Do Conversations about saving our planet inspire individuals to change and take action?

By Safina Center Fellow Erik Callender

Erik Callender at the "Immerse in Change" environmental conference to save our oceans, in San Jose Costa Rica. ©Jairo Mirandas

On June 6th, 2024, I was thrilled and honored to participate in three days of environmental workshops at an event called Azul as part of the "Immerse in Change" environmental conference to save our oceans, in San Jose Costa Rica.

The goal of the workshop and conference was to bring together citizens and scientists to develop solutions to save our Oceans and the creatures that are living within it.

The workshop included local people from Costa Rica, and a few visitors from other countries—including me as the sole person from the United States.

©Jairo Mirandas

During our conversations, we were fortunate enough to have experts from Costa Rica present their work to us.

After their presentations, we engaged in conversations about solutions, and used them to figure out ways we could share what we learned with our local communities.

The presentations and projects ranged from growing Coral gardens in the sea, to measuring ecosystem health from space, to the creation of Apps that told us about the environmental status of fish and which ones we should or shouldn’t eat.

©Jairo Mirandas

The event was hosted by the Costa Rican Government, The National Institute of Learning (INA), the Sualá Batsú Cooperativa, and the Universidad Latina in San Jose Costa Rica.

During the presentations there was a question that kept coming up in my mind… Will this make a difference? Will our community listen to us? Will the actions we are taking make life better for our oceans, and for all of the life living on our planet?

I believe the answer was YES!

I've always answered YES to these questions, even if I have moments when I forget.

One of the primary reasons the question has come up more, is because for the last nearly four years I’ve not purchased food or drinks in plastic.  

This was a challenge. However, it made me question my actions when shopping, walking, eating, and managing my trash.

During the workshops, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to share an episode from our upcoming show Menghayati! that featured the work of the Turtle Rescue of Cahuita and their mission to help save sea turtles in Cahuita and Limon. This is a great example of an idea turned to action with results—now they’re releasing thousands of leather back sea turtles each year.

Erik Callender presenting Menghayati! to a crowd. ©Jairo Mirandas

The early questions we asked expanded into another question: what action will we take to share the knowledge we acquire with our local community?

Will our community be willing to take actions? Will we reduce our personal use of plastics, and start composting and taking cold showers to help save our forests, fields, ponds rivers lakes, and oceans?

I guess the only way we’ll know is if we ask.