Dr. Bob Sluka and our interns hunting nurdles during the Great Global Nurdle Hunt, Cocoa Beach, FL. Photo by Noah Guthrie.

Dear friend of A Rocha,

As a new intern on our team, I’ve spent the past month in our Florida location, where we’ve been working on marine plastic removal, oyster and seagrass restoration, and mole crab research! Our work regularly takes us to the Canaveral National Seashore, where gulls and pelicans hover over the Atlantic, and where aqueous mountains surge and melt ‒ created, then uncreated.

The ocean is a vast and chaotic ecosystem, but at the moment, our team is studying the mole crab, a tiny burrower of the swash zone, where waves break on the beach. Wearing a round, burnished shell, it’s roughly the shape and hue of a pillbug, but with brawnier legs and two snail-stalk eyes. They’re remarkably small creatures to have to deal with the constant bludgeoning of waves.

I’m from the landlocked state of Tennessee, so being in the water is often humbling. When I wade in a lagoon to check light monitors, or to dump oyster shells on a nascent reef, I’m forced to move differently ‒ with heavier limbs, and weaker gravity. When I drag our mole-crab shovel through the sand, the blow of even a knee-high wave makes me stagger, and when I paddle out deeper into the ocean, a bad roller pins me hopelessly underwater.

It’s no wonder that among the four things the sage Agur calls “too wonderful” for him to understand, one is “the way of a ship on the high seas” (Proverbs 30:18-9). It’s a miracle and an honor that anyone could ride the ocean, the tempest that God alone can tame (Psalm 107:23-30). When the waves pummel me ‒ along with the mole crabs ‒ it’s just as much a gift as it is a trial, a divine invitation to serve an ecosystem far broader and more powerful than myself. I’m excited to join you and the rest of the A Rocha community in continuing this good work!

Sincerely,

Noah Guthrie
Conservation Intern
A Rocha USA

Act Locally

(Left to Right) A Rocha USA Executive Director Ben Lowe, Madeline Padgett, Michaela Stenerson, and Noah Guthrie traveling to Murdock Trust's "Vision + Call" retreat at Yelm, Washington.

Meet our Intern Class of 2023-2024

By: Hannah Gillespie

A Rocha USA’s Conservation Internship Program is a nine-month, residential experience that offers professional and personal development and supports A Rocha USA’s conservation projects. This year, for the first time, interns will split their time between Titusville, Florida and Austin, Texas. This unique opportunity allows them to gain experience in conservation and community engagement with A Rocha's Lead Scientist for Marine Conservation, Dr. Robert Sluka, and Texas Conservation Project Director, Dr. Verónica Godoy. 

The Conservation Internship Program runs from September to May. It is for recent college graduates with degrees in environmental conservation or a related field, who are interested in exploring the connection between their Christian faith and scientific vocation. If you are interested in applying for next year’s Conservation Internship opportunity, be sure to stay in touch with A Rocha USA by following us on social media.

Think Globally

A Rocha Peru’s work with Cañoncillo Forest Craftswomen. Photo by Xavier Saer.

All Things Are Connected: Partnering with Indigenous Communities in Earthkeeping

By: Liuan Huska

Long before you and I arrived on earth, people have walked the land knowing the names and stories of the plants, animals, rocks, and rivers. They knew the use of each plant, what ailments it cured, and how to harvest and care for it. They knew where animals burrowed and what sounds and tracks they made. They received the gifts of the land and took care of the land in return. These people may have been your great-grandparents or parents if you are of Indigenous descent. But if you’re like me and most people residing in what is now called North America, the living relationship that Native people have with the earth is one that you’d have to go back many, many generations to find in your ancestry. 

At one point, we were all Indigenous. We all came from someplace and had ancestors who knew their surroundings intimately because such knowledge was essential for their survival. Today, however, most of us scan our surroundings and barely register the elements of the intricate ecosystems that filter our air and water, improve our soil, and sustain our lives. Histories of migration, sometimes voluntary and sometimes forced, have disconnected us from our ancestral lands. The legacy of colonization has also imposed a framework of conquest and extraction, making it harder for us to see our natural environments other than as resources to be used. 

Many of us, including here at A Rocha, are on a journey of restoring our relationships with the places we live, reweaving the threads of care, responsibility, and mutuality between humans and the rest of creation that have been severed by colonialism and other forces. As we take up once again the holy work of earthkeeping, Indigenous and local communities are critical partners in our work.

Get Involved: A Rocha opportunities

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