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Partners for ocean conservation
Thank you to all our partner organizations for your…
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Seas the Day in November – Rethink Your Habits
We won't have a society if we destroy the environment. - Margaret Mead Our personal consumer choices have ecological, social, and spiritual consequences. It is time to re-examine some of our deeply held notions that underlie our lifestyles. - David Suzuki Last month we talked about reducing our use of electricity. That is just one of the four R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rethink. In our current society there is a large impulse to buy new things and toss the old. Buying the newest iphone may seem like a good reason to throw away the old one, but why not hold onto it for a while longer? Our trash can end up polluting the land and aquatic ecosystems including the ocean! It's best to rethink every purchase, reuse what we have, reduce what we buy, and recycle as much as we can. In this way we can rescue the ocean. by Carlos Peñalba, flickr user carlospenalbaphotography Reduce plastic. Plastic plays an unfortunately large role in our lives. Many of the things we buy come packaged in plastic and then stores give us plastic bags to bring these items home in. This is a problem since plastic items, such as plastic bags can make their way into the ocean. When this happens ocean creatures such as sea turtles eat them by accident. Quick tip: When you are out shopping, bring your own reusable bags. Cloth bags are not only better for the environment, but they are sturdier and less likely to rip open. Reuse for crafts. Instead of disposing of your stuff, how about finding other uses for the things you have? Old shoe boxes can easily be used for storage. Have something extra lying around? Why not use it for a family craft project? Many things can be transformed into something useful given time and creativity. Quick tip: Have something you don't need but someone else may? Try going on freecycle.org and find someone who wants it. (Or find something you may need, for free!) by Mary Anne Enriquez, flickr user urbanwoodsswalker Recycle smart. If you can't find a use for something, it may be time to recycle it. Recycling can be difficult though, so it's helpful to have a guide. There are quite a few guides out there that will tell you what you can and can't recycle. If you want to know about recycling electronics, the EPA has a handy guide for that. Rethink purchases. Sometimes we just want something and it's hard to ask ourselves, do I really need that? Take the time to really think about your purchases. Buying less, in bulk, and things with less packaging can really help reduce the waste that ends up in landfills. Cover Photo by by flickr user crash-candy The Seas the Day initiative encourages and empowers people to take ocean conservation personally. Each month, we feature a new conservation theme with ways to help so come back regularly for more ocean-helping ideas and tips! Created mainly to support our partner ZAMs (Zoos, Aquariums, and Museums and other visitor-serving organizations involved in our growing network) in motivating conservation action, Seas the Day is for you to tailor for your own purposes. Please use any or all of the content verbatim and re-post on your own blog, social media channels, website, newsletter, etc. We have a large database of action tips and related content for you to use so let us know what’s most helpful and what other action-able types of information and resources we can provide to enhance your conservation efforts.
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Partners and friends: join us and make a difference for the ocean
The Ocean Project’s partner network of around 2,000 organizations has grown from a handful of founding North American aquariums into the world’s most extensive network for advancing ocean education and action. For 16 years we’ve worked to help our partners become as effective as possible at communicating about and for conservation. One of the most exciting ways we help our partners celebrate is through coordinating World Oceans Day – held every June 8th. Last year, 700 events were held in 70 different countries and, in addition to the tens of thousands of people who attended World Oceans Day events in their communities, millions of people learned about the celebration on social media. World Oceans Day 2015 can be an even better celebration for the ocean, which is why we’re asking all partner organizations of The Ocean Project to commit to celebrating World Oceans Day this year. What does celebrating mean? World Oceans Day can be celebrated in a number of ways, some big, some small. Not all organizations have the resources to organize an event every year and if you can't, you can still celebrate in so many ways! Here are just a few ideas: Mention World Oceans Day in your email newsletter and social media posts Organize fundraising, membership drives, or send out a press release on World Oceans Day Announce something new for World Oceans Day If you sign up to celebrate, we’ll provide you with guidelines, free content and language to use, images, and more that will make it easier than ever to include World Oceans Day as part of your activities. Help us reach 70% 70% of the Earth is ocean, so most of us should celebrate it! We're seeking commitment from 70% of all The Ocean Project partners to celebrating World Oceans Day 2015. By doing so in advance, we can work with you more closely and provide better services to you in the weeks and months ahead. Also, you'll be the first to know about news and resources. Sign up now We want to stay in touch and make this celebration great! Fill out this form to commit to celebrating on or around June 8th, 2015. You’ll get periodic resources and news for you to use for World Oceans Day.
