The SeaGlass Project

Vision Statement

The SeaGlass Project represents a constellation of educators, scholars, and community leaders committed to protecting the biodiversity, natural resources, and vulnerable communities living within our local and global environments through education and civic engagement. The SeaGlass Project is a non-profit organization established by public school teachers and student service administrators inspired by the work of Andrew Sansom, Texas A& M University graduate, architect, Gulf Coast Conservationist, Founder, Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation, who abided by the words: “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees.”

The SeaGlass Project is dedicated in loving memory to Ulysses Segovia, who passed on May 28, 2016. The SeaGlass Foundation is honored to announce the establishment of the Ulysses Segovia scholarship in Environmental Sciences, Public Health, and Ecological Literacies.

MD Anderson Children's Cancer Fund Raising Bootwalk in Houston, Texas, with family and friends of Ulysses Segovia on November 12, 2016.

A Short History of Sea Glass

By Risha Foss

Glass is made from silica (sand), ash, and limestone; Glass has been manufactured since early Roman antiquity. Glass as a humanly-crafted product is derived from naturally occurring materials. Sea glass represents the organic process of nature gradually reclaiming and transforming humanly-crafted products over time—ultimately returning glass to its original form. Sea glass reflects an ancient, symbiotic, and crystalized relationship between humanity and the earth.

According to the Glass Alliance glass was serendipitously discovered from the crystallization of pots set in open fires on the beach during the early Roman period. The multiple uses of glass for everyday life, art, science, and ornamentation can be chronicled throughout cultures and across history

Glass was one of the first products to be mass produced during the Industrial Revolution. The use of glass greenhouses for botanical gardens in England was celebrated by the Royal Society for the study of biology and botany. Glass greenhouses served to protect nature in London and other urban centers from the onslaught of pollution and soot during the Industrial Revolution.

In the 21st century, glass is becoming something of a rarity, not because of misuse but disuse. Sea glass offers us an important symbol, an index, and a paradox. Sea glass, an ancient humanly-crafted product using naturally-occurring materials, is disappearing. Like the biodiversity among plants and animals across this planet, the scarcity of sea glass today suggests the erosion of ancient and symbiotic ecological relationships on the earth and in the seas.

SeaGlass Project Action Items

• Promote environmental literacy across K-12 curriculum in public schools through writing across communities using diverse discourses and genres (grants, reports, articles, social media, press releases, digital media, etc.);
• Contribute to the circulation of K-12 research, scholarly, and curricular resources through the National Consortium of Environmental Rhetoric and Writing;
• Generate data bases, archives, and online resource sites through digital media to support educators teaching environmental literacy (through multi-modal pedagogy) across the curriculum for K-12 public schools;
• Mentor K-12 educators across the curriculum in ecological principles and writing across communities practices for diverse student populations;
• Cultivate inter-departmental conversations across academic and public communities on local environmental and public health issues;
• Participate in ongoing community outreach to include culturally and ethnolinguistically diverse communities in the praxis of environmental literacy and educational leadership;
• Promote resource-sharing and collaborative scholarly projects between educators, community members, and students across institutions; Mentor future leaders (K-12 and high school graduates) throughout their professional lives in Environmental Studies (across the curriculum in STEM fields, social sciences, business, arts, public health, architecture and community planning, communications, and humanities).