The Current
C onservation
for the
N ext G eneration • S pring 2017
Q&A
WITH EPI CO-FOUNDER
& EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
SCOTT PANKRATZ
H ands - on learning at EPI’ s P acuare R eserve - S cott adds his handprint to the student , researcher , and staff prints on the education building .
We recently sat down with Scott to ask him a few questions about the principal values upon which EPI
was founded: scientific literacy, environmental protection, and cultural exchange. His answers speak to a
greener, brighter future, with the next generation leading the charge towards collaborative global solutions.
Q: We talk a lot about the importance of being a “global citizen” at EPI.
What does that concept mean to you personally?
A: Being a global citizen means you’re aware of your actions on a daily
basis. It means you consciously give consideration to how your actions
affect not only your local environment and community but the wider
global community and the global systems that we’re all connected to.
Q: Why did you and Julie set out to focus on the “next generation”?
A: I love working with teens! There’s an innocence and high capacity
that are blended with this emerging sense of possibility. When you’re
a teen (or even an adult!), you may not know exactly who you are or
what you want, but you have this strong energy and an emerging
sense of self and capacity. It’s a space I love to be a part of.
Q: Besides science skills, which are an intrinsic part of our courses,
what skills do you feel students learn in a typical EPI course?
A: Students learn an awareness of themselves and what they are
capable of. For example, maybe they don’t get the best grades, but
with EPI they gain an awareness that they’re good leaders, because
they help other students. Maybe they find hidden strengths, and this
different learning environment helps illuminate them. Then they
go home and engage their strengths in different ways in their own
communities.
Q: EPI believes there’s a strong connection between cultural exchange
and conservation. How do you believe one impacts the other?
A: Cultural exchange and meeting people from other countries make
the global nature of our daily lives more real. So, I might see a sticker
on a banana that says “Ecuador” and not think anything of it. But if I’ve
been to Ecuador and seen a banana plantation and met people who
worked there, it changes my relationship with that banana! And maybe
it changes where I buy that banana from, if I buy organic, or if I buy it at
all. That awareness of our decisions and how they impact people from
other places is huge. Having a cultural exchange experience in your
lifetime makes that more real and gives you a greater awareness of why
these things are important to everyone.
Q: What advice can you give for people feeling overwhelmed by the
global environmental issues we’re facing today?
A: Thinking about issues on a planetary scale can get depressing and
difficult. But I think a lot of the issues we’re facing come down to
a lack of connection to (and awareness of) self, others, and nature.
Reconnecting in these three fundamental ways is a fairly simple,
straightforward, and intuitive solution to the massive global problems
that none of us can solve by ourselves. The focus of EPI’s efforts is
this collective action that leads to systemic, durable, and real change.
It all starts with you and how you connect with the world - through
yourself, others, and nature.
E C O L O G Y P R O J E C T I N T E R N AT I O N A L • W W W. E C O L O G Y P R O J E C T.O R G • 4 0 6 . 7 2 1 . 8 7 8 4