Behind the Scenes: Interpreters Learn to Share the Love

By ritaperalta | May 21, 2017

“In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught” – Baba Dioum, International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, 1968

Am I about to challenge the very principal that led me to the interpretation profession? For as long as I remember, Baba Dioum’s words resonated in my world view. People will protect only what they know. To me, that has always meant knowing the environmental consequences of our human actions.

In my journey through various careers, I settled into the role of naturalist partly to teach people about environmental harms in order to promulgate stewardship. Yet this month, during a meeting of cultural and natural history interpreters from around the world, I found a challenging, new commission: share the love, minds will follow.

I participated in the 2017 International Conference on Interpretation sponsored by the National Association for Interpretation (NAI). My time at the conference in Mexico was illuminating. Day one showcased keynote speaker Sam Ham, the father of thematic interpretation, whose speech challenged the belief that we love only what we understand and that we understand only what we are taught. He insisted that this belief has been disproven by study after study, and he cited examples of his experiences in the Galapagos Islands, where he worked with local groups to increase charitable donations from tourists who visit the archipelago. Dr. Ham focused on an interpretive experience that provoked wonder to offer visitors opportunities to love the place. Only then was an offer made for them to give back. The outcome was an impressive 200% increase in donations.

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This is how I began my journey towards understanding and accepting the role of front-line interpreters as “gate-greeters” to the world that we want to preserve and that we are bound to encourage others to love.

Speaker Cal Martin, the founder of an interpretive firm near Ottawa, Canada, talked about using emotion to connect people to places. He, too, had lived his environmental career teaching about his subjects and focusing on the consequences of human actions. His views evolved as he was influenced by the Biodiversity Project, a program established by a New York middle school science teacher to create student-driven research, by the book Beyond Ecophobia by David Sobel, and even by a marketing manual. In his talk, Martin saw doom, gloom and facts as counterproductive to an emotional connection that elicits change. Instead, he emphasized that experience should instill a sense of wonder and should engage and connect with a person’s emotions. As an example, he told the story of Tim Hortons, a franchised Canadian coffee shop founded by a hockey legend. Canadians, he explained, feel a duty to drink Tim Hortons coffee every day, lest they seem unpatriotic. The connection is not with the coffee, but rather with hockey, a sport so intrinsically Canadian that to not honor it is unpatriotic. If interpretation seeks to provoke a public change such as stewardship, then the formula has to include emotional connections that evoke love and an opportunity to act on that love.

So how do we create love of a place? Interpretive Planner Don Enright spoke of finding “the essence of place.” A concept more illustrative than concrete, the essence of place is a collection of thoughts and feelings that are shared by stakeholders about a place. To find it, stakeholders are asked to search for what the essence of place is for them. The questions may go something like this:

What is the imagery your special place provokes in your mind?
What features are so essential that without them this place is no longer this place?
What emotions do you get from being in this place?
What other places in your region are most like your place?
What words speak to your place?
Finally, looking at your essence, what happens when things fail?

Collectively, these thoughts and feelings can focus interpretive planning and management. This method draws on emotional connections, focusing on hearts to win minds. Love, then minds.

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On the second day, we boarded shuttles for offsite conference sessions. I had selected whale watching. The coastal highway journey offered serene views of oceanfront properties and wave-splashed beaches. Cabo San Lucas was busy, loud and full of spring break tourists. At the outfitter’s, we were presented a short primer about whales and their biology. About 20 people loaded into each boat and donned life jackets. Our destination: the gathering of whales at the meeting of waters from the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez. As the first humpback breached, we felt a collective spiritual connection inspired by the nearness of such a magnificent creature. I was filled with wonder. I loved it!

On return, I settled and digested my experience. The wonder turned to endless questions. How long are the whales there? How many species reach these waters? What role is Mexico playing, and I learned it was the first country to ban whale hunts.

And there it was, crystal clear.

Love, then minds.

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So how do we integrate these lessons into everyday work at local parks and nature centers? What lessons will blend into our mission of conserving our natural and cultural resources, especially when complicated by diverse interests and views? How does my love for the Potomac River, Virginia bluebells, wood turtles and sun soaked sycamores convert others? If we focus on love born of a common place, a connection with place, it becomes clear. Our job as interpreters is that of gate-greeters, not gate keepers. We open the door to love of place and encourage visitors to experience our treasures in their individual, personal ways. Our job is to connect with different interests and to step outside ourselves, outside the gate, to greet and foment love, and to provide opportunities for someone to seek answers once love is there.

Many parks and nature centers already do this with camps and programs that make lasting memories. My local park, at the shores of the Potomac River, connects people with nature while they entertain themselves through boat rentals, nature kayak tours and fishing programs that bring them to the park. They come to enjoy, and leave with an emotional connection to the park. In the same way nature centers draw kids to live exhibit animals, and they leave with an emotional connection to wildlife.

We partner with nature. We win hearts, then minds.

“People protect what they love.” Jacques-Yves Cousteau