By Lauren Kane;
International News Editor,
Media Credit: Wiki Commons
Professor Marea Goode is nearing the end of her second year at Salve Regina. This will signify not only the second year of her teaching in the Environmental Studies Department, but also her second year of living in the U.S. after having moved from her native homeland, New Zealand. Prof. Goode is originally from Napier, which is located on the east coast of the country’s north island.
Amidst this busy spring semester of 2013, The Mosaic took a moment to sit down with Professor Goode and ask her questions about her journey of settling in a new career and a new country.
Q: What brought you all the way to Salve?
A: I was looking for environmental work, basically, and I really like teaching, and um, my neighbor worked at Salve in the Nursing Department, so I talked to her about it, and she said to talk to the Chair of Biology, so I did! And here I am!
Q: What do you think of living in Newport?
A: I like that it’s on the coast, and that the coast isn’t completely developed with housing. That some of it is still what I would call raw….it’s also interesting with the contrast between-how should I say- between the rich and the poor. The thing I like the most are all the boats and the yachts, and having the tall ships race, et cetera.
Q: I remember you saying at one point that you are planning to travel by sailboat back to New Zealand. Could you talk a bit about that?
A: So my husband, Jack, and I, we bought a sailboat about four months ago now, and it’s a steel-hulled boat, so it’s nice and hard. So when we sail to New Zealand, if we hit any containers-any shipping containers in the water, or any ice-or even any rocks or coral reefs- unfortunately it does happen if the water’s murky- then we’ll still feel safe no matter what happens, whether it’s two o’clock in the morning, or lunch time. So we did that instead of a fiberglass, or a wooden boat, just for the safety, because it’s a long way between here and New Zealand! We’ll also sail up and down the east coast of the United States just to get used to the boat. The boat actually came from Europe, it’s a French boat, but a Swiss couple basically outfitted it.
Q: What’s an essential thing you would want a student to come away from an environmental studies course with?
A: Something that most of them actually want to take away, because I find out from them beforehand what it is they want from the course. Things that they can do to be a bit more environmentally friendly. And sure, if some of them become policy-makers, then obviously there’s a whole other level, which would be great if they get into government. But basically all the little things that students could do to become green, and the biggest thing being to consume less.
