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National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERRs) as common grounds: towards a holistic science approach to research, education, and outreach with religious communities to enhance climate and environmental literacy at Waquoit Bay, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA

The protection and management of coastal zones will face new challenges in the age of global climate change and other exacerbating environmental issues. Addressing these challenges will require input and effort from a broad range of communities and may include reaching beyond traditional participants in coastal management, such as scientists and policy-makers, to involve the commitments and networks of religious communities. Once seen to be at odds, scientific and religious communities are now finding common ground addressing a broad range of environmental concerns, in particular through sharing a key value of environmental stewardship. Are there particular types of environmental programs, languages, or outreach strategies that best suit religious audiences? What can scientific communities learn from religious communities in their turn? The climate as common ground project, based at the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, sought to address these questions. The project involved listening to the needs of the various religious communities in the Upper Cape area through conversations, interviews, events, and other venues, then implementing activities suggested by those conversations. We hope that sharing this participatory process and its results, including a holistic science approach to stewardship-oriented institutional cultures, will be useful for others seeking dialogue on environmental issues among scientific and religious communities.