a Hispanic religious congregation that hosts weekly services at the Pathway Church of God, located within the Brooklyn community. We scheduled an initial meeting with the Pastor and his wife, during which we explained our organizational mission and they immediately connected to the importance of community work and protecting the natural environment. It was very relatable to them, because they told us that in the areas where they come from, in their countries, nature is abundant, and they recognize its value and thus appreciate the value of nature in their current communities and at Masonville Cove. TAYR congregation members painting storm drains outside their church Once we had the support of the congregation leaders, we then started to branch out to the congregation as a whole. We attended Sunday school and church services to talk about the various events at Masonville Cove and our community workshops, such as our Watershed 101 workshop, which we were offering in Spanish. The Pastor and his wife also suggested hosting a community cleanup after Church services. The planning of the event was a truly collaborative process, working with them to finalize the structure and flow of the event. Normally for debris clean-ups, our staff is responsible for leading groups of participants; however, for this community clean-up we adjusted the model to allow congregation members to be group leaders. We believed that empowering them to lead fellow congregants and community members would lead to a higher likelihood of sustainability of these efforts. So the Pastor and his wife recommended members of the congregation to be group leaders for this community clean up. A group of TAYR congregation members during a community cleanup Successes Met with the Pastor and his wife 4 times to discuss our collective programming goals. These meetings were a great way to share our collective ideas on what types of programs are of interest to the congregation and methods to best engage their congregants. Talked to 65 adults and 50 youth during two visits with the congregation to inform members about upcoming events. This method of event promotion is successful because you are being directly introduced by the Pastor, a respected leader, and you are then able to reach a larger audience. Engaged 80 adults and 34 youth during a community clean-up on April 24th. Participants also stenciled 5 storm drains during the event. The Pastor and his wife assigned their congregation leaders as our cleanup group leaders for this event. The congregation leaders then brought their cohorts to the cleanup which resulted in a wide attendance. Lessons Learned Hosted a Watershed 101 workshop at Masonville Cove with 3 attendees. The attendees were the Pastor and his two sons. We learned that we had the Pastor’s buy in for our work, but our message had not reached the congregation by simply talking to them about the event at church service. The Pastor felt disappointed that his congregants did not come to an event, however he did see that our work and associated projects are not only important but that they are fun and engaging. After this event, he took a bigger leadership role in order to ensure that his congregation was engaged. Students from the Youth Group were planning to come to our April 2nd Masonville Cove clean-up, however due to inclement weather, they were unable to attend. We learned that targeting a specific group within the congregation is a great way to get a focused attendance. The youth group and the congregation leadership group are tight cohorts who will come together when requested by the Pastor and his wife. Gaby Roffe (right, National Aquarium) and Nia Edwards (left, Hispanic Access Foundation), instruct TAYR congregation members for storm drain stenciling with stencils in English and Spanish. "Basura de nuestra calle contamina nuestra bahía" which means "Trash on our streets today pollutes the waters of our bay" Ben Franklin High School Over the years, we have built a very strong relationship with Ben Franklin High School (BFHS), as their students participate in many of our environmental education programs. Courtesy of this project, we have been able to engage them on a different level, focusing specifically on their community and collectively determining solutions to local environmental issues, specifically debris accumulation. BFHS has a growing Hispanic student population and English as a Second Language Program. Due to the language barrier, our past programs weren’t doing as good of a job as they could be to engage these students. Having staff on board now that are learning to and/or can speak Spanish fluently has been a huge step in the right direction. Now we can truly ensure that our programming is all-inclusive by translating programming into Spanish and making an effort to reach out to Hispanic students. We’ve coordinated various workshops with the Environmental Science teachers and worked with administrative staff to plan Benfest, a community event hosted by BFHS. Successes Engaged 39 students during 3 Watershed 101 workshops. Engaged 52 students during a classroom visit and schoolyard walk focused on stormwater runoff and designing possible solutions. Engaged approximately 800 people at Benfest, during which participants received and decorated 45 recycle bins, stenciled 3 storm drains and picked up trash around the schoolyard. Lessons Learned We targeted the Environmental Science classes which had already been engaged through our Watershed lessons. The teacher informed us that she had many ESL students in her classes and it would be helpful to lead groups in English and Spanish. All of the students were excited about this, both the Spanish speaking students, who were excited to have programming tailored to them, as