NAI Blog

I’ve always been a believer in the concept best know as “sense of place.” There are multiple definitions for sense of place. Most revolve around the perception humans have involving the natural and cultural landscape connected to a particular location. Interpretation focuses on making intellectual and emotional connections with a resource, which sounds a lot like fostering a sense of place for our audience.

Photo by Fred Fokkelman

In the budding field of ecopsychology, psychologists are looking at this phenomenon in more detail. A recent New York Times Magazine article examined this new area of ecopsychology as an attempt to examine the interaction between the human psyche and the ecosystem. The idea is that nature can optimize the human mind according to a recent article from Peter Kahn in the Journal of Environmental Psychology. His study reported that humans who were mildly stressed recovered from stress more quickly when exposed to nature than those who were exposed to natural scenes on a plasma TV. Real, authentic nature seems to have an important effect on our sense of well being.

The alternate condition might be termed “placelessness,” a location that is devoid of any unique feature, culture or character. More and more of our urban landscapes are sanitized, homogenized locations where “sameness” is all too common. Take a walk through any big mall or community of tract homes and you might be hard put to distinguish that place from thousands of others in this country. On top of this placelessness, many locations where we live now suffer deteriorating environmental quality, leading to an even more serious phenomenon termed “solastalgia” by Dr. Glenn Albrecht, professor of sustainability at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia. He defined solastalgia as “the pain experienced when there is recognition that the place where one resides and that one loves is under immediate assault…a form of homesickness one gets when one is still at home.”

Ecopsychologists are observing this condition of solastalgia in such diverse cases as communities exposed to large mining operations to native populations that have experienced changing uses of their lands. So far, those instances have been localized, but the looming possibilities of climate change or large scale pollution may expose whole sections of the planet to solastalgia, in effect destroying our sense of place.

One of the first things we have to do is to help every person experience a proper sense of place, to form a relationship with a healthy environment. If people know and understand how important it is to maintain those unique features in our landscape (built, natural, cultural), perhaps we’ll fight actions that lead to placelessness and environmental degradation. That’s where interpreters come in, helping to connect people to the most important things in the world around them. If the ecopsychologists are correct, our sense of place is directly related to our sense of well being—our health, both physical and mental—depends upon a healthy environment. If we do this well, perhaps we can increase another phenomenon, “soliphilia: the love of and responsibility for a place, bioregion, planet and the unity of interrelated interests within it.”

If you’d like to learn more, follow this link to the article from the NY Times Magazine: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/magazine/31ecopsych-t.html .

One of the real plusses of interpretation is that many of us work and live in some wonderful places. While you can’t eat scenery, it certainly does nourish the soul and that has to be part of the paycheck for quite a few interpreters. And when you can share that magnificent locale with some engaging wildlife—so much the better.

It has been a real blessing in my life to be able to live and work on the edge of Monterey Bay for the past 23 years. No two days are ever the same on the bay, with an endless variety of birds, marine mammals and other creatures parading past the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Still, there are patterns in the seasonal occurrence of some wildlife, and you start to look for particular species at specific times.

January is the traditional peak of the gray whale migration past Monterey Bay. Most of those animals are moving in a line just a few hundred yards of the coast we often call the “whale highway” and they tend to cut across the mouth of Monterey Bay. However, a few of them take a scenic detour, hugging the edge of the bay, sometimes just beyond the surf line. These might be juveniles that are still learning the migration route, or seasoned veterans using the pounding surf and kelp beds to escape detection from marauding orca in the bay. Whatever the cause, I’m always on the lookout for those wandering gray whales exploring the shoreline in our part of the bay.

It must have been quite a sight when the Spanish first settled in this area, with a bay full of whales. Often, the carcasses of expired whales could be found on local beaches. California condors and grizzly bears cruised our beaches regularly, scavenging whale carcasses. In fact the holotype specimen of the California condor was collected at Pt. Pinos in Pacific Grove as the unfortunate specimen was searching the local beaches. Back then a beachcast whale carcass meant lunch for quite a few local critters. After reading those early accounts, I started thinking that it might be fun to have lunch with whales—especially if I don’t have to share with grizzlies.

