Programs Blog

Date: March 11, 2025 

Time: 1642 

Location: SEA Campus, Woods Hole, MA, USA 

Weather: Sunny, 54° F, wind 10 kts SSW 

Hi! My name is Robin Muse, and I am a junior at Boston University studying marine science. We’re all beginning to settle into life here at SEA and our evenings are spent laughing together over dinner, reading scientific articles, and drafting writing assignments. A prank war has broken out between the two cottages, so our dinners are often spent scheming about our next prank. On Saturday, we all went to a local pizza place for dinner and then spent the rest of the night talking and playing card games at A house. I treasure the community we’ve created here, and I’m glad we still have until the end of May together.  

Yesterday, we went on another field trip to our next-door neighbors at Woodwell Climate Research Center, but not before having a discussion about climate change communication in Environmental Communications. This was a bit of a heavy topic with many of us sharing about how we feel desensitized to bad news about climate change and how we’re frustrated at the lack of action from governments. Our visit to Woodwell, however, restored our energy and provided us with a new sense of hope.  

On the tour of the building, we learned about how it was designed to maximize energy efficiency with lots of carefully designed windows, filling the space with natural light. Woodwell seemed like a great community of people working on turning climate research into policy. Heather Goldstone, our host and the director of communications there, taught us about effective communication about climate change. The main message that stood out to me was that hopeful articles that provide solutions are more effective at getting readers to care. Our visit to Woodwell reminded me that hope is a powerful tool in creating change and that community is very important so we can help each other to achieve our goals.  

I realized yesterday how special the community at Woods Hole is; a small town brimming with passionate ocean researchers looking to help our ocean. And SEA is a part of that community! I am so grateful for the time I get to spend here with these people, building our own community of marine biodiversity researchers, and I’m so excited to see what we will achieve while at sea.  

Shout outs: 

To Mum, Dad, and everyone back in Colorado: I love you and miss you. I’m so excited to tell you about my adventures when I get home! 

To Team Tuna: I hope you’re winning trivia nights while I’m gone! I miss you all SO MUCH and wish I could take you out to sea with me.  

To Brie, Bee, Sofie, and Cerys: I hope your semesters are going well! I love and miss you <3