Youth Climate Leadership Program

Martha’s Vineyard: Land, Sea, and Sky

July 13-20, 2025

Hosted at the Vineyard Arts Project

a young woman looks up

Imagine a world where you are the driving force behind climate change solutions.

At Bluedot Institute, we are on a mission to turn this vision into reality.

An opportunity for:

High school students interested in nature, environmental and marine science, art, and journalism

You'll gain:

  • Leadership & Communication Skills
  • A Unique Island Experience
  • Diverse Learning & Inspiration
Bluedot Institute's Climate Leadership Program brought 20 students from around the country to Boston over the summer.
2024 bluedot institute leadership program surprise
two young men smile at a camera while sitting
Bluedot Living Founder and President Vicki Riskin, right, with Bluedot Institute Mentor Annabelle Brothers.
a sign in front of a house that reads

Overview

This week-long intensive program trains high school students in vital skills needed for effective leadership in climate and environmental movements.

At Bluedot Institute, our programs orient around the land, sea, and sky. As a non-profit specifically focused on supporting youth interested in the environment and climate change, we choose to center the natural world in all aspects of our work. The following topics and skills are taught through that lens.

LEADERSHIP 

NARRATIVE 

CONVERSATION 

NEGOTIATION

COMMUNICATION

a view overlooking a green pasture with a windmill on the side

Martha’s Vineyard Climate Retreat Program Details

Cost $3750 (needs based scholarships available)

Sunday, July 13: Ground Zero for Action

Arrive in historic Massachusetts – where the American Revolution started and where engaged citizens have worked for positive change ever since.  Settle into our Boston hotel and get to know your fellow citizens on the retreat. 

Monday, July 14: Our Oceans: A Place to Begin

Travel down to Woods Hole, scenic entry to Cape Cod. Start our climate week with a focus on the ocean because, as biologist Dr. Sylvia Earl puts it, “No blue. No green.” To build a healthy earth, we must protect the water that covers almost three quarters of the globe. Tour the world-renown Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and learn from experts there. 

Tuesday, July 15: Leadership and the Land

Through group games and exercises, explore ideas of leadership: what it is, what it isn’t, and how to develop the skills needed in climate work today. Then focus on the land with an environmental tour of Martha’s Vineyard and learn from professionals, ranging from authors to scientists, how to protect the earth.

Wednesday, July 16: Leadership and Narrative

Together explore essential links between leadership and storytelling. Develop stories that weave together your passions, the interests of your community, and the urgency of time in making your case about climate issues. Then visit with folks who make their living on land and sea: shellfishermen and farmers. Enjoy dinner at a local farm. 

Thursday, July 17: Leadership and Conversation

Learn how to approach and navigate difficult conversations that climate work may entail. Through improvisation and role-playing, develop skills that allow you to turn opponents into allies and allies into fellow activists in the fight. Spend the afternoon in the natural world kayaking across Vineyard’s most scenic, tranquil ponds. Then meet a documentary filmmaker, watch his film – and stroll to nearby Edgartown for ice cream. 

Friday, July 18: Leadership and Negotiation

Today we look at the art of negotiation: when and how to bargain and when to fight for what matters most. Learn how to seek common ground, how to find the best possible outcome, and what to do when that result might not feel within reach. Talk with the country’s leading negotiation experts and hear what they have to say.  Then journey out to windmills in the Atlantic Ocean and learn about wind power from Vineyard Wind. And end the day stargazing at the Perseids meteor showers with a local astronomer as our guide. 

Saturday, July 19: Leadership and Communication

Learn and practice public-speaking skills and how to handle speeches that vary in intention and structure. Learn how to speak off-the cuff, from notes, or from a written text. Learn how a speech to persuade differs from a speech to inform. Apply these skills to your own chosen speech topic, practice with a partner, and then share your short speech with us. Finish the day with a big farewell dinner, featuring the natural bounty of the Vineyard.

