Lexi Doudera: Saltwater Classroom

Today I have with me Lexi Doudera, who is the founder and executive director of the Saltwater Classroom here in Maine. Thanks for coming in today. Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for having me. So I'm sure people are going to be intrigued by even the name that the Saltwater classroom, because many people think of classrooms as being kind of contained and indoors, but yours is exactly the opposite. Yeah, yeah. Happy to share a little bit about it. So Saltwater Classroom is a nonprofit, like you said, based here in Maine that's focused on a new wave of ocean education. We really believe in the power of environmental education to kind of be the first step towards a more sustainable future and a more stewardship driven life in relation to the ocean. So we focus on ocean education with young students primarily grades three through six or so, ages nine to 12, and learners of all ages as well. We do a lot of community programs too. So what was the inspiration for this? What was it that caused you to decide this is where I would like to focus my energy? Yeah, certainly. I grew up here in Maine, in the Midcoast in Camden, and from a very early age was fascinated by the ocean and it's inescapable for many here in Maine, but just felt so strongly that innate connection to the ocean. So this led me to pursue opportunities related to ocean science, mostly did a program with the island school in Cape Lutra in The Bahamas during my high school, and just ultimately chose to pursue a degree in marine biology at Northeastern and Boston. And in my education realized that maybe the hard science wasn't necessarily what I wanted to spend my time doing. So chose to broaden my education with a degree in environmental policy. It was during this time I was studying abroad in Chile, a coastal city there, researching urban coastal sustainability. And one of the strategies that stood out to me was the power of environmental education. It's a fairly simple solution, but can really have a profound impact on the way that a society sees and views the environment. So at the same time, I was volunteering in a fifth grade classroom and helping teach English and the combination of factors, but saw this opportunity for young kids to learn about the ocean and connect with one another as well. So that was the original basis for saltwater classroom. I returned to Boston after that experience and developed our original curriculum and business plan and rationale as my senior thesis or capstone project. And we did our first program six months later or so, which was in 2018. So this summer we've celebrated five years since our first program. So that must feel really good that you, and I know that Northeastern is known for this really the integration of education and true real world experiences. Yes, certainly. To have spent all this time on a capstone, which is considerable, and then actually be able to use that in your own life and move forward with something that you've created essentially. Yeah, it is very rewarding, certainly, and it's a lot of work, and over the past five years of doing this have experienced a lot of different emotions and challenges related to it, but it certainly is very rewarding and I more than ever remain committed to the vision that we have for the organization. When you talk about educational activities for children, and also I think you do some work with adults, what are the things that you tend to focus on? So our programming can take a few different formats. For the most part, we deliver ocean education through week-long workshops. So we either in school classrooms or as summer programs or afterschool programs, and it's a very adaptable structure, but essentially it covers our core curriculum, which is a really broad introduction to ocean science and conservation. We start with the global perspective of our oceans and then zero in on the coast and coastal environments, marine life and different species in the ocean. And conclude by talking about ways that we're connected to the ocean, issues that have arisen because of that, and then ways that we can all be better stewards of the ocean. When you work with a group of children, let's just say, and you start at the beginning of the week and you come out of it at the end, what type of evolution do you see in their approach and their thinking and their attitudes? What types of things are you noticing? Yeah, I think a big thing is kind of just the confidence and the familiarity and the comfortability of the kids and you see them kind of grow in their inner belief of themselves and their assuredness. And we have a lot of lessons that require students to share their work or present something that they developed. So there's definitely a big aspect of that. And there's different levels of background knowledge in groups that we see. So sometimes there's kids that know everything there is to know about deep ocean or something, or whale experts are super passionate about what have you. So sometimes we see that and then sometimes there's very little background knowledge. So I think a big evolution is just kind of their understanding of the ocean's as a large global system, an ecosystem, but also our connection to it. I see a big change in that as well. Growing up near the ocean, as you and I both did, I think it's easy to have it become almost background noise and be like, oh, well, it's so beautiful and it's always there and it's also so big and so maybe we don't have to worry about it. But then over time, understanding how just small changes in human behavior can really have pretty significant impacts, especially when they're kind of incremental and everybody is engaged to them. And I say this to the positive and the negative, so I think it would be easy to get maybe a little overwhelmed by that idea. How did you work through? And maybe you weren't overwhelmed. I don't really know, but I mean, I assume, I think a lot of people when it comes to environmental conversations do get to that place. So how do we help people push through the overwhelm to feeling empowered? Yeah, you bring up a lot of good points. I think taking the ocean for granted is certainly something that ocean conservation has struggled with for a long, long time because it is so vast and so unknown, and it's not necessarily in