Proud to announce this collaboration with LEGO! My vision is for kids to become enamored with the ocean. When these kids grow up, I hope they will build more underwater bases in real life (so I can dive on them!), and so we can continue learning from our marine environment.
LEGO Catalogue Supplement Fall 2020
Video: Can People Live Under the Sea? | LEGO® CITY
 LEGO characters plan mission over coffee (or hot chocolate). |  Pilot scopes research area with her submarine. |
| LEGOs use their research ship, submarine, and dive gear to explore. |  Caught in the LEGO store! |
Update: A few months after this set came out, I had shivers down my spine when I came across this passage in Tiffany Dufu's 2018 book, Drop the Ball. She examines how the toys we play with as children shape our behaviors and expectations as adults:
| "What little girls often see are baby dolls, easy bake ovens, and tea sets. These popular toys ignite our imaginations about our future roles as caregivers, cooks, and hostesses, and teach us how to perform them... [There is] LEGO deep sea operation base for boys, and Heartland Food Market for girls. By playing with these toys, our boys are envisioning themselves exploring the sea, and our girls are imagining themselves collecting broccoli for $2 a pound." |
Her analysis is more nuanced than just this snippet (see Chapter 4 of her book), yet I found the last example strikingly specific. I'm happy to say, as of 2020, that at least there is a now LEGO deep sea operation base featuring feminine explorers. Of course there's still a lot of work to do.
| "Look around you and you will see on the rise climate leadership that is more characteristically feminine and more faithfully feminist, rooted in compassion, connection, creativity, and collaboration. ... [T]here is a clear focus on making change rather than being in charge. We see women and girls moving beyond ego, competition, and control, which are rampant in the climate space (as elsewhere) and impede good work. We see joyful following where wise leadership appears, joining instead of duplicating, giving one another credit, sharing resources, passing the mic, and celebrating one another's successes. ... [T]here is a commitment to respond to the climate crisis in ways that heal systematic injustices rather than deepen them. ... [T]here is an appreciation for heart-centered, not just head-centered, leadership. We see women and girls bringing their whole selves to this movement--fear, grief, fiery courage, wracking uncertainty, all of it--and doing the inner work that often precedes effecting change. ... [There] is a recognition that building community is a requisite foundation for building a better world." -- Introduction of All We Can Save by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine K. Wilkinson |
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