well as the students who did not speak Spanish, who were excited to hear translations. Partnering with an existing community event is a successful way to engage a wider audience. We were able to pull new community members into our programming and engage larger numbers in hands on community stewardship activities. Lakeland Elementary/Middle School Parent Group Lakeland Elementary/Middle School has a Hispanic parent group that hosts monthly breakfasts. We have attended in order to hand out flyers, highlighting different events, both in the community and at Masonville Cove. Through this group we have connected the Hispanic community members to Masonville Cove and learned about their programming interests. Successes Attended one parent breakfast, during which we talked with 28 people about upcoming Masonville Cove and community events Lessons Learned The majority of the audience was unfamiliar with Masonville Cove and their programming. They did exhibit initial interest in programming, although it has been challenging to follow up with this group because we do not have their contact information and they only meet once a month. We may have to explore and implement different strategies in order to engage this group. Moving Forward In the past we did not use a direct approach to connect with Hispanic communities, so we cast a wider net throughout the community to advertise programs and events. This community pillar strategy is proving successful in allowing for a more direct and focused approach to identifying, selecting and engaging specific audiences and building trusting relationships with them for continued involvement. TAYR congregation members clean the streets of Brooklyn, Baltimore We have learned that in order to build trusting relationships with cohorts, it is important to communicate on a regular basis with the group leaders, who are trusted by community members. When the leaders vouch for your events, community members are more likely to attend. It is also important to attend community events that might not necessarily be related to your work, but helps build a relationship that is a two-way street. Based on the results to date, we will focus the majority of our efforts over the summer towards the TAYR congregation, continuing to involve them in community clean-up events, workshops and field trips to Masonville Cove with their Youth Group. As we progress we will be able to identify community champions from this congregation as well as identify opportunities to partner and engage with other community pillars.
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Thank you for celebrating World Oceans Day 2016!
Over the past two weeks, hundreds of events were held, thousands of individuals celebrated, and millions of people were engaged online for World Oceans Day. Aquariums and zoos, and other visitor-serving organizations once again played an integral role in the festivities, inspiring and activating thousands of visitors. Thank you so much for being a part of this global celebration of our oceans. This year’s theme was ‘Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet’, and people all over the world were focusing on the prevention of plastic pollution. Organizations committed to using less plastic and organized beach cleanups to clean their local beaches and waterways. Many establishments continued to implement the Better Bag Challenge and various iterations of it, at their celebrations. Aquariums like Shedd Aquarium, Texas State Aquarium, Virginia Aquarium and many more joined Jack Johnson and took the Wave for Change challenge by sharing videos of themselves doing the wave. You’re encouraged to keep the Wave for Change growing at your organization throughout the summer! The online buzz about World Oceans Day this year was huge! #WorldOceansDay trended second on Twitter with over 146K tweets. Instagram posts about World Oceans Day reached over 290 million people, and over 65 million people were reached on Twitter. Numerous zoos and aquariums participated by tweeting inspiring messages and sharing incredible photos of marine life. Celebrities like Richard Branson, Ellie Goulding, Pharrell Williams, Adrian Grenier, Nelson Mandela and more shared photos and tweeted their support for our oceans. Notable organizations such as the United Nations, CNN, National Geographic, LIFE, the White House and more joined in spreading messages of ocean conservation. World Oceans Day teamed up with Youth Ocean Conservation Summit and The Big Blue and You to create Sea Youth Rise Up, which brought seven youth ocean conservation leaders to NYC and Washington DC. The youth spoke about pressing ocean issues and solutions in a live google hangout at the New York Aquarium. Click here to watch their broadcast. The youth then headed to Washington DC to meet with ocean leaders at the White House, including discussing protecting more special coastal and ocean areas (see www.BlueBackyard.org for more information on some leading sites for protection). World Oceans Day also introduced the World Oceans Day Youth Advisory Council. There are 11 members on the council all coming from different countries around the world. The new advisory council will help expand the reach and impact of World Oceans Day, on June 8th, and year round. World Oceans Day will continue to engage youth throughout the year! World Oceans Day wouldn’t have been so successful without your organization’s passion for ocean conservation. World Oceans Day happens once a year, but our ocean should be loved and respected throughout the year. Stay tuned for new campaigns and initiatives to celebrate our oceans all year long! Thank you for your support and participation!
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Happy World Oceans Day!