your backyard or something that you can easily access. So for a long time, ocean issues and the ocean in general has just been pushed to back burner, out of sight, out of mind, and unfortunately that's led to a lot of degradation and environmental harm. But I think when you start really learning about the ocean, it kind of just opens a floodgate of possibilities and different avenues to explore. There's so many ways that we connect with the ocean, and our curriculum really tries to illuminate as many of those connections as possible because it's critical that we all are better stewards of the ocean, even if we don't have an inclination towards science or think we might like it or something. So we kind of explore all these different entry points for ocean science. And I think the last thing I'll say too is we really, our biggest belief is that you can help the ocean just by learning about it because from education stems, value and appreciation and ultimately protection. So kind of taking this growth mindset towards it and understanding that there's infinite things to learn about the ocean, but that can be a pathway to better stewardship, and it definitely is overwhelming at times. Well, and I think that's the thing is that there is that interesting balance. You want people to be aware and sometimes to generate awareness, you provide them with information that can be somewhat mind blowing, especially in its sort of enormity of impact, but then also you don't want to paralyze them, and especially with if you're talking about children, and that's an easy thing to do to really, you can create a really scary scenario, but I'm assuming that's not your intent. No, we remain very positive. And again, talking about the power of individual impact and the power that fairly simple solutions can have and what we can all do to be a better friend towards the ocean. So we definitely try and stay very positive because it can be doom and gloom and we avoid that, not sugarcoating the realities, but still looking at it in a positive way. And sometimes it's harder than others, but Yeah. Well, and I think as we're talking, I'm thinking about my conversation with an individual from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and talking about this idea of fostering resiliency, and obviously sustainability is good, but even sustainability is you're kind of keeping things the way they are, and resiliency is almost this sense that you have to get a little stronger to actually make things better than they currently are, which is challenging, Right? And I see education as being a really powerful solution in the face of climate change because if we have a base level understanding of how our system works, of how we impact the ocean, of how all these different things, it can be such a stronger starting point and you can have just a baseline basically. So I know that when I think about impacting water supplies, for example, and I happen to live on an island, so I'm very aware of this, obviously there are simple things like don't use chemical on your lawn. Make sure that you're aware of maybe even not even having a lawn, perhaps using other sorts of plants that don't require lots of additional water, for example. But there are also interesting things that we as humans that we don't really think about. For a long time we were flushing medications down the toilet, and that was going out there, and now we have actually fairly contaminated waters as a result of that. So how do you kind of gently reeducate people to change lifelong behaviors so that it can be for the good? Yeah, so for the most part, we talk a lot about education, again, as a way that what we can do to help the ocean. The second thing we really stress is our use of plastic, particularly single use plastic. So that's the number two thing we say you can do is avoid plastic. And beyond that, we talk about ocean conservation and doing coastal cleanups and things like that, or neighborhood cleanups as a further way to connect with the environment, but also connect with the waste that we produce beyond that being a responsible consumer, whether it's food or where we live or the clothes or products that we buy. So that's a big, big piece that we talk about as well when we discuss what you can do. And then the last thing is spreading the word and getting the message out and being an advocate in whatever form that takes for the positive change and sustainable change. So I know that a lot of people have read about the enormous kind of plastic island that is floating somewhere in the midst of the global waters and felt pretty overwhelmed by that piece. Have we made any sort of appreciable dent in this enormous plastic island? Yeah, yeah. The Great Pacific garbage patch is the largest of those trash islands, which is kind of a misnomer because it's still floating trash. It's suspended in the water column at various depth, so it's not a solid island that you could stand on or anything. But yeah, these collections of trash occur in all of the ocean basins. They're created by circulating currents called gyres that you can imagine, kind of like a whirlpool just collects anything in it. So unfortunately, that's a lot of trash these days. There are a lot of efforts to clean up these garbage collection sites, particularly the ocean cleanup project is creating these huge boats with these big nets that move super slowly so they're not catching any wildlife but can catch the inanimate trash. So yeah, it's a big issue. And of course, when that trash or plastic is in the ocean, it's experiencing the elements of the ocean. So salt and currents and water and sun and wind and all these factors cause it to become very brittle and ultimately break down into smaller pieces, microplastics, which have now been found basically every corner of the planet, oceans, shallow water, deep water, remote areas in our food supply, in our drinking water, in our blood, and baby poop, all kinds of things. So it is really important to remove that debris from the ocean, but beyond that, it's cutting it off at the source. So most trash in the ocean is from land-based sources, from carried by rivers or wind. So if we're able to control the waste stream upstream a little and make less trash in the first place, that's really how we're going to get out of this mess. And I know that some, we've