The Marine Mammal Center has partnered with the National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI) to create a training enhancement program for climate-based communications.
The program is expected to expand training opportunities within underrepresented communities and enhance knowledge of climate change and a willingness to engage in climate action, ensuring a more equitable and inclusive approach.
The program which is funded by a two-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will provide high-quality communication tools to educators and change-makers that reach wide public audiences.
It will also directly support the mission goal of NOAA of having “an informed society anticipating and responding to climate and its impacts.”
NNOCCI, which is a network of informal science educators and scientists with a mission of changing the national discourse on climate and ocean change through evidence-based communication techniques, developed their first-ever Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) team in 2020.
Through collaboration, NNOCCI and the Marine Mammal Center aim to build out a training program that can effectively reach diverse individuals in communities with the greatest need by training, partnering with and providing resources to climate communicators at local, underrepresented organizations.
CEO of The Marine Mammal Center, Dr Jeff Boehm, said that nearly two-thirds of Americans are not a part of the national conversation about climate change, and that’s a disturbing trend that needs to be tackled for significant progress in the fight against climate change.
“This program is a crucial first step in creating a more diverse, equitable and inclusive conversation about the world’s most pressing problem,” he said.
While the Center’s Associate Director of Conservation Education, Adam Ratner, will lead the project as the Principal Investigator, Drs. Lauren Watkins, former President of NNOCCI and Principal of Social Science, Research, and Behavior Change at Impact by Design, and Emily Moberg, interim NNOCCI President, will provide overall project oversight with Ratner.
“Through a combination of online training, in-person practice, and a reliable national support system, we hope to make the conversation about climate change more inclusive so we can find better solutions together,” Dr Watkins said.
