About
Dear Planet Earth is a part of our Cultivating Hope project that aims to better understand how hope and concern play a role in the way people think about and respond to climate change.
Nicole ArdoinAssociate Professor Nicole Ardoin is the Faculty Director of the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER) and a Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. She is interested in education as an opportunity to engage communities in productive dialogue about sustainability to build resiliency and adaptability in light of changing environmental conditions.
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Alison BowersAlison Bowers is a research consultant and methodologist. She holds a PhD in Educational Research and Evaluation from Virginia Tech. Her research focus is on research design and process and she is particularly interested in research reviews, systematic reviews, and grounded theory methodology. Alison works with the Social Ecology lab on the eeWORKS project, efforts to explore environmental literacy at a collective scale, and exploring questions about how we as researchers can support the development of thriving, resilient communities.
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Marika JaegerMarika is a Research Associate with the Social Ecology Lab at Stanford. Her interests include human-environment systems and intersections of environmental conservation and economic development. Marika has a Bachelor's degree in Human Biology and a Master's degree in Earth Systems from Stanford University.
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Emily Williams |
Maria DiGiano |
Will Tams |
Emily is an Educator at Aspen Center for Environmental Studies in Aspen, CO, where she teaches K-4th Grade students. She also works as a researcher with the Ardoin Social Ecology Lab where she studies professional development for environmental educators and environmental behavior change. Emily has a Bachelor’s degree in Geological and Environmental Sciences and a Master’s degree in Environmental Communication, both from Stanford University.
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Maria DiGiano, PhD, is a Senior Research Associate with the Social Ecology Lab at Stanford University. She strives to contribute to sustainability solutions through both research and practice in collaboration with diverse decision-makers.
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Will Tams, Founder and Director of Creative at The Collective Spark Creative, brings over two decades of experience in using design to catalyze and grow positive impacts in the world, working with clients including Apple and the Nature Conservancy. Through Will’s contribution to this project - from early stages of design to the fine details of the final Dear Planet Earth postcards you see on this site - The Collective Spark Creative continues its mission to reach and inspire through beautiful design.
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Caroline/Theo Bamberger
Caroline/Theo is a senior Earth Systems major at Stanford University. Caroline/Theo assisted with the Summen Project, conducting surveys of visitors at Muir Woods National Monument and Big Basin State park in 2019. Most recently, they have been involved in the "Treemail" project, which leverages postcards written by park visitors to trees collected by Muir Woods staff to better understand how visitors connect to nature and place in this iconic ecosystem. Caroline/Theo is conducting a Senior Honors thesis exploring the role of park rangers in climate change education and interpretation on public lands. |
Chris Escobedo
Chris is a master’s student in Stanford’s Sustainability Science and Practice program, currently working with Americorps. From Stanford, he obtained a B.S. in Earth Systems with a focus on human-environmental systems in 2020. Chris has worked with Professor Nicole Ardoin’s Social Ecology Lab since 2017, focusing on projects that study human relationships with climate change. Along with fellow Earth Systems student Lexi Neilan, advisor Prof. Nicole Ardoin, and students at Ellen Fletcher Middle School, Chris worked to create a podcast titled, ‘Earth Day Every Day’ in 2020. The students in that initiative pilot tested the “Hope” postcards. |
Lexi Neilan
Lexi is a middle-school science teacher in Austin, Texas. She graduated from Stanford in 2020 with a B.S. in Earth Systems and a minor in Urban Studies. While an undergrad, Lexi worked with the Ardoin Social Ecology Lab for three years, focusing particularly on research, programs, and teaching focused on racial and gender equity in nature-based education. Lexi collaborated with fellow Earth Systems student Chris Escobedo, advisor Prof. Nicole Ardoin, and students at Ellen Fletcher Middle School on an ‘Earth Day Every Day’ podcast in 2020. The students in that initiative pilot tested the “Hope” postcards. |
Anna Lee
Anna is a doctoral student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, studying how people make sense and meaning of their relationships to nature and the environment. Her research, in part, examines connection to nature among park visitors, with a particular focus on awe, mindfulness, and inquiry. She has contributed to the design of instruments to measure connection to nature as well as interventions to promote reflection on our place in a changing planet, such as the Dear Planet Earth postcards. |
Veronica Lin
Veronica is a doctoral student in Learning Sciences & Technology Design at the Graduate School of Education, and also a masters student in Computer Science. Her research interests lie at the intersection of learning, young children, and technological and educational equity. As part of the Social Ecology Lab, Veronica collaborates with diverse partners with parks, academia and the technology sector to develop innovative ways for people to connect with nature. The Dear Planet Earth postcard initiative was born, in part, from a design-thinking workshop co-led by Veronica in 2019. |
Ryan Long
Ryan Long is junior at Stanford University, majoring in Computer Science and Philosophy. Ryan worked as a research assistant with the Social Ecology Lab in 2019 and 2020 to analyze more than 700 postcards written by Muir Woods National Monument visitors to redwood trees. Ryan's work on the Muir Woods National Monument "Treemail" project explored visitor narratives around hope and gratitude toward the natural world, and helped to inform the Dear Planet Earth postcard initiative. |
Elin Kelsey |
Muir Woods National Monument |
Elin is an associate faculty member in the School of Environment and Sustainability at Royal Roads University in Canada and the principal of Elin Kelsey and Company, an environmental communications consultancy. Her research interests include environmental education and communications, particularly as related to investigating and evaluating the role of emotions in engaging youth, educators, and conservationists in marine issues and solutions. An incredibly valued and valuable partner, Elin has twice been a Visiting Scholar in the Social Ecology Lab, most recently in 2019, when her work on hope and optimism was a motivating current throughout discussions, seminars, and design-thinking workshops. See some of Elin’s inspiring writing and thinking in this area, coalesced in her 2021 book, Hope Matters.
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The Muir Woods parks rangers connect the visiting public to the park. They created and ran Tree Mail, an early inspiration for the Dear Planet Earth initiative. They continue to bring the history and science of the redwood forest to hundreds of thousands of visitors each year through digital, classroom, and forest-based programs about ecology, untold histories, indigenous knowledge, climate change, and more.
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