Final Words at Camp Coastal

June 29, 2008. -- Duluth, MN

I made it back home yesterday afternoon with relatively quick flights and easy connections. I don't expect that all of my new friends will be able to say the same.

I still have some thoughts and pictures to upload from Rhode Island. I'll do the wrap-up blog entry before long, but I want to post what is below sooner rather than later. The other participants asked me to speak on behalf of the group at our final dinner on Friday evening. It was fun to put together a different sort of presentation than I am used to. Fun too to be able to use a bunch of inside jokes. Here is the text of my speech:


Well!

Here we are.

Here at the end of a most remarkable three week experience. The 10th Summer Institute in Coastal Management, The 1st Advanced Summer Institute. It has been a wonderful journey has it not?

We have come together from across this precious world to learn together how to do the work of coastal management. Work that this planet so desperately needs.

We are, all of us, engaged in what may well be some of the most important work in human history.

Along the way we have learned much from our trainers. Glen, Don, Virginia, Pam, Brian, Stephen, Jen, Jim, Elin, and Lesley. Thank you.

We have learned from the people we have met along the way. From Perry and his oyster farm. From the generous Narragansett people. And from coastal managers in and around Rhode Island who gave of their time so we could learn from the lessons of your place and take them home with us. Thank you.

We have learned much from each other. From passionate coastal managers from all around the globe.

From Tanzania and Nigeria.
From the Philippines.
From Portugal, Italy, Sweden, and Spain.
From Taiwan.
From Trinidad by way of Jamaica.
And from America – American Samoa, Maryland, and Minnesota.

We have learned that despite the vast distances that may separate the places we call home, the work we do connects us in powerful ways.

We have learned that we need not feel isolated but that we can be wise and empowered and have bold ideas.

We have learned to look at coastal management issues through the lens of climate change.

And through the lens of livelihoods.

We’ve learned about evaluation and adaptation. About leadership and negotiation. And about communications, systems thinking and dissolving problems.

We’ve been given the gift of a safe place to challenge ourselves and along the way I think we’ve learned a bit about ourselves because of it. About our leadership styles and learning styles, communicating, how we work together in teams, and perhaps even where we could improve our skills in these areas.

Some have learned that the Italian word for zebra sounds a lot like “Cow”

We learned that sometimes we can do things and even though others say "cannot".
We learned to live together in a place we call “Chee-Fee” but really, a dry campus?!? Talk about challenging us. . .
“oh dear”
We learned that when Kim says “The van is leaving.” We better be on it.

And we learned the incredible value of laughing together with people who understand and share the challenges, and the vision for better coastal management. Laughing a lot helps eh?

Those of us who have had the privilege of participating in this 10th summer institute are very grateful to everyone who made it happen.

To folks like Luke and Theresa and Kim and the instructors who picked us up from the airport, drove us back and forth to the Bay Campus everyday and stayed over at Cheefee as our house mothers (and house fathers). To Cindy and the other CRC folks. To Bob who got us connected to the Internet when the URI system seemed designed to make us crazy. To Pam and Brian who opened their homes and especially their kitchens to us for wonderful social gatherings. Thank you.

Kim.
I’m not sure how you stay sane.

You have done a masterful job of logistical juggling, responding quickly and graciously to our needs and desires and have demonstrated high-speed adaptive management. Thank you.

We have a couple of gifts here for you to help you with the transition once we are gone. We have gotten you some chocolates, something sweet to help you remember us, and some wine to perhaps help you forget a little bit.

Glen and all the other CRC trainers and staff that helped us learn so much though the week, on behalf of all the participants please accept this plant, the group picture and some chocolates as tokens of our thanks. They are small things that we hope remind you of us as we head out again into our own places and challenges.

Well.

Here we are.

Here at the beginning of whatever comes next. We are taking away lessons learned and personal projects, text books and a big binder full of tools. More importantly, we are moving on to whatever is next with a new set of colleagues and friends who care about the things we care about and who care about each other.

Virginia forwarded me a poem that sums up a bit of our experience here together. It is from a recent Heron Dance newsletter:

Yesterday, up before dawn
I placed my canoe in the river
And pushed off into the current.
Trying to make no noise.

Wild waters sweep me along.
Shifting shafts of light, flickering leaves
Past wildflowers, through an avalanche of birdsong.
The sun rises,
Dappled patterns, light and leaf.

In quiet waters,
I stop paddling to watch the day unfold.
A dragonfly lands and rests,
on the bow of my canoe.

The river was here long before I happened by,
It will be here long after I’m gone.
The dragonfly
Even more temporary than me.
But today our lives touched.
Today the green river world
Both hers and mine.

Here at Summer Institute, our lives touched.
This coastal planet, both yours and mine.

Thank you all for this remarkable moment.

Manuia!