Feliz Día Mundial de los Océanos! ハッピー世界海洋デー سعيد اليوم العالمي للمحيطات Vrolijk Wereld Oceanen Dag! Bonne Journée Mondiale de l’Océan! ਧੰਨ ਵਿਸ਼ਵ ਸਮੁੰਦਰ ਦਿਵਸ! 世界海洋日快樂 Feliz Dia Mundial dos Oceanos! Fröhlichen Tag des Meeres! हैप्पी विश्व महासागर दिवस के अवसर! Счастливый Всемирный день океанов! Chúc mừng Ngày Đại dương Thế giới শুভ বিশ্ব মহাসাগর দিবস! 행복한 세계 해양의 날 Felice Giornata Mondiale degli Oceani! Felis Dia Mundial di Océano World Oceans Day is a global day of ocean celebration and collaboration for a better future. From the entire team at World Oceans Day headquarters, we hope you will celebrate your connection to our shared ocean on June 8th, and get involved in helping with solutions to the many challenges we face in creating a healthier ocean and a more sustainable society. No matter where you live – each of us affects the ocean and is affected by the ocean. This year, individuals and organizations across our blue planet are celebrating with the theme “Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet” and are promoting prevention of plastic ocean pollution with events in their communities, with special announcements and everything in between! You, too, can get involved in a fun and easy way! Participate in the Wave for Change by joining singer Jack Johnson who started The Wave, asking people to make a commitment to the ocean on World Oceans Day, reduce their plastic usage, and spread the message that the oceans need our help. As Jack Johnson says in his video, youth are the key for a better future. We are particularly excited by our long-term commitment to involve youth: this week we announced the creation of a World Oceans Day Youth Advisory Council, which will be instrumental in shaping the development of World Oceans Day into the future, providing new ideas and unique perspectives. Together, with the Youth Advisory Council, our growing global network of partners from all sectors in dozens of countries, and our Supporters, we will grow the reach and impact of World Oceans Day on June 8 and also expand opportunities for ocean conservation throughout the year. With the enthusiasm and involvement of people around the world, World Oceans Day has grown tremendously each year since The Ocean Project started promoting and coordinating it in 2002. With hundreds of partner organizations and networks involved, and especially since the United Nations officially recognized June 8 as World Oceans Day in late 2008, we have collectively reached millions worldwide. This global celebration is growing fast and provides a special day once a year to reflect on the importance of a healthy ocean, our ocean connections, and how each of us can make a positive difference in our lifetimes. We hope you will become more involved!
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Last minute World Oceans Day event ideas!
Last minute ways to mark this special day! World Oceans Day is just around the corner, but it's never too late to plan a great activity or event to celebrate World Oceans Day on June 8th! Here are some last-minute, quick n’ easy ways to do something to celebrate World Oceans Day and help out our ocean. First and foremost - join the #waveforchange! This World Oceans Day we invite you to commit to reduce the amount of plastic you use with a video pledge, and challenge your friends to do the same! Plastic pollution is a huge problem for the ocean. On May 25th, singer Jack Johnson started The Wave, asking people to reduce their plastic usage on World Oceans Day, and spread the message that the oceans need our help. Share your video commitment online with the tags #WaveForChange and #WorldOceansDay. Don’t forget to tag World Oceans Day on Facebook & Instagram, and @CelebrateOceans on Twitter. With social media, we can turn individual ripples into a wave of support for the ocean. Together we can help this movement grow and swell! Let’s get everyone to make a wave for ocean conservation! The Better Bag Challenge Take the Better Bag Challenge: promise not use any disposable plastic bags for a whole year. Take a better bag instead! Challenge your friends, family, coworkers, or club members to join you. Petition to Recognize World Oceans Day in Your Community Is World Oceans Day officially observed in your town or city, state, district, province, or nation? If not, follow our easy 5 step Community Proclamation & Petition Step By Step Guide to help your community join the growing list of those around the world who are making this unique celebration on June 8th an officially recognized annual event. Create a community art piece Getting your visitors, neighborhood, or any group of friendly folks together is a wonderful opportunity to make some art! Create a mural somewhere public – depict ocean animals, or display your community’s ocean promises. An even easier option is to do a sidewalk mural or art piece. You can even make eco-friendly sidewalk chalk at home! Clean up your favorite spot It’s great to get hundreds of community members out cleaning the beach or river, but it’s not the only kind of cleanup that makes a difference! Grab a few friends or family members and make an outing of it. Go visit your favorite beach, river, lake, or park for a picnic and bring some bags for trash. Go a step further and host a beach, river, lake, wetland, or underwater cleanup. Try contacting local outdoor, dive and water sport shops to help organize and spread the word. You can recruit volunteers through the media, community posters, or local youth groups. Follow the cleanup with a celebratory dinner featuring sustainable seafood! Check out all of our free online resources, and see our latest news for further last minute ideas.