become more aware of things like micro beads and face washes or being careful about how often we wash our fleece because you've got microfibers that go out in the wastewater. And I think those things are actually really helpful because you look at something and you're like, well, somebody's selling it, it must be fine, which is not always true, but it's not necessarily that the company is saying, here, I'm going to put this thing out there that's going to be problematic down the road. We have to be aware Ourselves. Certainly. Yeah. And there's so much greenwashing that's out there or blue washing if it's related to the ocean and ocean issues. So I think that's just another important lesson is being a responsible and educated consumer and ultimately consuming less and using less. And I always try to get more quality things that I will replace never or much less often than something that's cheap and convenient and that sort of thing. That's actually one of the, sometimes people will think, well, Patagonia, they make fleece and they use, I think recycled plastic to get their products. The thing I've noticed about Patagonia products is they actually last an incredibly long time. So that's a great example of you've recycled something, maybe there could be some microfibers, but you're also going to reach a point where you're not Going to be needing a new one next year or something, or it's going out of fashion or something. So yeah, I think that's a big piece is choosing quality and kind of thoughtful products, whatever they may be. So one of the things that I have pondered a lot recently, because my husband and I just came back from Tampa, and so you've got the Gulf Coast of Florida and you've got a fairly significant dead zone as a result of not ocean, but really kind of river and fresh water that actually drains down in that direction. And some of that is related to agriculture and very Much so the Foods that we all need to eat and how do we produce those foods on large scales. And so when I just think about these very big things that are happening, and I think, well, okay, I'm not going to use a straw as my single use plastic, which that's great, but then there's such big kind of industrial things going on. Totally. Some of which, I mean, we don't have a great replacement for industrial food production, right? So how do you introduce that topic to a fifth grader, let's just Say? Yeah, we talk a lot about the coast and coastal environments, and estuaries is a big piece of that. So the Gulf being the emptying point for the Mississippi River, basically, where much of the runoff from America's farmland is carried. So that's ultimately what leads to the dead zone that you spoke about. All the excess nutrients are carried, and it leads to a kind of bloom in algae, phytoplankton and other plankton. And when that those plankton die off, it creates an environment where the oxygen is sucked out of the environment and can create a dead zone that you spoke about. So it's a big issue. We talk a lot about estuaries and kind of imagine what could be carried by a river, whether it's the Mississippi River or a local river, and it's nutrients, it's trash, it's species, it's sediment, it's all kinds of things. So we don't necessarily get into industrial farming, but I think we start to hopefully instill in the students that this bigger picture to think about the impacts of different things. And we certainly talk a lot about runoff and the effects of that. But yeah, I mean there's so many examples like that, these really big challenges. But I think if we start to start small and embrace this mindset that we can all be a part of the solution and not to put our heads down and just get frustrated or worse, I think there's a real opportunity for positive change. But yeah, it's definitely big issues. I Know, I can tell, I've actually brought the mood down a little bit because these are just enormous topics, and that's why I give you so much credit for going in and engaging people and helping them to understand better, but in a way that isn't fear inducing or overwhelm inducing, because I think that is the paralysis that some people suffer with. And how often do we hear somebody say, well, what's the point? What's the point? I don't know where this recycling's going to anyway, so I'm not going to do this. It just seems like too much extra effort kind of fatalistic in a way. Totally. And it can feel like that. I mean, these are large challenges, and in a lot of ways it's kind of like David and Goliath where for the plastic issue in particular, we're going up against oil and gas companies that see plastic as their most promising revenue stream with the decline in fossil fuels. So they don't want to stop making oil and stop using drilling and creating all this. So instead of just cutting back, they say, oh, we can make more plastic and use more plastic, and they're entirely profit driven. So we're coming up against these huge, huge corporations. Yeah, it's a big topic. It is it, but I think there's immense power in environmental and individual action and education can really kind of shift the way that we see the environment and see the oceans. So I think it's kind of the first step, the gateway towards future sustainable change. Absolutely. And I don't mean to be in any way negative. This is something that when I first started learning about it, and certainly it was long before this was into the mainstream, I personally, I experienced this. I don't want to drink the water anymore because there's so many different things that impact it. And as a human, I'm bringing this into my body. But I think you're absolutely right. I think you choose to frame it in a way where you move forward and you attempt to do what you can, whatever your given circumstances. In your case, I'm also interested because there is an art connection and you are yourself a creative individual, and also there is an art connection with the saltwater classroom. So tell me About that. Yes, it's multilayered. Like I mentioned earlier. We seek to engage learners at every level. And so with that being said, our curriculum is very interdisciplinary. We incorporate a lot of art-based activities, language and music as well, so that every child can connect with the ocean in some way. So we do cyanotype, sun prints with ocean found objects. We