We want Ocean Filibuster to help you engage directly with the wonder of the ocean while building an intimate relationship to climate in your community and school. Here are some resources for you.
FOR EDUCATORS
A selection from Ocean Filibuster curriculum materials
Our partners at the University of Houston and the American Repertory Theater have created the following resources for students young and old — and you are welcome to use them!
For a dynamic curriculum created by professors and theater education students at the University of Houston, head here. You’ll see fun, creative, educational activities for your students including an ocean food chain puppet show, odes to the ocean, and modules that cover everything from the life of a theater professional to how to use your voice to fight for environmental justice and so much more.
For a resource guide compiled by staff at American Repertory Theater with suggested readings, tools, and discussion questions, head here.
Looking for even more inventive content? Have your students experience features of the ocean floor by using our Deep Wonder App -- more information about that is here.
We’re also working on developing a 40-minute education module, with a 20-minute excerpt from the show and exercises that will give students a creative doorway into understanding the issues of Ocean Health, and also spark ideas of ways to take action. It is being designed to bring into classes when we are on tour in a city, but can also be brought to a city on its own, via Zoom or a pre-recorded video. Interested in hearing more about this? Let us know.
ACTIVATE IN YOUR COMMUNITY!
YOU are in an intimate relationship with the ocean, even if you haven’t visited it for a while. The ocean makes 50% of the air you breathe, and keeps our climate in balance. Engaging in climate health and healing in your community is a great way to stay connected to–and help others get connected to–the ocean.
The easiest way to start is to connect with small organizations in your own town who are engaging with something you care about. Every organization will welcome help and involvement. Don’t be shy, call them up! Here are some examples of organizations across the country we love that are doing fantastic, hyper-local work:
Conservation Law Foundation (Boston)
Protecting endangered species and ecosystems in the Boston community.
https://www.clf.org
Galveston Bay Foundation (Houston/Galveston)
Protecting the health of Galveston Bay and getting the community involved in its health and wellbeing
https://galvbay.org
A Studio in the Woods (New Orleans)
A retreat for artists and scientists in a protected forest in Louisiana
https://www.astudiointhewoods.org
T.E.J.A.S.
Environmental Justice Advocacy Services
https://www.tejasbarrios.org
Connecticut River Conservancy (Middletown, CT)
Working to involve ‘regular’ people in keeping the Connecticut River clean, healthy, and accessible.
https://www.ctriver.org
WHO is doing this work in your town? WHO can you talk to? How can YOU get involved? Going to meetings? Volunteering? Organizing Book clubs and neighborhood clean-ups? We encourage you to look to your neighborhood, your town, your city, and start there.
Need inspiration or want to learn about the issue? We suggest reading the books that have really influenced us. These books are listed in the order in which we discovered them-- they each fed and shaped our thinking about the project in different ways:
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The Soul of an Octopus
This book opened the door for us thinking about how a body can also be a brain -- a concept that worked itself directly into a mini-lab experience in the show.
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The Water Will Come
Tells the past, present and future true stories of the way cities from Miami to New York to Venice are experiencing oceans rising and planning for them to rise more. It’s super readable and incredibly informative.
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I Contain Multitudes
This book taught us to think of the human body, one’s self, as a collective. There is no such thing as an individual! Our very selves are made up of communities of microorganisms. “I” becomes “we” in this book.
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Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves
This was one of the first books we read about humans being in relationship to the Ocean and it really helped us think about the human body in relationship to the body of the ocean. It’s a great window into the subculture of freedivers and describes the (failed) attempts our species has made over time to make the ocean habitable to human life.
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Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals
Undrowned is a book-length meditation for the entire human species, based on the subversive and transformative lessons of marine mammals. It’s part of the Emergent Strategy series, and holds an ethos of care, connectivity, and cumulative, small-scale change that we bring into our Ocean Filibuster rehearsal room.
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On Time and Water
This book uses family stories to talk about connections—across generations, cultures, landscapes, and species— and emphasizes how delicate the networks are on which our survival depends. We were drawn to this book because, as we worked on this piece, we realized that our inability to truly perceive the Ocean might have to do with the way our societies experience and depend on linear time.
If you are moved to purchase one of these books, please look towards your local bookstore rather than to an online conglomerate.