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Meet the Morgan family of Glen Ellen

Early in December when a lot of us were frantically planning hectic holidays, the Morgan family of Glen Ellen was out and about educating the world about the oceans, the land and how to conserve and save both.

  Angela Nardo-Morgan wears many hats, among them: Bouverie docent and coordinator of their Quercus Quarterly events, secretary of the Glen Ellen Historical Society and much more. In December, she planned a talk for the Bouverie Preserve featuring nationally recognized speaker Dan Imhoff on organic farming and environmental protection, through encouraging biodiversity.

  Attended by Bouverie docents and their friends, the talk was enthusiastically received, as was an earlier presentation that Angela arranged on insectivorous bats, given by Kathy Cowan, a bat naturalist from Sulphur Creek Nature Center.

  While Angela was keeping some of us local folks well informed about conservation and protection issues of the earth and its inhabitants, her sweetie, Lance Morgan, was off to Auckland for the World Conference on Conservation Biology and the first international Marine Conservation Think Tank. Topics there ranged from Antarctic ecosystems to impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on deep-sea corals, to management of marine protected areas.

  Lance, who runs the scientific division of Marine Conservation Biology Institute from our sleepy little inland village of Glen Ellen, travels much of the world, exploring and studying the oceans. Lance was among several scientists presenting at that New Zealand conference.

  But of all the family’s interesting travels and talks, the one that caused the most excitement was seventh-grader Bodhi Morgan’s recent visit to the East Bay to meet Sylvia Earle, an amazing and inspiring woman. Earle has been called “her deepness” by the New Yorker, a “living legend” by the Library of Congress and “Hero for the Planet” by Time.

  She is an oceanographer, explorer, author and lecturer who loves the sea. Earle has developed one-person submarines and submersibles for ocean exploration, which she has been using for almost 50 years.

  In a TED talk (readily available online at ted.com, then search for Sylvia Earle) her enthusiasm is palpable. Her deep love of the wild ocean is expressed throughout with such calm fervor, that it’s easy to be inspired. This short quote from her talk conveys her conviction:  “With every drop of water you drink, with every breath of air you take, you’re connected with the sea.”

  You know she means it and you, too, can feel the force of such a simple, yet profound, statement.

  I can only imagine how inspirational it was for Bodhi, and his buddy, Maclain Goertzen to meet with Earle and spend time talking with her. Angela (who is of course, Bodhi’s mom, and Lance, his dad) sent me a photo she snapped that day of her son with the famous Earle. The wide-grinning photo of Bodhi with Sylvia makes it clear just how much he enjoyed his visit.

  Congratulations to the entire Morgan family with wishes that this New Year brings them all many more exciting adventures and continued success in helping us all to understand and protect our environment, the oceans, the land, and the floral and fauna therein.

  All of us need guides to inspire us to lead better lives. It’s obvious that Bodhi has found someone to admire and excite him about nature. Other kids in Glen Ellen have found their guiding friends through Dunbar School’s thriving Mentor Center run by Mary Jane Arner. I’ll have some news to share from her soon, news that Mary Jane sent to me before the Holiday rush that I’m only getting to now. It will include the mentor center’s ever-growing wish list which ranges from more mentors to donated toys and games, along with some happy congratulations to some of our Dunbar mentors. I also have good news to share about events at our state parks.

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  Share your good news with friends and neighbors in Glen Ellen. Call or write me at 996-5995 or P.O. Box 518, GE 95442. Or email me a creekbottom@earthlink.net. Glen Ellen chatter rarely requires timeliness; however, if your news does, please be sure to contact me at least two weeks before the run date.