It just so happens that the Aquarium’s restaurant, the Portola Café, has a commanding view of the bay. So my goal is to “have lunch with the whales” as often as possible, and I’m successful in finding a gray whale or two on over half my lunch breaks in late January. I had a special bonus this week with a thunderstorm moving over the bay while I was looking for my lunchtime whale. The sun had come out over one part of the bay, creating a rainbow against the shore—and up came my lunchtime whale! I had the mini-rainbow of the sunlight hitting the whale’s blow, against the larger rainbow from the passing thundershower.

As an interpreter, I just can’t keep those special wildlife moments to myself. I feel compelled to jump up and walk through the restaurant, pointing and shouting “Whale ho!” Fortunately, most of the diners are happy to have whales for lunch as well, so it’s a welcome intrusion.

With all the changes going on in the arctic feeding grounds for our gray whales, I’m growing a bit concerned about their long-term well being. Warming arctic waters are altering both the food supply and the timing of whale feeding and migration. So far the effects seem to be minor, but we’re watching carefully. I would certainly miss having lunch with the whales.

-Jim Covel

I’ve been reading some of the claims in the popular press that scientists have their doubts about climate change. This just doesn’t make sense knowing that the vast majority of reputable scientists support the findings that the climate is changing and we humans are contributing significantly to that change. After recent conversations with both scientists and journalists, I think I know where this may be coming from.

First, every good journalist tries to present a balanced picture, representing both sides of the story. Add to that the challenge that many newspapers and magazines are struggling to stay in business. Every good reporter knows controversy sells news, so as the media increase their competition for our attention and our dollars, the trend is to present stories from an increasingly controversial angle. Now enter the scientists.

Good scientists are always critical of their work and the work of fellow scientists. One of the reasons we trust the results of the scientific process is that scientists themselves are always challenging the rigor of their processes, trying to identify and address gaps or weaknesses in order to strengthen the reliability of their results. Every good scientist is well aware of both the strengths and the weaknesses of their research, and they try to eliminate or control those weaknesses as much as possible. Part of the ongoing scientific discussion about climate change involves ways to further reduce variance in the models, to collect more accurate data. However, those discussions do not suggest a lack of confidence in the findings about climate change. The current models predict phenomena that we are observing with increasing regularity, lending further credence to their accuracy.

In an effort to find a good story, some reporters have seized upon that questioning process and blown it far out of proportion, suggesting that there is large scale doubt about current climate change models. The most recent example was the story that broke in November about a group of scientists at five institutions, including East Anglia University that were exchanging e-mails about the data they were using to estimate climate change factors several hundred years ago. Computer hackers accessed the e-mail messages, did a word search to find any phrases that suggested controversy, and then selected these phrases to manufacture a story of scientific doubt and deception that was entirely unfounded. The Associated Press assigned five reporters to examine those e-mails in their entirety, and their conclusion was that the original story was extremely deceptive and without merit. (You can read the entire AP story here.)

The popular media plays a large role in shaping our views on issues, but we should also look at the scientific literature and other respected, responsible sources to make sure we have an accurate, balanced perspective. It’s one thing for a scientist to state an opinion in the newspaper, and quite another for that scientist to argue his case in a peer-reviewed journal, where other scientists are convinced about the merits of the argument.

-Jim Covel

It used to be that mentioning someone’s “frame of mind” was a reference to their mood, outlook, or attitude. However, “frame of mind” may be taking on a new meaning. That term is now being used to describe the way we look at various concepts and issues. The frame around a photo or painting has a lot to do with how much of the image we see and can influence the way we perceive the image. Applying that concept to cognition, you might say that we have frames in our minds composed of values, beliefs, experiences, education. Those mental frames can heavily influence what aspects of an issue you attend to, how you perceive events and issues, and how you respond to the world around you.

There’s nothing particularly new or surprising about this idea. Tilden’s first principle speaks to the idea of relevance for our audience. We all know that tying messages to the personal experiences or values of our audience helps ensure the effectiveness of our communication efforts. Framing is a variation on this theme: We can increase our effectiveness by framing an idea or issue using values and perspectives that resonate with our audience.

This can be particularly useful when interpreting controversial topics. In my work at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I have the opportunity to interpret evolution, conservation, and climate change—topics where there are many perspectives, as various people view these topics through a variety of frames. Rather than debate the merits of these different perspectives with a guest, it’s far more productive to find a common frame through which to approach the topic. For example, when conversing about climate change with someone who may be skeptical about the topic, I might start instead by talking about our escalating energy bills or fuel costs and how we can save money by conserving energy (which also helps address production of greenhouse gasses).

