Kid Power – How North Carolina Kids Took on Marine Debris

Jenna Hartley, North Carolina State University PhD student and Dr. Nancy Foster Scholar

Join Jenna Hartley, North Carolina State University PhD student and Dr. Nancy Foster Scholar, as she details her research project involving the power of young people as community change-agents on the topic of marine debris. Hear how 2,500 North Carolina 4th & 5th graders, across the state from the mountains to the sea, collected thousands of pounds of trash. Learn how they delivered creative presentations to the public and won over the hearts and minds of their local officials and politicians across the state. Also, get access to the freely-available educational marine debris curriculum used in the project, which was developed by the Duke University Marine Lab Community Science Initiative.

Jenna works for the North Carolina State University's Environmental Education lab, which focuses broadly on understanding and supporting positive human-nature relationships, particularly among children. They work to do research with and provide educational resources to educators within the state of North Carolina and beyond. Be sure to watch this webinar to hear about and be inspired by the young people today making waves on environmental issues in their local communities. This research has been supported by North Carolina Sea Grant.