I consider myself a traveler. In fact, this little key ring sits on my desk.
I have been fortunate to have done many road trips in my life. Some were long, and some I remember more than others. When I was 5, my family went on a 5-week vacation around the United States–in a motor home with the dog. I remember things that you might remember at age 5–Storybook Garden, Fred Flintstone Village, feeding a deer sugar wafers and leading it back to our camper (no, not healthy). Luckily, I repeated this trip (or similar) in 1994, with my college friend Melissa–just before coming to whale watch. It was only 3.5 weeks this time, but from this trip, I do remember more adult things like the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and…Fred Flintstone Village (I wish I could find the pictures that we took there!) In 2015, my husband and I pulled our kids out of school and did another 6-week trip across country and back. On this trip, I hit state 49–Alabama. With one state left, in 2018, I planned a trip to South and North Dakota with my parents and my kids. When I got to North Dakota (that was number 50 for me), it was 35 for the kids!
I love traveling. I love looking out the window and seeing different scenery. I love looking at how the trees and houses and landscape just look so different depending on where you are. I love taking my kids to see different parts of the country. I loved being in SD where the sky was so big and all I would see would be wave of green. Tall stalks of corn that were moving like waves because of the wind. I love traveling because it’s different.
I’m itching, like all of us, to travel!!!
It’s so different to go from the east coast beach area to mid-west farm country. Think about all the people that don’t live near the ocean and that may not have the opportunity to come to the ocean. I remember talking to 54 year old man from Wisconsin and got choked up when he told me it was the first time he had seen the ocean! I can’t even imagine what the ocean looks like the first time you see if when you are an adult. How are these people going to care about the ocean if they can’t get there? Finding an answer to this is what inspired me to get Nile in the first place. Kids locally weren’t getting out on the water like they were when I started whale watching over 25 years ago. Because of time and money, schools don’t do field trips. Could I bring the whales to schools?
Almost 9 years ago, I had Nile made. Since that time, I’ve done in-person presentations in:
2 Countries (USA and England)
13 States (MA, VT, CT, RI, ME,NY, IN, TN, NJ, AZ, MD, IL, PA)
And seen thousands of people!
This year, I’m expanding and taking it nationwide with a goal of doing virtual presentation in all 50 states. I’ll bring the whales and oceans to the kids–wherever they are (and until we can travel again and I can actually take Nile around the country). This week, I’m adding VT and CA to my list for the year!
Whales and oceans are engaging for kids. The more kids we can expose to whales, the more love there will be for whales. In order to protect whales, people need to love them. One of the biggest drivers of the Save the Whales movement was Roger and Katie Payne’s (and Scott McVey’s) discovery that humpback whales sing songs. They even made a record that was in National Geographic in January 1979.
Everyone could listen to these animals sing their haunting songs. It gave humans an emotional attachment to them. That emotional reaction prompted thousands of people to speak up against whaling! Ultimately, 3 years later, the moratorium was established putting an end to whaling by 1986. Since then, countries have started “scientific whaling“–that will be a later blog post, but the large scale commercial whaling that we knew ended by 1986.
Today whales face more threats than they did years ago when whaling was their main threat. Today, it’s entanglement in fishing gear, vessel strikes, marine debris, ocean noise, climate change…to name a few. We need to get kids impassioned to once again SAVE THE WHALES! But first, we have to get them to care. I hope that by sharing my passion for these animals and connecting them to the similarities between us, that kids will feel that whales are important to save, and know why they are necessary to save! I look forward to working with teachers more this year to really encourage projects after a virtual visit that will help cultivate the next generation of ocean advocates. Stay tuned for the progress.
At The Whalemobile, we believe people protect what they understand—so we bring ocean science to life through stories, hands-on learning, and by bringing a life-sized whale in schools and libraries. To learn more about our programs, visit our website at www.thewhalemobile.com.