As an interpreter, it’s also important to remember that you have frames as well, frames that have a lot to do with how you both perceive and present events, ideas, and observations. You can improve your effectiveness and versatility by exploring other perspectives and becoming familiar with other ways your audience may frame an issue. Practice using multiple frames that may relate to topics and themes you interpret. It can help you make better connections between your audience and the resources you interpret.

Of course that old meaning of frame of mind still counts as well. Every message connects better when it’s delivered with a smile and backed up with that positive enthusiasm interpreters are famous for. Your positive attitude is particularly important when addressing the serious challenges and issues that are increasingly present in interpretation today. Using the right frame and a positive frame of mind, you can inspire confidence in your audience to take on the challenges we all must address in the 21st century.

I watched another wonderful museum close down in my community this week. I loved wandering through this institution, looking at the exhibits, the collections of objects that represented great stories of people and events. And yet the museum had experienced declining attendance and financial support in recent years. Unfortunately, this story is repeated many times around the country every year.

Many of us manage natural or cultural resources as part of our duties as interpreters. These resources could take the form of a natural area, a historic site, a collection of cultural objects or nature specimens, or many other possibilities. I’ve been giving more and more thought to the difference between managing these things as artifacts and managing them as assets.

An artifact can be defined as some tangible object or collection of objects, usually human-made. However, a secondary definition is that of something that is left behind or remains from an earlier event or process. That secondary definition can suggest artifacts are relicts that may have limited relevance in our current lives, and may therefore have limited value. If we focus strictly on their collection and preservation, we can inadvertently reinforce that perspective.

An asset can be defined as a useful or valuable quality, person, or thing; also an advantage or resource. Assets are usually managed in a way that maintains and/or increases their value. That value can be defined by the market, by the community or by other institutions. So in managing an asset, the wise manager tries to determine how it is valued and by whom, and then looks for ways to increase that value. Makes sense for a stock portfolio or real estate, but what if we looked at our interpretive resources that way?

In the case of my local museum, the community that built that museum has changed over time. Perhaps the conditions that originally created value for this asset have changed and the organization can benefit from re-defining itself with the current community and re-establishing a new value as an asset to that community. I guess that might be like increasing the “curb appeal” of an older home in a changing neighborhood.

In my work helping to inspire audiences to support ocean conservation, I focus on this perspective frequently. If we view fisheries as artifacts, relicts of a past era when the ocean was seen as an inexhaustible resource, but now broken and without value in the future—there is little reason to care for the future of the oceans. But if we look at ocean resources as important assets with economic as well as other current values, now we’re willing to restore that value and cultivate that asset.

It’s entirely a matter of perspective. We can view resources as artifacts or as assets, and manage them accordingly. Personally, I look at the natural and cultural resources around us as assets that nature and human kind have invested in across decades and eons. This legacy isn’t a relict, rather it’s the accumulated wealth that is now ours to manage. We can continue to grow this wealth and prosper, or we can squander it. Asset or artifact?

-Jim Covel

photo by Sue Byford

In a recent report from Columbia University on communicating climate change issues, there was an interesting reference to our “pool of worry.” The basic idea is that each of us has a limited number of things we can worry about, a finite pool of worry. As new situations arise that warrant worrying, we have to decide what to stop worrying about so we can add something new to our pool of worry. Some folks have a large worry pool and others a small one. All of us strive to reduce our pool of worry, and this is one pool that everyone would like to empty completely.

Within our individual worry pools we have various concerns related to the economy, environment, family, friends, future and others all vying for our attention, fighting for space in our pool of worry. Personally, I think of my worry pool as a hot tub since global climate change occupies a prominent position in the pool.  When I talk to others about this, I’m interested to find that many share my concern about the climate, but others are more focused on the economy, their job, their family or other issues they feel are more pressing.  Those other issues have pushed climate change right out of the worry pool altogether.

So is there a way to keep environmental issues—like climate change and sustainable living—on our action list without taking up space in our worry pool? The answer is YES. In fact, it’s important that we do so. You see most of us don’t like worrying about so many things, so we’ll act on an issue or concern only long enough to get it out of our worry pool, and that might not be enough action to really resolve the concern. If our action is based on something other than worry, that action is more likely to be long-lasting and successful. Just what we need to help resolve some of these issues.

