Averill Nolte ’15 attended the “Land&Water Summit 2014: Drought as an Opportunity For Change” as a representative of the Biology E: Ecology Emphasis science class taught by Karen Temple Beamish. She will present what she learned at the Summit to her classmates as part of a unit on water resources in the West.
Averill learned how to more effectively communicate environmental ethics while listening to Lucy Moore, author of Common Ground on Hostile Turf. Says Averill:
“Lucy Moore is an environmental mediator, meaning she joins and mediates meetings with several parties discussing and making decisions on environmental issues. This can be a tricky job because she has to both remain neutral and keep the meeting productive. Moore emphasizes storytelling because of the humanity you can find through the personal stories of another person. Her entire presentation was through storytelling, and emphasized the theme that you can get to know someone’s motives and morals very well by those means. She emphasized understanding, and willingness to change your mind. Moore’s presentation was the most interesting to me because everything she was saying had a personal narrative to it. She was still teaching the audience about conservation, but in a much different (and much needed) way. When people consider conservation, they look at the practical ways to conserve (replace your toilets, turn off the lights, etc.). But Moore was teaching the audience about the mindset of conservation. That you have to be understanding, hear all voices, be willing to change your mind, and learn from others.”
