Colorado State University Researchers Lead NSF Climate Change Education Workshop in Seattle Oct. 20
A research team from Colorado State University is working with the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Parks Conservation Association to change the conversation about climate change across the nation. A workshop for national park and wildlife refuges managers will be held on Oct. 20 in Seattle, Wash., in an effort to developed place-based climate change education tools relevant to protected areas in the Puget Sound area.
The collaborative team’s workshop is focused on sharing knowledge, experience and insight for effectively communicating climate change effects in “this place.” The CSU-led project, part of the National Science Foundation’s Climate Change Education Partnership program, is taking a place-based approach and encouraging park and refuge managers and interpreters to brainstorm new ways to make climate change locally relevant, empowering and engaging for diverse audiences.
Workshop participants include partners from Olympic, Mt. Rainer and North Cascades national parks, and Nisqually and Dungeness wildlife refuges, and other stakeholders and partners from the surrounding gateway communities. They will gather for a day of conversation on how climate change is affecting local systems and how these messages are currently being communicated to visitors, and what messages and tools would improve visitor and community engagement in the issue.
The Place-Based Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) is a thematic partnership funded by the NSF. The partnership has hosted workshops around the country including Miami, Washington, D.C., Fort Collins, Colo. and Cooper Landing, Ala. The goal of the partnership is to facilitate the development of high quality, relevant educational tools and resources based on current and evolving climate science in the context of national parks and wildlife refuges.
For more information, visit https://sites.google.com/site/ccedpartner/.
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