People & Nature with Caleta Scott

Hosted by UFAEC graduate student Adeyinka Ayodele, this episode features Caleta Scott discussing how programs like Lagoon Yoga strengthen mind–body connections with nature while expanding inclusive access to outdoor spaces. Learn how intentional community engagement, cultural connection, and experiential practices can empower people to build deeper relationships with the environment. 

Caleta Scott: https://onelagoon.org/resources/contact/

People & Nature Symposium: https://tbep.org/people-nature-symposium/

Transcript

Adeyinka

Welcome to streaming science the people and nature Podcast Series. I'm Adeyinka Ayodele with University of Florida's department of agricultural education and communication. In this series, we explore how people interact with nature and the environment around them. We attended the first ever people and nature symposium at UF IFAS Austin Cary forest campus. We interviewed leaders, innovators and visionaries in conservation social science, and we are excited to share with you what they have to say today, we are joined by Caleta Scott, who shares how programs like lagoon yoga helps strengthen mind-body connections with nature and expand inclusive access to outdoor spaces.

Caleta

My name is Caleta Scott, and I am the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program

Adeyinka

Thank you so much. It's nice having you with us. When you hear the phrase people in nature, what does it mean to you?

Caleta

It means me. I am a person. I enjoy nature, and it's just that simple. However, I think that in our industry, there's a disconnect with some people thinking that everybody deserves the nature.

Adeyinka

Thank you. Do you think people today feel more disconnected or more connected to nature? 

Caleta

I think that people want to feel more connection to nature however, we are living in a technologically advanced society where we've got phones in our hands. We're looking at blue screens all day, and I do believe that inherently, that disconnects us from nature, if we're you know, when I was a kid, kids played outside. Today, kids play inside, on a screen, or on the robot. So there is probably a desire to connect with nature. More people probably wish they had more time to get out in nature. So I do think there's a disconnect, and it's not natural.

Adeyinka

Was there any moment or experience that shaped how you see your relationship with nature.

Caleta

You know, I have a philosophy, and maybe it's because of my cultural background, but I am of this earth, right? This place is mine, and I'm a steward of it, so it's my job to protect it. I can be in it anytime I want, and that type of agency over myself allows me to feel belonging anywhere, and especially outside. Go outside and play no shoes on, running in the street, you know, with no shoes on. That's my childhood, and it feels real good to remember that. But also I can really say that, that's not what's happening today.

Adeyinka

Thank you. So if people misunderstand nature, what are the consequences?

Caleta

The consequences are the world that we're in right now. Because we do have a disconnect with nature, I believe that sometimes, you know, the world has cycles, and nature has cycles, and when society and humans fight that through things such as, you know, fighting migration is a big thing because that's natural. And if we don't allow people to migrate then there's a disruption and a flow. And I think that we're there because we have things like we have today that are causing these problems, and understanding there is a traditional ecological knowledge that people have and not discounting that, I think we've come very far in discounting some of that traditional ecological knowledge to where we're here now in this world as scientists, going back to those indigenous people saying, What did you do? How did you do it? How could you live with the land in such a way that's a real thing that's happening. So I think we're here. These are the consequences of separating from the land.

Adeyinka

Thank you so much. So what challenges does your work aim to address in how people connect with nature?

Caleta

Oh, I come from a historically neglected community. However, I am privileged enough to know that I had access. and so to me…

Adeyinka

Access in what sense,

Caleta

access period. I grew up in Miami and I had access to the KEYS. I grew up going to the KEYS on boats. I learned how to swim. And I went camping in the Everglades, and there are people in my community who did not have that access or opportunity. And so if you don't have an opportunity to engage with the environment and nature, if historically, your communities were told you can't go to the beach, how do you expect a community that was banned from the beach to know how to swim, right? Please, don't discount that community will learn how to swim on their own. But that barrier and that ban of people not being allowed to go to the pool or to the beach fast forward, gives us this thought process that there's an entire community of people who are afraid of the water, and that's just not true. If you give kids and the youth of all ages, if you give someone access to something that they did not have before, and they believe that it's theirs, they will protect it.