practice scientific sketching and that sort of thing. They design little sculptures of plankton to race and test neutral buoyancy and that sort of thing. So it's a lot of creative activities in our curriculum, certainly. But the second piece is ways that we're connected to the ocean and ways that we communicate the ocean's role in our lives. And art is certainly a huge component of this. So we talk about art and the inspiration drawn from the ocean a lot in our curriculum too. That's a big, big piece. So when I've talked to artists over the last year or so that we've done this particular podcast, a lot of them talk about specifically coming to Maine or spending time in Maine as a result of being near the ocean, and not just its impact on their creativity and their subject matter, but also its ability to be healing. Does that come into your curriculum in any way? Certainly kind of tied in with our final themes when we talk about what we as humans use the ocean for. So whether it's, we'll start with fisheries and food or jobs and transportation, but some of the things that kind of come out as we tease, tease the question a little bit more are things like renewal or peace or inspiration or these things that are really, really vital to us as humans. And the ocean is a big, big piece in that I feel like lately there's been a lot of research about the healing effects of just being in water, whether it's the ocean or another natural body of water, but it's really powerful. So yeah, I'm not surprised. That's a common theme that comes out. And I know I interviewed the author of a book called Blue Mind, and so a lot of what he was talking about was related to being in water and being around water. And I think recently there have actually been scientific studies about people who just live near water feel. It's kind of calming impact. So it seems like that's yet another reason for us to be protective of this, because not only do we drink it and we utilize it, but we also kind of coexist with us with it in an important way. Yeah, certainly. I think despite the immense importance of the ocean, we really don't learn about it much. We have all these connections to it, but ocean literacy is such a small topic in most education for people, whether they're here in Maine or elsewhere. There's some examples of curriculum around the world that leave out the word ocean entirely. So it's a really small piece. It's interesting that we don't talk about it as much as we should or, but yeah. So thinking back to when you were in Chile and you weren't specifically focused on the ocean, did you have a sense that they were doing environmental education at the level that you're describing now in the work that you with the saltwater classroom In Chile, you mean? I didn't really get much of a sense of that. The school that I was working in, volunteering in rather, was a pretty impoverished school in the hills above the city, and it was a very nice education. I didn't really see any examples of ocean learning. There are some cool projects down there that are hoping to connect kids with the ocean more. So there's a nonprofit called the Valpo Surf Project in the area that gets kids out in the water, in the waves surfing, and they include a lot of environmental education in there too. But no, I didn't really see much of it. And I think here in Maine, on the other hand, there are so many great examples of ocean education, of hands-on learning, but saltwater classroom, our approach is a little bit different. And I'd actually love to segue a little into our second phase for the organization, which I can't believe I haven't mentioned until this point. The stage is Yours, please. So I spoke about it's the education and then the connection and the connection is facilitated through an app. So we're in the process of fundraising and building and developing a platform for ocean literacy and ocean education that will be app-based. We see this as a really unique opportunity to not only provide more opportunities to learn about the ocean and connect with the ocean and all the different topics that there are, but also to connect students and make our approach more accessible and more scalable. There's a lot of barriers that can face ocean literacy, whether they be geographic. If you live inland, whether it's Maine or middle of Mexico or the middle of anywhere, that can be a barrier, but still you're connected and influenced by the ocean, whether it's geographic, economic, or physical. Even if you are not able to get down to the shore, you might not have a strong connection with it, but it's still critical that we all are learning about it. So we're really excited about this next phase. We've had some excellent support so far as well. We were just successful with a grant from the Main Technology Institute to support this, and we've had a lot of other wonderful partners. So it's exciting. Yeah, certainly. So on our website, saltwater classroom.com, there is a page about this tech integrated approach where you're able to see some of our prototypes, actually hear some excitement from the students. There's a little edited soundbite of their reactions to the idea and to the prototypes, and then there's a opportunity to support. Or many times the support can take the form of introducing us to someone or connecting us with the company that funds this type of thing or that sort of thing. So there's definitely a lot of opportunity and we'd be grateful for any help or support or ideas. Okay. Well, very good. Well, since this is a radio show that connects with a lot of very creative and engaged people, I'm hoping that if you're watching and you have an interest in supporting the salt water classroom and the work that they're doing, the app that they're creating, that you can actually look them up online and maybe kind of see where this goes. Yeah, it's a really exciting development, so we'd love to share it with people. Well, very good. I appreciate your taking the time to come in and talk with me today. You're clearly very passionate about this and I think it's great work that you're doing, so thank you for that. Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you. So thank you for joining us today. I hope that you will support the saltwater classroom. And Lexi, thank you for joining me today. Yeah, it was a pleasure. Thank you.