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ISG+ Update: NEAq ClimaTeens in the public spotlight for a green future
This guest post by Sylvia Scharf of New England Aquarium is the second in a 3-part series on their Innovative Solutions Grants+ project, which investigates how teen ambassadors can make a difference for their city’s green future. The previous post presented the project, this is an update on what's happened since. How do we engage youth in talking about big topics that really matter in ways that are empowering and interesting? This year, the New England Aquarium’s ClimaTeens took on the challenge of talking about climate change. The group was formed from interested teens who already had been involved in Aquarium programs as volunteers, interns, and members of our service-learning program. The initial goal was for the teens to lead a training day for their peers. But given the energy of participants and staff members, and with support from The Ocean Project’s Innovative Solutions Grants + Program, we ramped up our plans and set a new goal of empowering the teens to inspire others to take action. Our first step was to ensure that the teens felt confident when communicating about climate change. During the fall and early winter, the group spent many hours building their understanding of core climate science content and communication theory. Early this spring they began developing presentations to share. ClimaTeens in action When a surprise call came from the office of EPA Administrator, the ClimaTeens were ready. They presented as part of an Earth Day press event with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, as well as Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. From that high note, ClimaTeens engaged audiences at several meetings and conferences including the Youth Climate Action Summit at MIT, the Massachusetts Environmental Education Society annual conference, a Career Pathways workshop at the Aquarium, and the Aquarium’s World Oceans Day celebration. Each presentation featured different ClimaTeen presenters, bringing individual voices to the fore. At the end of the school year, we asked the ClimaTeens to reflect back on their growth, and what they might look for in the future. Here are some of their reflections, showing that they had become much more confident. “Before, I was under the impression that climate change was too “big and scary” to tackle on my own, or even with a group. However, now after having been through the ClimaTEENs program, I can say with confidence climate change is a solvable problem (if we do take action).” (Grace C., 17) “I feel like the reason teens are valuable in the fight against human caused climate change is that we lack the limits that adults do in the terms of problem solving.” (Grace L., 15) “My whole family has changed because of my relationship with the aquarium. All of our decisions on purchases and transportation have definitely changed.” (Vida, 17) These reflections also indicate how important the community has become to participants. In working with teens in this kind of setting, social bonding is as important as the science learning. Even though our meetings were only two hours, once a month, the first 15-30 minutes of each meeting was devoted to pizza, chatting, checking in, and joking around. As an educator, the temptation to ‘make every second count’ can work against the importance of teens as social learners. Meetings were sometimes chaotic and full of chatter – but we managed to get amazing things done through it all. As one of the ClimaTeens said, “We could be a really big deal.” Looking forward - asking for action With that success, we’re gearing up for our second step, and we’re upping the ante with a goal of inspiring action! This session’s ClimaTeens - which will include some veterans as well as some new recruits - will have multiple opportunities to put the strategic framing and communication skills they gain into practice – through Blue Discovery Family Days at the Aquarium. And to test their impact, the teens this fall will survey visitors to see if those who heard them were indeed more likely to get the connection between climate change and ocean health, feel empowered to make a difference, and express a willingness to take one or more of the following actions: Wash clothing in cold water and/or let it air dry Have an energy expert conduct a free home energy audit for their house or apartment (through an already established city program) Join a community-based effort, such as Greenovate Boston or the New England Aquarium's live blue Ambassadors Stay tuned for the results! -- Sylvia Scharf, Senior Program Educator at New England Aquarium
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Round 2: Innovative Solutions Grants+ winners announced!
