Earth to Sky is an incredible organization built by thousands of like-minded people who have dedicated innumerable hours toward our mission. Today, as we celebrate our 20th Anniversary and look to new horizons, we are honored to reflect on the story of our program.
Our team’s story starts in the age of Space Rangers. Anita Davis began her career at NASA while she was a National Park Service (NPS) Ranger working on detail at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, part of a small and historic program informally known as Space Rangers. The Space Rangers were meant to bridge the gap between the work of the National Park Service and NASA, and Anita saw the potential to help interpreters, such as park rangers, use NASA resources in their work with the public. Interpreters are educators who help people connect to stories of the places they love, and NASA’s resources help bring depth to those stories. Some years later, while Anita was working as a contractor at NASA, she met Ruth Paglierani who worked for University of California, Berkeley. The two shared an interest in bringing NASA science to interpreters - the notion that kickstarted the Earth to Sky program.
Over the span of several years, small meetings became larger conferences and visions became reality. In 2004, Ruth and Anita, along with NPS leadership and interpreters, held their first offical Earth to Sky course, training interpreters and informal educators on the breadth of NASA science. When the call went out for coaches to help with this course, Anita and Ruth met a remarkable and influential climate communicator: NPS ranger John Morris. John, Anita, and Ruth became an unstoppable trio who worked to turn their vision into the well-rounded program we know and love today.
As the issue of climate change rose in national attention, the trio realized that NASA’s scientific expertise could lend perspective to interpreters trying to address the topic. It was then that the founders decided that Earth to Sky courses would begin to center around creating excellent climate communicators. John Morris especially helped to champion this topic with a series of historic contributions including the first NPS climate change brochure that printed 500,000 copies to national parks across the country. As important as these brochures became, they almost didn’t make it off the printer—the initial response to the brochure was one of unease, as the NPS had yet to take a public stance on climate change. Still, John persevered, and with the help of NASA scientists who certified the information, the brochures were approved, and helped to open the door for interpreters to start talking about climate change with their visitors.
As a decade of work flew by, Earth to Sky began to attract more partners, including Sandy Spakoff from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who brought crucial educational methodologies to Earth to Sky. As it became evident that the model was working, and NASA’s science programs were helping interpreters, NASA agreed to fund Earth to Sky, and Anita took the leap to lead the program full time. This funding helped to address to community members' needs, and the regional course model was created, one of our proudest accomplishments.
The regional courses are developed across the country, weaving together NASA and local expertise, and focusing on a specific area's concerns and the interpreters who work there. Meanwhile, Earth to Sky began to build a stronger online infrastructure to organize with a website that provided a place for community members to connect with each other and share resources. With these additions to the program, Earth to Sky began reaching more people across the country, cultivating a wider community from coast to coast, and even Canada's Northwest Territories.
As the program developed, a new opportunity arose to connect people with the wonder of NASA science and outdoor spaces. With the help of NASA's Andrea Jones, and Bryan Mendez from UC Berkeley, Earth to Sky mobilized to help interpreters prepare for the 2017 Total Eclipse, helping to coordinate between agencies, host webinars, and hold a major event at Homestead National Park.
By 2019, the Earth to Sky training methodology had been thoroughly tested and was ready to stretch in new directions. Working with Ruth, John, and new team members Jennetta Giddens and Geneviève de Messières, along with partners from NPS’s Climate Change Response Program, Anita led the development of Earth to Sky’s very first Academy. The Academy would bring a new cohort of experienced and innovative leaders to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland for a week to train them to develop their own Earth to Sky climate communication courses and nurture regional communiteis of practice inc limate communication.
The participants of this first Academy walked away as Earth to Sky regional leaders, with new tools, a host of new connections, and an enduring sense of hope and community. The Academy also marked a turning point in leadership, as Geneviève assumed leadership of the program, but also as the regional leaders brought new perspectives and wisdom to the trainings. The regional model has since become a staple of Earth to Sky’s efforts, inspiring participants to step into leadership roles and design climate communication trainings rich with NASA resources.
While the COVID-19 pandemic was a difficult time for the Earth to Sky community, it provided new opportunities to connect virtually. John developed a plan for online conversations that would bring interpreters and informal educators together to support each other during this time. This series evolved into the current lively Climate Conversations monthly program, which is paired with the monthly Climate in Your Pocket webinar series.
In the last few years, the program has expanded at an electrifying rate. NASA’s Earth Science Division and the NASA Science Activation Program provided a budget increase, which allowed Earth to Sky to hire on four more full-time members who bring passion and experience to the team. The program continues to innovate and push its model to greater heights by hosting exhibits at conferences, organizing eclipse efforts, launching a virtual course, working with our partners, leading regional courses, bringing on cohorts of interns, and recruiting new regional teams.
After 20 years, Earth to Sky remains a shining example of the power of connection. Our organization exists today because of the endless dedication that our community members and partners have extended to Earth to Sky in the name of creating better interpretation and education programs for their audiences. It is because of our community that the vision Anita, Ruth, and John had has been realized in more ways than they ever imagined. We are immensely grateful for every member of this community, past, present, and future, and we hope to keep making “space” (get it?) for more passionate people in our community. Thank you for being here. Ad astra!
Read testimonials from Earth to Sky's 20 years of history here!