Your donation dollars at work...

The CMNA's Awards and Charitable Donations Committee arranged for three students to attend the recent Hope Summit.

The students, Sarah Sullivan, Adam Le, and Matilda Holly attend Wando High school, and they expressed their gratitude and said they enjoyed the speakers. One in particular, Sarah Sullivan, had this to say about the summit, and she was kind enough to give us permission to share her thoughts with you.

What I learned from the 2026 Hope Summit Conference:

I think some of the most interesting things we learned during the summit were about the diversities of oyster farming, the efforts that go to rewilding and seascaping, the importance of environmental law, and the significance of hope to every conservation effort.

I didn’t know that oysters demand certain conditions to be raised in (which we learned from Imani Black of Minorities in Aquaculture) nor that oyster farming was such a common practice around the world (which was presented by Grey Gowder).
It was also interesting to learn about how aquaculture in relation to oyster farming actually has connections to many other industries such as medical/pharmaceutical and fields like cosmetology.

Similarly, the lectures given about efforts towards rebuilding wild connections within urban areas were very informative and cool to learn about, as well as bringing back native species (such as the replanting of longleaf pines by the Nemours Wildlife Foundation and Stephen Clements, which I learned about previously in Wildlife biology, so it was cool to see actual efforts to revitalize their population, since they are crucial to wildlife like the red cockaded woodpecker).
More specifically, the efforts by San Fransisco Estuary Institute and Sierra Garcia to reestablish the presence of kelp forests, a very important marine environment, as well as the efforts by NOAA and Sasha Francis to bring new life to coral populations on the ocean floor, were very inspiring and gave me hope for future restoration projects that perhaps I could one day be a part of.

Environmental law is very important to conservation and preservation, as the speakers noted, nature cannot speak up for itself, and so we must have dedicated people willing to deal with the difficulties of doing so for it. I considered briefly being an environmental lawyer when I was in sophomore year, and that is a pathway I may choose to revisit in my upcoming years at college, because truthfully, the panelists, such as Dr Pamela Martin, are amazing people who put forth tremendous efforts into protecting wild spaces with their legal knowledge, even as protections get stripped away. They aren’t afraid to stand up to establishments that disrespect nature, and they care about the opinions and rights of the communities surrounding nature, especially marginalized groups such as Native Americans.

On that note, I thought Joshua Shumak’s talk surrounding his work with his tribe, the Wassamasaw, was extremely interesting and getting to know their people better as well as what they have accomplished and what they’re still fighting for made me feel like I got to know the people of the low country better. I didn’t even know that the Wassamasaw tribe existed before he talked about them, so I really appreciated being able to learn more about one of the least protected communities in the state in hopes that when I join the environmental science field, I can perhaps help them too.

I also thought that Madison Lee’s work of preserving historical Charlestonian sights was very inspiring, and learning about the destruction of buildings like the old church I didn’t even know about made me feel more informed and gave me motivation to help serve my community.
The workshops that we did helped me visualize what a more sustainable Charleston may look like, through efforts like establishing repair shops, encouraging sustainable fashions, allowing more accessibility to healthy living, and providing better public transport that doesn’t rely on cars.

Above all, though, I learned that hope is a vital part of environmental science and efforts in sustainability, because without it, it is difficult to imagine the future that we are fighting for, and that removes the entire goal. The point of conservation, preservation, and efforts in sustainability is to preserve the world for future generations so they can experience the same wonders we have and connect to their histories, and hope is a fundamental building block of the future, because it is what keeps us moving forward even when times are extremely bleak.
Even when the nights seem the darkest, we can always look towards the stars, for there, hope burns bright even in the blackest of days.
This conference was very educational and informative, I enjoyed hearing everyone speak and the opportunity to be exposed to examples of field work and knowledge of what environmental science truly involves.

Thank you for the chance to attend!