Thank you to our partner organizations for your involvement in advancing aquatic and ocean awareness and conservation! For over 16 years, The Ocean Project has been supporting our partner zoos, aquariums, and museums (ZAMs) and other organizations do more for conservation action with visitors, both onsite and online, by providing strategic resources and tools to more effectively educate and communicate with your visitors for conservation outcomes. Most recently we developed an Innovative Solutions Grants+ Program to help engage visitors with solutions to ocean and climate issues. Thanks to funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), we award grants to innovation leaders (currently $100,000/year for a few zoos and aquariums) that also come with pro bono strategic communications coaching throughout the grant period and technical expertise to catalyze peer-to-peer sharing and learning. The lessons learned benefit the aquarium and zoo community as a whole. Thank you to all who applied for a grant from the Innovative Solutions Grants+ Program. For this second round of support, we had very strong proposals from zoos and aquariums around the country, and our Advisory Panel had a challenging time selecting the winners. We are pleased to announce the following grant recipients: Philadelphia Zoo: Awarded $30,000 to measure the connection between onsite messaging and offsite behavioral change. To quantify the impact of the Zoo's mission-related conservation-education messaging on visitors, and to link Zoo visitors with ocean issues, they will develop a pilot project that will message ocean acidification (OA) at their Coral Reef Tank exhibit in their new KidZooU: The Hamilton Family Children's Zoo & Faris Family Education Center. The Zoo will leverage their partnership with PECO – the energy supplier for the Greater Philadelphia region – and Opower, to measure and compare the energy consumption behavior of Zoo visitors who have been exposed to OA messaging and asked to "save energy to save wildlife" with that of non-Zoo visitors, as well as visitors who have not received Zoo interpretation about OA. Riverbanks Zoo and Garden: Awarded $12,000 to create a year-long immersive program for its ZooTeens. The program, dubbed Teen S.O.S. (Stewards of Our Seas), will feature three main elements: 1.)Teen Action; 2.) Community Action; and 3.) TeenMD (marine debris), the first in a series of S.O.S. action kits. Teens will create innovative art from waterway cleanups and engage in peer-to-peer teaching as they weave the topic of marine debris into interactive programming for guests of all ages and inspire action through a teen-developed "Plastic Pledge - Take Back the Bag" campaign. The Florida Aquarium: Awarded $28,400 to work with the entire school community of a local Title 1 elementary school where many children are not getting a lot of hands-on science programming and where approximately 50% of the student population report English as a second language. This project will strive to increase participation of students' families in climate change-related activities and will include development of curricula and related materials in Spanish, that will be shared broadly. Woodland Park Zoo: Awarded $28,000 to engage their community in climate change, sustainability and conservation action by leveraging the collective energy and enthusiasm of their youth participants. Teens will develop their own carbon reduction action campaign that they will participate in and encourage participation in from their peers. Their project will focus on three primary areas: 1) Training: Develop and implement a comprehensive training/workshop for teens on climate science, interpretive practices, and strategies in developing social marketing/action campaigns and projects; 2) Action: Create the Seattle Youth Climate Action Network made up of teens from WPZ, Seattle Aquarium and the Pacific Science Center. Teen leaders from each will develop and implement their own action campaigns/projects; and 3) Communication: Support teen participants through engaging in a collaborative process that enriches teen experiences within each institution while providing opportunities for them to come together to learn and share throughout the year. Congratulations to the winners and The Ocean Project looks forward to working with all our partners in 2015 and beyond, to help communicate strategically for conservation action outcomes and impact. We will be releasing another RFP at some point in 2015 so watch the blog and our website for further information. Image via Shutterstock.