To do this we need to look at issues like climate change as an opportunity, not a concern. This is an opportunity to gain our independence from reliance on foreign oil. It’s an opportunity to base our economy on sustainable energy resources. We have an opportunity to make permanent increases in our standard of living that we can truly afford as they are rooted in sustainable strategies. We have the opportunity to build employment, to build industries based on sustainable technologies and eliminate the boom and bust cycles that have plagued us in the past. There is nothing on this list that would fall into our worry pool. These are all positives that we can incorporate into our vision and ultimately into reality.

It all starts with conversation. We need to think and talk about important issues if we are to develop opinions, attitudes and actions. But let’s approach the conversation from the perspective of future opportunities, ways to remove some concerns from our worry pool rather than add to the pool. That’s a much more engaging and empowering conversation, and we can get enthusiastic about the future rather than dreading it.

If you’d like to read more about effective ways to talk about climate change and other sensitive environmental issues, the report is available online at: cred.columbia.edu/guide. The title is The Psychology of Climate Change Communication: A Guide for Scientists, Journalists, Educators, Political Aides, and the Interested Public. It was produced by the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) at Columbia University, 2009.

-Jim Covel

As we wrap up another year, it’s a good occasion to reflect back on meaningful events and accomplishments of the past 12 months. I’ve often likened NAI to a tree, comparing our efforts to prosper this organization as the kind of work that goes into nurturing a tree—you have to take the long view of decades or more to envision the eventual height and shape of the tree. Yet even ancient trees have annual growth rings and growth increments that help tell the story of the life of that tree and the environment it grew in. So if NAI was a tree, what would this year’s growth look like?

First off, I’d suspect the growth ring for 2009 might be relatively narrow. This was a harsh year for organizations of all sorts, including non-profits. Resources were scarce, opportunities for growth were limited. In particular, the prolonged fiscal drought created additional stress on our NAI tree.

But stress can have some beneficial effects as well. Some trees tend to extend their root systems to become efficient at finding water. They use water more efficiently, sometimes dropping some leaves or reducing growth. NAI responded in a similar way, exploring new ways to generate earned revenue and looking for ways to use existing resources in new, more efficient ways. In NAI the national office is the trunk that supports the regions and sections that are the limbs and branches of the organization tree. We’ve seen some sections and regions shrink or grow in the past year, and that may ultimately affect the shape and branching pattern of our tree.

As a woodworker, I’ve learned that those lean years where the rings are close together create the strongest wood with the most interesting grain. I expect that will probably be the case with NAI—that coming out of this year will make us stronger, and perhaps even more interesting from an outside perspective.

I hope that wherever you are, you had a chance to grow a little this year; that you get to rest a bit during the upcoming winter months, and that a glorious spring awaits you.

Happy New Year

- Jim Covel

One of the concepts we utilize in interpretation is the idea that there are certain events, processes, ideas that are common to the experience of virtually every human. These are universal experiences—or simply “universals” as we call them. Whenever we incorporate those universals into our interpretive communication, we increase the appeal and relevance of our messages. I would submit that celebration may be one of those universals. That idea is easily observed this time of year.

Going back in time, many ancient cultures in the northern hemisphere observed some type of ritual or celebration around the winter solstice, perhaps celebrating the fact that the days would start growing longer again and we could look forward to Spring. Depending on which calendar is used by a particular culture, there are a number of New Year’s celebrations during the winter months. And nearly every major religion observes special celebrations during the winter.

I think the universal nature of celebration is linked to another universal—the power of the human spirit. At a time of the year when the world around us is the darkest and coldest, it seems to trigger a desire to create our own warmth and light. Gathering together; sharing a meal; incorporating lights, candles and fires; singing—these seem to be common properties of our winter celebrations.

Every year in Monterey, California, there is an even called Christmas in the Adobes. A number of the old adobe buildings are decorated for the holidays and opened to the public to experience what the holidays might be like in the 1830s. Most of the buildings also feature musicians and food in additions to traditional decorations. For many years a group of us have staged a fandango (essentially a dance party) in one of the old buildings.

Interpreting a party, such as our fandango, is one of the most effective ways I’ve found to help an audience understand what life was like in another time and culture. Everyone gets it because everyone can relate to the universal of celebration, and it ties into some great emotional connections with the audience. We get the audience up dancing with us, and everyone has a great time. This even seems to fall on stormy nights many years, and the worst weather seems to generate the best turnout. I think we need to exercise our human ability to celebrate from time to time, and winter seems to really bring out this part of the human spirit.

