Thanks For A Wonderful Year!
Here are some of the highlights of Explore Ecology’s past year.
Our Environmental Educators taught over 750 classes in local schools, inspiring over 19,000 students.
The Art From Scrap Gallery hosted 7 art exhibitions, offering local artists a place to show their work. Our Art Center offered over 100 low cost or free Art From Scrap Workshops.
Over 200 cleanups were conducted at Arroyo Burro Beach. We managed Santa Barbara County’s Coastal Cleanup Day.
38 classes, grades 4th-6th, participated in our Flows to the Ocean Marine Debris Prevention Program, which includes a trip to Santa Cruz Island and service learning projects.
Our Garden Educators manage 32 school gardens from Guadalupe to Carpinteria where over 8,000 kids learn how to grow their own food and make healthy food choices.
The Art From Scrap Retail Store diverted thousands of pounds of materials from the landfill, while providing low cost items to the Santa Barbara Community!
Thanks for a fabulous year! We will be closed until January 6th. Our Reuse Store is being remodeled. We can’t wait to share it with you!
Josh was born and raised in Santa Barbara, where his passion and curiosity for the environment began and has continued to grow. During his undergraduate studies, Josh pursued this interest at the University of California at Santa Cruz, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies.
Melissa Dodos developed her passion for creative reuse as a mother of four and elementary educator over the past 25 years. She loves to inspire creativity by connecting people with resources and ideas.
Veronica grew up in San Diego and spent four years in San Luis Obispo studying Animal Science at Cal Poly. As an undergrad she learned lots about livestock, agriculture, and wildlife.
Stephanie began her journey as an educator over twenty years ago working as a preschool teacher in Washington state for a cooperative preschool program affiliated with Whatcom Community College. She loved observing the wonder and curiosity of the children and bringing them out into nature to explore the natural world. She continued her love for learning and got her teaching license and then her Montessori certification and worked as an elementary teacher in Tribal, Public, and Montessori schools. She collaborated to create a school garden and her students loved it so much that it became a special place where they could garden, read, explore, play, and it provided a safe sanctuary for students to calm down and reset when they were having difficult moments.
Morgan’s mermaid soul is always seeking adventure—swimming a relay across the Santa Barbara Channel and taking the first photo of a newborn orca off Anacapa Island being standout experiences close to home.
Lindsay Johnson