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ISG+ Update: Oregon Coast Aquarium teens set out to slay vampires
This guest post by Teresa Mealy of Oregon Coast Aquarium is the second in a 3-part series on their Innovative Solutions Grants+ project, exploring the question “How do we fuel behavior changes in teens to decrease their impact on ocean acidification?” The Oregon Coast Aquarium’s youth volunteer group has been busy learning the ins and outs of social marketing in preparation for launching a campaign this fall. The group, which is calling itself the MOANA Group (Making Ocean Acidification Nationally Aware), is comprised of four highly motivated and enthusiastic youth. With a goal of promoting actions by their peers that would help address the issue of acidification, the teens, who already were informed on the issue, realized that their next step was to research the social marketing process, and challenge themselves to think outside the box. Social marketing skill building The Aquarium brought Action Research, a community based social marketing consulting firm, to fast-track the youth volunteers’ understanding of how social marketing can influence positive changes to their peers' behavior. After an overview of social marketing, the teens launched into formulating behavior “asks”. Each student developed and researched at least five behavior changes that would result in lower carbon dioxide emissions, reducing its absorption into the oceans. MOANA’s volunteers generated a list of over 20 behavior changes that could make a difference! The Group then gathered to determine which actions would best fit their audience and project’s mission. Narrowing down the “ask” To reduce the list from 20 to four, the teens collected input from friends and family on relevancy and ease of implementation. One of the key steps of social marketing is to minimize the barriers between the ask and its adoption. With that in mind, the group eliminated many of the potential asks, which were considered less relevant to their peers, such as when the teens themselves would not be the ones making the ultimate decision, or, too difficult to implement, such as when the ask required a very high investment of time or money. For example, asking teens to install solar panels on their homes was an original idea, but after consideration it was eliminated for these two reasons. To identify more promising asks, the youth volunteers conducted in-depth interviews with their peers. These interviews gave the group a better understanding of, not only the potential barriers to a behavior change, but also the impacts the change could have. The interview process was somewhat laborious, with some interviews lasting over an hour. However, the group gathered great insight into how to communicate with their peers and about potential opportunities teens have to impact their household. After discussing the results of the interviews, the teens narrowed their list of four behavior asks to one! MOANA’s ask will be to encourage teens to turn off and unplug computers and game consuls when not in use. Not only do their peers feel they have control over that action, but it is one with a surprising potential for impact, with one recent report noting that, “a typical family spends $120 dollars per year on the so-called 'vampire appliances,' from cable and DVR boxes to cordless phone chargers, microwave ovens and video game consoles. Next steps The final process before implementing the campaign is surveying the target demographic to develop a baseline understanding of what teens are currently doing with their game consuls and computers. Now that school is back in session, the teens will survey their classmates and Oregon Coast Aquarium visitors. While this data is collected, the teens will work with another consultant, and the team from The Ocean Project, to develop an evaluation process for their efforts, looking at questions such as: Did their peers take the action? And how did they feel about being asked to do so? With the surveys, campaign implementation and evaluation, the students look forward to a busy fall! Community-based social marketing was foreign to all of the teens in the spring. Now, they are not only much more comfortable with the method, they are ready to change the world!
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Seas the Day in September – Amplify Your Impact
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” - Anne Frank “If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.” - Maya Angelou “Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” - Publilius Syrus Last month we talked about conserving water. It's easy to do on a personal level, but what if you want to spread the news? Getting more people involved with helping the oceans is a great thing! Change may happen slowly, and take some work, but you can help by raising you voice and raising awareness. This is the time to make a change, and you can get others to help by speaking out for the fish. Picture by Will Keightley The pen is mighty. Though you may not be able to beat a sword with a pen in combat, in most other endeavors the pen is the more useful tool. Through writing you can express your view and turn the tides on the thoughts of others. You can write to your local newspaper, magazine, or college publication about environmental issues that are important to you. Don't forget to write about the positive things you see as well! If there is an organization or person who you believe is making a difference, write them a thank you letter. Positive reinforcement will let them see that people are appreciating what they are doing. And hopefully, what they are doing will catch on! Use the virtual world to change reality. The internet is an ocean of information that you spend a lot of time surfing. Why not spend some time on the internet making your words heard? There is no larger audience to talk to. You can easily learn new things, spread knowledge, and start a conversation on the internet. These conversations between people with similar interests can spark group conservation action. Scientists can even use sites like twitter to share their new ideas. Picture by Kim Piper Werker Quick Tip: Why not start an ocean blog on a site like blogger or tumblr? You can share what you love and get other people to care as well. There are many reasons to start a blog. Make Policy Blue. Calling, writing, or visiting your representative can make a world of a difference for the ocean. They are the ones who craft your nation's interactions with the ocean. You can influence policy in other ways as well. How about starting or signing an online petition? Cover Photo by Kim Seng, flickr user captainkimo The Seas the Day initiative encourages and empowers people to take ocean conservation personally. Each month, we feature a new conservation theme with ways to help so come back regularly for more ocean-helping ideas and tips! Created mainly to support our partner ZAMs (Zoos, Aquariums, and Museums and other visitor-serving organizations involved in our growing network) in motivating conservation action, Seas the Day is for you to tailor for your own purposes. Please use any or all of the content verbatim and re-post on your own blog, social media channels, website, newsletter, etc. We have a large database of action tips and related content for you to use so let us know what’s most helpful and what other action-able types of information and resources we can provide to enhance your conservation efforts.
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Communications medley: activating communities
In this week’s round up: How not to overwhelm…
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