(Image via youthoceansummit.org)
Editor-in-Chief: Sydney Cayer
Email: scayer@umassd.edu
On April 7th, Torch members Jesse, Rena, Maya, and myself attended the first New England Youth Summit at the University of Massachusetts Boston. ConnPIRG, MASSPIRG, and the Environment Massachusetts Research & Policy Center hosted the event, spreading awareness through panels and workshops on protecting the ocean.
The conference’s four themes were Wildlife Over Waste, Save Right Whales, Stop Deep Sea Mining, and Protect New England’s Ocean Treasure. In addition to the themed panels, there was also a panel for “Planet Over Plastics” and workshops called “Telling Your Oceans Story,” “Artivism,” “Building Power for the Ocean,” and “How to Build a Campaign.”
To begin the day, we attended the panel “How We Can Save Right Whales.” Leading the panel were Kelsey Lamp, the Protect Our Oceans Campaign Director at Environment America; Jeremy Pivor, the Partnership & Youth Engagement Director at Bow Seat Ocean Awareness; Regina Asmutis-Silva, Executive Director at Whale & Dolphin Conservation; and Annabelle Kneisel and Luke Cukierski of The Calvineers.
North Atlantic right whales have been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act since 1970. Approximately 360 individuals remain, including fewer than 70 reproductively active females. They can be seen off the coast of New England and the southeastern U.S. coast.
Threats to the right whales include entanglements, vessel strikes, climate change, and ocean noise. To help the right whales, you can report a whale sighting, stay 500 yards away, report marine life in distress, stay informed, and get involved.
Next, we attended the workshop “Building Power for the Ocean.” Volunteer Coordinator Kaela Keyes and Alex Vai, Campaign Coordinator and Treasurer of the Surfrider Foundation, ran this workshop.
The Surfrider Foundation fights for plastic reduction, ocean protection, beach access, coast and climate, and clean water. They have 200 chapters and student clubs, 800+ victories to protect the coast, and 182,000 volunteer hours just in 2021.
Alex and Kaela led us through an activity in which everyone present split into four groups. From there, each group came up with a secret hand signal or motion and simultaneously revealed it to the other groups. The goal was to have all four groups perform the same motion.
This activity showed that a tiny action can start a ripple effect in different groups. Your impact is bigger than you think. Alex and Kaela encouraged us to use the skills we know, adopt local policies, and collaborate with local organizations.
The final panel we attended was “Planet Over Plastics.” It was hosted by Janet Domenitz, the State Director of MASSPIRG; Janna Cohen-Rosenthal, the Sustainability and Resilience Planner for Sustainable UMass Boston; Jesse Mechling, the Director of Maine Education at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, MA; Amber Schmidt, the New England Zero Waste Organizer; and Nick Vasconcellos, the MASSPIRG Students’ Beyond Plastic Campaign Coordinator at UMass Amherst.
The group discussed the importance of attending clean-ups and using your voice to impact change. A great place to start the journey to cleaner, safer oceans is non-profits because they are the “silent pushers of advocacy.”
They discussed the push to ban plastic bags. 15 states have banned plastic bags, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the territory of America, Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.
Although some towns in Massachusetts have banned plastic bags, the state has not. To add Massachusetts to this list, they encouraged us to attend hearings on Beacon Hill because they are open to the public.
During the event, guests filled out a “Take Action” Bingo card that would immediately affect the ocean. The tasks included singing a petition, posting a picture @POTUS to protect Cashes Ledge, decorating and writing an ocean postcard, joining the deep sea Discord channel, discussing an ocean campaign with someone new, connecting with an advocacy group, writing a letter to the editor on right whales, and signing up to volunteer at a future event.
The event was filled with networking, education, and advocacy. The Torch wants to thank the founders for hosting such a fantastic event.
To get involved with Environment America, follow them on Instagram here.
To get involved with MASSPIRG, follow them on Instagram here.
To connect with MASSPIRG’s UMass Dartmouth chapter, follow them here.