Adeyinka

Talking about the lagoon yoga, how does lagoon yoga offer a solution for strengthening Mind, Body connections with nature?

Caleta

Oh, my goodness! So, the wonderful thing about lagoon yoga is that it was started as a UCF research project where a professor at UCF got a hold of a yoga practitioner. The goal was to take these poses that connect your body and mind and infuse them with some lagoon oyster nature elements. So we have oyster pose, which is opening up your heart and stretching your back to where you just… I'm going to show it to you, If everybody can do this with me, clasp your hands behind your head. Open your elbows wide and then inhale. Look up, open oyster, Exhale. Round your back and bring your elbows together, closed oyster. All of my presentations, whether it's lagoon yoga or a formal presentation with a slide deck, I start my presentation with everyone opening up their heart, and there's a correlation there. If we could all just open up our heart a little bit more, maybe we could work together for the solutions needed. Yeah.

Adeyinka

So what makes engagement different from outreach in nature-based programs? 

Speaker 2  

Well, outreach is when someone, a professional who is educated on a certain topic, comes into a community, maybe it's a community event, and they set up a table and they sit there. Now, sometimes the community will come up to your table and say, what you have going on, but there's often times, especially in when we're engaging with or attempting to engage, engage with communities that are different from me or who I am as a practitioner, then you may not connect with anyone. But if you are engaging with them, you know who they are, you might care about the concerns of their community. You're not just going to go to their event to check a box, right? There's a difference between outreach, setting up a booth and sitting there and then actually engaging with people. Engagement takes time. You can be a public outreach coordinator and meet with a community group once a year, and that could check your box, but engagement takes maybe visiting their meetings quarterly, just so that you could hear what they're talking about. And maybe, just maybe, we make a friend.

Adeyinka

So it has to be a continuous process.

Caleta

it has to be continuous, and you have to really want to do it. And I think that's where sometimes the conflict comes in. Because if as an individual, I'm looking at my job as something I have to do to check a box, versus a passion to connect people to nature, then I'm probably not going to be so good at it, because I really don't want to do that. And I think there's opportunities in engaging with people to make ourselves better through that process, and that comes with listening, and maybe listening just to understand, not listening to respond.

Adeyinka

Thank you so much for your response. So how can a program like yours be designed to be more inclusive and acceptable?

Caleta

I think that, it has to be intentional, and it can't just come with grant funding. There needs to be a champion for this work, meaning understanding that when you meet with people, or if you have your own meetings, you need to look at who's not there, who's not here, and how can we get them here?

Adeyinka

So what is one practical step communities can take to support our mind, body, nature, relationship

Caleta

Because of how I live my life on a daily basis and how my community engages with me. If I'm coming to them with something like lagoon yoga, I'm here to help and because of my position in the community and how they see me. They also want to do the things that I'm doing , because they see how I live. They see that I'm happy, they see that I'm joyful. They see that I'm about my business, that I'm fighting for them all the time, and people want some of what you got. Sometimes they can see it on you. And for me, yoga lights me up on the inside, and it shines through.

Adeyinka

Thank you so much for your results. Do you have anything that you wish to share with us?

Adeyinka

Okay, I may not pronounce this person's name, but this is a quote by Wangari Matai. And it's, you cannot protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own and that they must protect them. So to me, that speaks to the true nature of inclusivity, and I think that everyone who works in this field needs to embody that.

Adeyinka

Thank you so much for that quote.

Caleta

I'm grateful for the opportunity, and it's been a great time.

Adeyinka

Thanks for joining us today. I'm your host, Adeyinka. We appreciate Caleta Scott for sharing our work on strengthening Mind, Body connections with nature and building inclusive community programs. To learn more about our guests and their work, as well as streaming science, Tampa Bay Estuary Program and the people & nature symposium, see the link in our show notes. You can also explore more conversations like this through The Streaming Science on all social media platforms.