Elizabeth Obray; Kristin Wilson-Grimes; Sennai Habtes, Southern Utah University
In the U.S. Virgin Island (USVI) there is a large quantity of residential waste produced with ineffective modes of disposal available. Rather than trash being picked up by trucks on a weekly basis, residents must take their waste to limited waste collection sites. The collection bins at these sites, are not frequently taken to the landfill, resulting in habitual littering around the bins. This litter then reaches the Caribbean Sea via “ghuts” (ephemeral streams) and through storm water runoff. This ultimately results in high quantities of land-based sourced Marine Debris (MD). In an effort to reduce these sources of MD, the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) Masters in Marine & Environmental Science Program (MMES) faculty and students partnered with USVI Department of Education (VIDoE) teachers to find inventive ways for USVI G6-12 students to share what they learn in their classes about MD with the broader USVI community. These community transfer projects (CTP) focused on messaging campaigns to reduce land-based sources of MD. The CTPs were co-developed by MMES students and VIDoE teachers. The CTPs were organized by NOAA Priority Watersheds to have the largest, positive, impact possible. The projects were developed in Fall 2016 and implemented in Spring 2017. We were interested in discovering how developing and implementing CTPs would influence MMES student’s and VIDoE teacher’s attitudes toward MD and their associated personal behaviors. We conducted retrospective, semi-structured interviews asking project leaders about their experiences with the CTPs and how they feel their attitudes/behaviors have changed after participation in their projects. We deductively coded responses based on the following categories: Pre-CTP Attitude and Behavior; Post-CTP Attitude and Behavior; Ideas about the impact of CTPs; and Working with MMES students/VIDoE teachers. We then inductively coded participant responses to verify the deductive codes and ensure researcher triangulation. In general, there was a decrease in negative attitudes toward MD for both MMES students and VIDoE teachers. Additionally, there was an increase in pro-environmental behaviors, largely by VIDoE teachers.