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Plastic-Free! Zoos, Aquariums and Museums
Photo Credit: Flickr user Kat Many zoos, aquariums, and museums (ZAMs) are already taking action to reduce disposable plastic use at their institutions, which is great in and of itself, and also, the research tells us, a great way to engage your visitors! See here for ideas on how to reduce your organization's disposable plastic use. With that in mind, here are a couple of specific ideas for ZAMs who want to highlight their own commitments while encouraging visitors to take action during events on/around World Oceans Day! Better reusable bag and bottle promotions – Many ZAMs have already taken steps to reduce, if not eliminate, use of disposable plastic bags and bottles, and also have begun to promote and/or sell reusable bags and bottles. Take it to the next level by staying in touch with visitors! Ask visitors to take the Better Bag Challenge. As a reward for signing on with their email address for World Oceans Day, provide them with a reusable bag that includes positive messaging that allows them to tout their commitment. Consider adding a tag to the bag with the additional steps they can take. The Saint Louis Zoo is implementing many of these recommendations and adding a social media twist: to amplify the impact of their commitment, teen volunteers are asking visitors to share their pledge on social media sites with a hashtag (in their case, #byetobags). Photo Credit: Flickr user Foodista Showcasing “trash-free” celebrations – Celebrate with a trash-free event for World Oceans Day, highlight what you've done so visitors are aware, and encourage visitors to join you in taking action. Ask your visitors to take the Better Bag Challenge, or another step that aligns directly with your event, such as a pledge to avoid disposable plastics at their picnics and parties this summer. Last but not least, consider conducting an exit survey to see how people responded, both to the challenge, and to the ask for action. Contact our World Oceans Day coordinator for more. And please refer back to the Better Bag Challenge section of this site for more tips on messaging and follow up with events like these. Have suggestions to add to this list? Please get in touch.
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Celebrate the World’s Oceans this Earth Day!
Credit: Ocean Conservancy Every April 22, events are held worldwide to celebrate our planet and raise awareness about threats to environmental health, like climate change and pollution. Many of these efforts tend to have a terrestrial focus. While addressing terrestrial issues and taking action on land are crucial in working towards a sustainable future, don’t overlook the importance of the ocean and its interconnectedness with life on land! Visit the World Oceans Day Blog to learn more about what you can do this Earth Day and beyond as we lead up to World Oceans Day on June 8!
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June 8th is World Oceans Day – It’s time to take action for the ocean!
World Oceans Day is the annual day of ocean celebration and action around the world. As people all over our blue planet prepare to celebrate under the theme “Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet,” we get a lot of questions. Here are some answers to those FAQ's, and, of course, don’t forget to promote your celebration plans by registering your event, and adding it to the worldwide map so we can share it with the world! What is World Oceans Day? It is the official UN-designated international day of ocean celebration. On June 8th each year, we celebrate the ocean, its importance in our lives, and how we can protect it. The theme for World Oceans Day 2016 is Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet. We are encouraging our partners and friends to focus on what actions each of us can take to protect the ocean and safeguard vulnerable communities and places, with a lot of attention to the problem of plastic pollution in particular. By joining in the celebration and sharing ideas, we can work together to achieve a healthy ocean that provides for the billions of humans, plants and animals that depend on it every day of the year. Do you have any suggestions for how best to celebrate it? The website, www.WorldOceansDay.org has plenty of free resources and tools to help you plan an event, large or small, or mark the day in some other special way. Check out these great ideas, and promote your event widely with these hints and tips. Aquarium and zoo-specific ideas from World Oceans Day 2015 can be found here. And you may wish to consider a variation based on the successful pilot of a "Better Bag Challenge” based on the lessons learned last year. Promote the Third Annual World Oceans Day Photo Contest. Use free World Oceans Day Octonauts activity kit to engage your youngest visitors. What is the new "Youth Advisory Council?" We are seeking ten young leaders (ages 16-21) from around the world to serve on a new Advisory Council to help expand the reach and impact of World Oceans Day. Applications are being accepted through April 20th. More details can be found on our blog. Join us in exploring and learning how to organize an event for World Oceans Day, mark the day in a special way, and take action for the ocean year round!
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