I hope you’re able to gather in the company of friends and family, and find warmth and light, sustenance for the spirit and the soul, during this season of celebration. It’s an essential part of our human nature.

- Jim Covel

One of my favorite activities is answering questions for curious minds.  At the Monterey Bay Aquarium we get questions from guests as well as inquiries that come in via e-mail.  A number of us staff members respond to questions, but I’m sure I get the most interesting ones.  And, of course, the best answer is one that triggers yet more questions.

As a biologist, I’m often on the receiving end of some of the more indelicate questions.  And so it was the other day when one of our visitors asked, “Does it hurt the fish if you pee in the ocean?”  Such an insightful question indeed!  The simple answer is “probably not.”  The urine from a healthy human is mostly water, sterile, and contains a small amount of salts and nitrogenous waste.  One person peeing in the ocean isn’t a big deal.

But the bigger question is, How many humans pee in the oceans every day?  Can that hurt the fish? Now the answer is a definitive yes.  Consider that most rivers and streams flow to the ocean, as well as all the coastal sewer systems that discharge to the ocean.  It becomes apparent that at least hundreds of millions of humans pee in the ocean every day in one way or another.  Now this starts to make a significant difference.

But there’s still more to consider.  For those that can afford medicines or vitamins, it turns out that our bodies use only a portion of those compounds, and our kidneys filter out the rest to discharge as waste.  Even the best sewage treatment plants aren’t able to neutralize all those chemicals, so some flow into the ocean in waste water.  Fishes and other marine life may be exposed to artificial hormones, antibiotics, anti-depressants and all sorts of other pharmaceuticals.  We’re only now starting to look for the effects of these chemicals in the nearshore environment.  We’re seeing impacts on the reproductive biology of some organisms, for example.

So even the most simple question can lead to a deeper conversation.  And one answer or one bit of information is just a drop in the sea of knowledge available to us.  Every question is an invitation to inspire the inquirer and help them to a greater understanding of the world we live in.

-Jim Covel

After the NAI workshop in Hartford, I took a few days to visit family and friends living in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. One afternoon I had a chance to go for a walk in those wintery New England woods with bare trees and crisp air—and that all-too-elusive solitude that is so refreshing. There is something uniquely relaxing in immersing yourself in nature during this time of dormancy. Nature is resting at the end of a busy year, and that restful state just seeps into you.

I used to delight in grabbing cross-country skis, or binoculars, or a favorite steelhead rod and heading out into the woods, wetlands or to a secluded stretch of stream for a little of that winter solitude. I know it’s not wise to wander off into the outdoors alone-but I was never alone. There was always a gray squirrel, a junco, a coyote to keep me company. Moreover, there’s a lot to be said for the company of one’s self. Those hours of winter solitude were the occasions of enlightening internal conversations, sorting out dilemmas and challenges, gathering one’s thoughts to help make sense of the realities that awaited.

As a teenager, my father ran trap lines in the Maine woods in the early 1920s. I asked him what that experience was like. His immediate response was “COLD!” But then he also said it was an excuse to go for a long walk in the woods every day and get to know the winter wildlife intimately. Then he’d be quiet for a minute, and I could tell he was re-living some of those memories for a moment. I have a hunch those days in the woods helped him get to know himself more intimately as well.

As an interpreter, I have to remind myself that my audience may crave some of that solitude as well. In fact, our audience research has turned up a category of visitors that we call “spiritual pilgrims,” people that seek individual, reflective, contemplative experiences with nature. The best opportunity we can provide the spiritual pilgrims is to point them toward places where they can find solitude—and then leave them alone to enjoy a very personal, individual experience. I’ll admit, it’s really hard to refrain from pointing out a few animals, telling some stories, striking up a conversation. Interpretation through silence is a rarified form of the art we practice.

While those spiritual pilgrims may not participate in interpretive programs or interact with us very often, they may be some of our most ardent fans. This group often comes already equipped with a deep emotional connection with the resource we interpret. They have an appreciation for the resource and may be very active supporters and protectors of that resource. We need to maintain a relationship with this visitor audience, but also give them space to connect in their own way.

I hope that in this winter season you are wrapped in the warmth of friends, family, home and hearth. However, I hope you also have an opportunity to leave those things behind for brief spells and experience some of that precious winter solitude.