Environmental educators, teachers and students from surrounding Puget Sound counties gathered in La Conner at Maple Hall last Friday, January 29, to attend the 10th annual Storming the Sound conference.

The all-day workshop is a free event that aims to unite professional and aspiring environmental educators with local environmental organizations to learn about local Puget Sound environmental education programs and share educational resources.

David Henry, keynote speaker and manager of The Pew Environment Group’s International Arctic Program, opened the event by discussing a call for less cynicism among the environmental community and for environmental educators to try to transform today’s skeptical world into a “time of rebirth.”

Since its first conference in 2000, Storming the Sound has quadrupled in attendance and has grown to include over 30 sponsoring organizations. This year’s event was so popular that facilitators had to close down online registry early due to over enrollment.

“I think it’s very successful because it is affordable,” said Glen Alexander, education coordinator at the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. “ It’s a one day conference which means there’s no staying over night in a motel, we ask for a $10 donation, we get donations for the food, and everybody chips in. It’s very grassroots and green.”

During the event educators attend planned learning sessions scheduled throughout the day. This years session covered topics such as; Empowering Future Generations, REYS: A Model for Incorporating Environmental Education into Community-based Habitat Restoration, Navigating the Social Media, and Creating Climate Change Leaders of Tomorrow, to name a few.

Suzi Wong Swint, educator for the Snohomish County Surface Water Management, and Dr. Pamela M.M. Jull, president of Applied Research Northwest, presented a lesson titled, Achieving Behavior Change.

“Traditional environmental education programs were based on the belief that people would change their behaviors if only they knew more,” said Wong Swint. “Today we find that more knowledge really only gets you about halfway.”

The presentation focused on ways educators can use social marketing tools and identify the stages of behavior change to guide people towards choosing actions that are more environmentally responsible.

Posted by Jessica Steinberg

(Photo courtesy Skagit Conservation Education Association and Padilla Bay Reserve, http://scea.homestead.com/2010strmsnd1.html)