By Pat Danahey Janin
I am passionate about the intersection of philanthropy and oceans. When it comes to the ocean environment, philanthropic responses outside of spectacular activism (Sea Shepherd, Greenpeace) are virtually unknown.
Ocean research, deep sea mapping, citizen involvement in science, ocean clean-ups, and ocean literacy education are just some of the many activities that benefit from philanthropic support.
I’ve been researching this topic for the past four years and now I get to teach about it, too. I live in Paris, France and teach a course entitled Philanthropy and the Oceans (the course is based on a syllabus for a 200-level course entitled “Green” Philanthropy that I had developed as the final project in Dr. Rich Steinberg’s PHST 664 course at the Lilly School of Philanthropy back in Spring 2015) to an international student body at the French Political Science School (SciencesPo Paris).
It is exciting and provides a wide diversity of experiences because my students come from all over the world. This past semester, I had over 20 different nationalities in the classroom with different understandings of what philanthropy is about. I wanted to share some of the key learning points from this experience and how I navigated teaching to such a diverse student body to make philanthropic responses to ocean issues real and relevant. (more…)