💘 February 2026 Newsletter 💘

In This Issue

• • Feature: Promote Paradise and Remove a Parking Lot
  • Starting the Conversation Workshop is back!
  • Fight climate burnout with ecotherapist Clara Schroeder
  • Apply Now to be a NNOCCI Course Facilitator
  • Impact of NNOCCI training on high school students' framing skills
  • January's Podcasts in Climate Communication recording available
  • Ocean Education Research Opportunity
  • Upcoming 2026-2028 NNOCCI Governing Council Recruitment

Featured Editorial:
Promote Paradise and Remove a Parking Lot

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

-Joni Mitchel, Big Yellow Taxi

The Marine Discovery Center (MDC) in New Smyrna Beach, Florida has been a NNOCCI Member Organization since 2015. MDC recently completed an inspiring project that protects their shorelines from boat wakes and natural events, improves functional aquatic and terrestrial habitat, sequesters carbon pollution, and creates green space for passive recreation. The cheekily-named Promote Paradise and Remove a Parking Lot initiative transformed a large expanse of asphalt and concrete into a vibrant coastal habitat that now supports both people and wildlife.

MDC partners and volunteers removed more than 22,000 square feet of pavement and hardened shoreline, transforming the waterfront into a Living Shoreline by restoring native marsh grasses, mangroves, and oyster reef structures. They also created an interpretive trail and ADA accessible kayak launch, giving the community new ways to connect with the Indian River Lagoon. What were once barren medians now bloom with native trees and grasses, providing shade, cooling the area, and absorbing stormwater before it reaches the lagoon.

Restoring native vegetation not only enhances the beauty of the site but also increases carbon capture and improves air and water quality, while new green spaces support biodiversity and provide habitat for birds, fish, and pollinators. By replacing impervious pavement with living landscapes, the land now filters stormwater naturally and buffers the lagoon from pollution. The shoreline is now healthier and more resilient, able to recover naturally from storm events while protecting both the community and the wildlife that depend on it.

Community involvement was central to the project’s success. Volunteers and residents collectively helped install habitat features and plant more than 1,000 native trees, shrubs, grasses, and wildflowers to protect ecosystems now and into the future. To build on this engagement, MDC introduced a new interpretive trail that will engage over 40,000 people annually, helping visitors understand how local restoration contributes to global climate solutions and protects home ecosystems.

The community came together to celebrate the project’s completion with a joyful ribbon cutting. Guests gathered along the restored shoreline to reflect on how far the site had come, from paved school grounds to thriving coastal habitat, as “Big Yellow Taxi” played in the background, reminding everyone of why this work matters.

Through this project, the Marine Discovery Center demonstrated that restoring coastal habitat is an essential climate action achievable at the community level. The center’s dedication to education, conservation, and connection continues to inspire others to protect our coasts and foster hope for a resilient future. NNOCCI is proud to celebrate MDC for this remarkable achievement, and we hope you’ll help us celebr! 

Learn more about The Marine Discovery Center on their website, or via their social media channels (@marinediscoverycenter on Instagram & Facebook)

📢✨ Looking for tools and confidence to talk about climate change with hope and inspire action? READ ON! 📢✨

Last fall’s first public Starting the Conversation Workshop was such a success, we’re bringing it back! Registration is NOW OPEN for this virtual, 6-hour workshop, the perfect training opportunity for anyone who wants to learn  to use science-based methods to have more impactful and effective climate conversations.

Starting the Conversation: A Workshop on Effective Climate Change Communication introduces core framing elements, including how values-based framing reaches more people, how the Heat Trapping Blanket metaphor builds understanding of climate mechanisms, and how to promote hopeful, solutions-oriented dialogue. This 3-day, 2-hour-per-day virtual workshop is open to ANYONE interested!

🗓️ February 24th, 25th, & 26th, 2026
⏱️ 12–2pm ET / 9–11am PT each day
💵 $90 USD registration fee
Want to learn more? Check out our FAQs!

🚨 Space is limited. Registration ends February 20th, or when all spots are filled 🚨

*****

Looking for something more in-depth? Registration for our 7-week training Framing the Conversation: A Crash Course in Effective Climate Change Communication opens in early March, where you will learn to use all of NNOCCI’s framing tools and receive personalized feedback. The course will run on Thursdays from 6-7pm ET / 3-4pm PT starting April 9th through May 21st.

