I always thought her name was Toby because her Instagram user name is SurfnToby. I figured here was a young woman, Toby, who loved to surf with fabulous photos of beaches from around the world. Having grown up near the ocean myself I felt a kindred spirit with her. She has a passion for teaching the rest of us about ocean conservation which I did some of during my years as a classroom teacher. Another connection we have. Jana, or more commonly known as Toby is our Insta-Summer guest this week.

Toby’s message is about doing small things, what you can, to make a difference. As she says, if we all did little things it would add up to something big. And wanting to start with children in Indonesia is her big dream I am eager to support. Toby will do a tremendous amount of good wherever she goes. Of that I am certain. And she will keep us all educated along the way.

***Honest. Activist. Travel-addicted.***

***— Toby***

What can YOU do?

Thoughts from An Ocean Activist who Enlightens

I mentioned my years as a classroom teacher, 5th grade mostly. There is something about that age that I like. They are primarily independent yet they still want to please and haven’t reached the eye-rolling, you-don’t-know-anything stage. (I think each age has its pros and cons for sure. I have cherished, and been challenged by, each one with my own kids.) As I mentioned on the episode with Toby one of the things we did in science was Earth Reports. The kids were divided up into groups that would study, and become “experts” in an area of crisis. Not only did they learn from various sources they shared their newfound expertise with the rest of us. Creatively? You bet. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

One of the things that stands out is I wanted to help them be proactive and feel they were doing something to contribute. In addition to fact finding, we had bake sales every Friday and the proceeds would rotate amongst the groups. With that money each group would decide how they could do something positive in their area. We adopted animals, planted trees, and made donations to non-profits on the frontlines (vetted of course). We visited our local landfill which was one of the best field trips of all time. We rented a bus to tour the facility and even had our own landfill guy teaching us. Extra lunch scraps at school? No problem. We had a classroom compost. (I had no idea what I was doing but we did it anyway!)

I would not trade my time with the many 5th grade classes I taught back then. Toby has brought back those memories for me and increased my desire to do better when it comes to conservation. And she’s right. It can be all the little things that add up to something big.