Curriculum Design

2024 climate leadership program

Leadership

Workshops throughout the day allow students to discover the connection between self-awareness and effective leadership. Games and exercises provide opportunities for introspection, radical listening, and empathy; participants work with the idea that one cannot feel empathy for others without access to one’s own inner emotional life. As Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, puts it, “Leadership is not domination, but the art of persuading people to work toward a common goal.”

Narrative

Workshops today build on self-awareness tools. As students focus on the art and craft of storytelling, they work to create a story of “self”, a story of “us”, and a story of “now”. Each perspective combines to build a cohesive story around a chosen climate issue: Why does it matter to me and to us? Why must we address it now? Each student identifies a particular climate issue or topic of personal importance to explore in the days ahead. Opportunities for sharing and self-reflection conclude the day’s activity.

Conversation

Day three invites students to lean into difficult and inevitable conversations about climate issues in our world today. Bringing the work of day two into the classroom, we focus on how one listens with an open heart and mind to the ideas of others, how one reflects those ideas back to the speaker, and how one moves through conflict with finesse, rather than aggression to move the conversation forward. Students role-play conversations challenging their proposals and reflect together on the experience.

Negotiation

Today’s work drills down in depth on the previous day’s conversations, cracking open the elements of conflict to create space for negotiation and recognition of common ground. We look at specific tools to help bolster each student’s chosen cause, recognizing that sometimes the best tool is listening carefully to the opposition. Students learn about value creation, value claiming, building power, overcoming barriers, and the seven elements of negotiation.

Communication

On the final day, students explore the planning, design, and delivery of their specific climate issues. They try out tools of effective public speaking, addressing common fears and foibles that can limit the effectiveness of one’s delivery. Each student delivers a speech on their topic to persuade us all as to its urgency in the world today. Peers will practice offering effective feedback to each other. An opportunity for personal and group reflection marks the culmination of the week.

How to Apply

All students who are interested in attending the Martha’s Vineyard Retreat: Land, Sea, and Sky, will be considered regardless of finances. Click the link below to full out the application form. You will be asked to sign into or create a Google Account.

Program Leadership

Sarah Ream

Sarah Ream

Vice President, Bluedot Institute

Sarah Ream has had the climate and activism on her mind since circulating a petition to save the baby seals in grade school. Since then, she has worked as a theater director and teacher in the United States and England and taught English and Theatre for many years at Phillips Exeter Academy. Throughout it all, she has maintained a commitment to environmental issues in a variety of ways – none more exciting than her work with Bluedot.

Victoria Riskin

Victoria Riskin

President, Bluedot Living

Victoria Riskin is the founder and publisher of Bluedot Living, a media company with a network of newsletters that tell the stories of change-makers addressing climate change and helping readers live more sustainably. With a background in psychology, creative writing, and human rights, she creates engaging and actionable content that connects with people at the local and national level, and sparks individual and collective action.

leigh anne neal headshot

Leigh Anne Neal

Director of Student Development and Engagement, Bluedot Institute

Leigh Anne acts as a link between Bluedot and the high schools involved in our work and manages new student recruitment for our programs. She is an artist, a teacher, and a weaver of stories and communities. Leigh Anne believes that creativity and joy play vital roles in our ability to stay present, create community action around climate hope, and enjoy a thriving life.

annabelle brothers headshot

Annabelle Brothers

Board Member, Bluedot Institute

Annabelle Brothers graduated from Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School in 2023, Valedictorian of her class. Annabelle served as the president of her high school’s environmental group, the Protect Your Environment Club. She worked closely with the Bluedot Institute conducting interviews, writing essays, and was on-camera as a journalist for the Bluedot Institute filmed interviews. Annabelle is now a Sophomore at Yale University and is pursuing a major in Ethics, Politics, and Economics with a Concentration in Climate Science and Solutions. She is passionate about fighting climate change and has a particular interest in the intersectionality of climate work and the ways social and institutional problems exacerbate the challenges that communities face.

Get in Touch

For any questions about the program or how to apply, please contact us using this form. You can also call, text, or email Leigh Anne Neal: 404-420-0999/ leighanne@bluedotinstitute.org