You are not alone in feeling the weight of climate work. Come connect, recharge, and build resilience together during the second session of our NNOCCI Presents series. During the hourlong, interactive Tending to Our Inner Climate: How to Avoid Burnout and Build Resilience for Climate Communicators, ecotherapist and author Clara Schroeder will share practical, evidence-based tools to prevent burnout, cultivate resilience, and help us stay grounded as we continue to advocate for a more livable future.

Clara will guide you through the science of resilience, especially as it applies to climate work, drawing on research explored in her new book Re-Nature: How Nature Helps Us Feel Better and Do Better. You can expect to learn practical everyday tools to help regulate stress and avoid burnout, along with live guidance through a short grounding exercise.

This session is open to NNOCCI Members and the public.

🗓️ Wednesday, March 4th, 2026
⏱️ 3–4 pm ET / 12–1 pm PT
💵 FREE!

Seeking Facilitators & TAs for Spring 2026

Framing the Conversation: 
A Crash Course in Effective Climate Communication

Positions are now open for this public course, offered
Thursdays 6-7pm ET / 3-4pm PT
April 9-May 21, 2026

You can find additional information HERE

Interested in applying?

Application Deadline
February 26th, 3pm ET / 12pm PT

We wanted to share some exciting new evaluative data on a program that The Marine Mammal Center and NNOCCI have been doing with the Friends of LA River (FoLAR). 

Four years ago, FoLAR staff participated in a 7-week NNOCCI Framing the Conversation course. Afterward, they asked NNOCCI to adapt the course for a high school aged fellowship program offered in Title 1 schools in the LA River area.  Kait Birghenthal and Adam Ratner developed the NNOCCI-centered curriculum and have run the course over a 7-week period each summer for the past three years. They plan to offer it again this summer, as well. 

Survey data collected from the 2025 cohort reveal the climate change communication training had a significant impact on the students, dramatically improving their knowledge of climate change. Pre- and post-surveys indicated:

• • 94% of fellows demonstrated knowing the primary cause of climate change (interestingly, the one student who answered incorrectly missed the NNOCCI course)
  • 76% of fellows left feeling confident explaining climate change to others, and 
  • 82% of students left knowing how to reduce heat-trapping gas emissions.

Students reported an overall 47% increase in their public communication skills, attributed both to the NNOCCI training and FoLAR’s public speaking practice and end-of-year symposium. 

Thank you to our partners at FoLAR for this opportunity.  It is amazing to see the impact of NNOCCI messaging and the varied ways in which we are able to get this critical information in the hands of youth and educators across the country. We’re excited to share more as this program continues to grow and develop.  We encourage you to share your success stories of incorporating NNOCCI into your programs too!

Did you miss our January NNOCCI Presents webinar, Podcasts in Climate Communication, or want to watch it again? The recording is now available on YouTube! 

This first installment in our new NNOCCI Presents virtual events series featured an interactive discussion with NNOCCI all-stars and podcasters. The webinar highlighted how our members are using Strategic Framing in the popular medium of podcasting, how they engage with listeners in a recorded format, how they  use NNOCCI tools, and why they chose the podcasting format to deliver their message.

Interested in hearing more? Check out Blair Pagano’s podcast “This Week in Science,” Kait Birghenthal’s podcast “Let’s Sea,” and keep an ear open for Lauren Watkin’s podcast-in-progress (or take a look at the Local NPR 1 episode that sparked her latest endeavor). 

We received an ask from a graduate student, Isaac, looking for support in his research on ocean change education. Research like Isaac’s helps our greater ocean change educator community by assessing where we’re succeeding, and where we could be doing more. Please see his message below, and reach out to him directly if you’re interested in participating!

Hello!

My name is Isaac, and I am a graduate student at the University of Washington. I am working on a research project about how marine education centers communicate about ocean change. I would love to be able to talk with you for a 45-minute interview about how your institution does outreach and communication on this subject. I am happy to share the questions in advance. Please let me know if you are available to have this discussion or if you have any questions using this form, or by contacting me at ido77@uw.edu. I would love to chat! Thanks so much!

Disclaimer: For this project, institution names would be provided in an index. No individual's names will be listed. If we want to attribute a quote from your interview to your institution, we will request your permission in advance.

Sincerely,

Isaac Olson

Keep an eye out in next month’s newsletter for our 2026-2028 Governing Council Recruitment cycle! Positions will be available for Regional Leaders and all 5 Committees. We look forward to welcoming new folks to our Communications, Membership, JEDI, Science & Evaluation, and Training Teams soon!!