Author Archives: Laura Parker Roerden

For Peter Yarrow

by Laura Parker Roerden I first met Peter Yarrow in 1998, when I attended a launch meeting at McGraw Hill in New York City for Operation Respect, an international anti-bullying program that Peter had just founded. I would be representing Educators for Social Responsibility (now Engaging Schools), where I was at the time the publicationsContinue reading “For Peter Yarrow”

Youth Development in a Hurricane

(Previously published in The Disruptive Quarterly Journal) by Laura Parker Roerden Something about the way we’ve done youth development for the past few decades no longer feels right to me. The times have changed; and with it, so have we all. Ocean Matters, a service-learning program for teens, conducted an expedition in Grand Cayman, BritishContinue reading “Youth Development in a Hurricane”

Ocean Matters

Laura Parker Roerden’s work explores and promotes the development of social, emotional, and ethical development in young people towards creating socially-responsible adults, i.e. those who participate in democracy, positively contribute to their communities, and are stewards for the natural world. Research shows that nurturing healthy relationships with peers, adults in their life and with the natural world can provide young people with theContinue reading “Ocean Matters”

A Lonely Walk

by Laura Parker Roerden On a fine companioned afternoon, one never has to notice the stars shining side by side or a single blade of grass hunched over others, now safe as if the wind had thrown its weight, a thumb on a scale tipped for mercy. But in a stretch when lonely walks awayContinue reading “A Lonely Walk”

The Open Door

by Laura Parker Roerden There’s something available to us that sits beside hope, like an open door. Children know about it. You sometimes see them walk towards it. Often they carry it and place it on our laps, looking up at us with eyes flung wide open. “Here,” they seem to offer. “Take this.” I’veContinue reading “The Open Door”

Health, Wholeness and Belonging

by Laura Parker Roerden Some thoughts on health and wholeness from Wendell Berry (posted below) resonate right now, in a world where our division has become both a goal and a means. What if as we isolate in response to COVID-19, we also find our way to wholeness: as individuals, as families, as communities, asContinue reading “Health, Wholeness and Belonging”

A New Vision for Farms, Oceans and Youth

by Laura Parker Roerden (October 3, 2019) Last week I had the privilege to present at the Wright Locke Farm Speaker Series in Winchester, MA as part of Climate Week. After an emotional week of watching youth all over the world rise up to simply ask for a livable future, it was heartening to see soContinue reading “A New Vision for Farms, Oceans and Youth”

Lessons of the Wild

by Laura Parker Roerden Click the image to view this previously published article, “Lessons of the Wild” in Schools with Spirit by Beacon Press. lessons_of_the_wild [jetpack_subscription_form]   Laura Parker Roerden is the founding director of Ocean Matters and the former managing editor of Educators for Social Responsibility and New Designs for Youth Development. She serves on the boards of WomenContinue reading “Lessons of the Wild”

Want to Help Address the Many Environmental Problems Facing Us?

Are you worried about the environmental challenges facing us: from global warming to plastic pollution to habitat loss to overfishing? We are too. The next generation is inheriting an ocean that is very different from the one we did. Time and again, Ocean Matters youth show us that there is hope—for our young people andContinue reading “Want to Help Address the Many Environmental Problems Facing Us?”