Becoming “Sea Smart”: An Interview with Dr. Elaine Leung

BY DANA TRICARICO

Some people know right away that they want to be a marine biologist. Others may shy away for one reason or another at first, and then become an influential part of the marine science community. Dr. Elaine Leung falls into the latter category--her excellence in the field seemed unlikely at first, as she is prone to seasickness! Luckily for the Women in Ocean Science community and beyond, she has pushed through the initial apprehension and now has over fifteen years of experience researching threatened marine animals--especially top predators--and worked with many global stakeholders to protect species based on her findings. Aside from her many other accomplishments, including speaking to 20,000 children at WE Day Vancouver, she founded the Vancouver-based non-profit called Sea Smart School, which utilizes her team’s knowledge of marine science to teach kindergarten to Grade 12 students about ocean threats and solutions. 

   Dr. Leung has spent much of her time in some of the most remote places on this Earth- without WiFi, if you can believe it! However, something drew her back to her Canadian roots, and towards the urban setting of Vancouver. This change in lifestyle came from her realization that over 30 of the species that she has either studied or interacted with will go extinct in her lifetime, and that any positive change towards reversing this was not moving quickly enough. This moment, combined with the fact that many children these days spend their time indoors and surrounded by negative environmental news inspired the idea to create Sea Smart School. “Climate despair” or “eco-anxiety” is becoming increasingly prevalent in children because they feel as if the world is doomed, climate change is irreversible, and they are unable to help. “I started Sea Smart because I really believe in the power of individual action creating positive change, and how together we can do so much more,” Dr. Leung explained. This organization now helps foster love of and curiosity about nature, and provides action-oriented and solutions based ways to combat threats. It may come as no surprise to those who have taken part in outreach events in the past that adults tend to keep their beliefs, but the youth still have a fresh mind and belief system that make them, as Dr. Leung says, “ocean superheroes.” In fact, there have been instances since the inception of Sea Smart School where past students have changed the way their family lives; from using less plastic, to eating more sustainable seafood. 

Of course, when it comes to children, there needs to be some strategy involved in keeping them interested and inspired, and Sea Smart School has recognized that different approaches work for different people. Different types of engagement that have worked for Dr. Leung and her team in the past have been school workshops, as well as after school programming and summer camps at the beach. Summer camps have proved successful because students get to interact with the ecosystem and the species they are learning about firsthand. They can see tangible evidence of not only the beauty of the ocean, but anthropogenic impacts altering the health of what they see. The trick to explaining some of the concepts in marine science and conservation? Dr. Leung says it comes down to presenting the material in a way that excites and inspires them to make change. “You never need to dumb things down for kids,” Dr. Leung says, “because kids are incredibly intelligent.” Educating them means being able to connect them to these complex issues in a way that makes sense to them. These forms of outreach aim to create real impact, which the in-school programs achieve. The curriculum touches on species ecology and threats, with over 2,000 students to date taking part in projects within their schools and communities that actually reduce impacts to many marine species. These  2,000 students generated enough outreach around their projects that 15,000 people took action to reduce their impact on the environment, emphasizing the importance of “the ripple effect” derived from youth education. Some successes from these programs came from the impact of their actual projects, other successes were just being able to foster a connection with nature that was not there prior. For example, tourists visiting Vancouver in the summer took part in the Sea Smart School summer camps, and were initially afraid of sand and apprehensive about marine life. However, by the end of their Sea Smart School camp, they felt comfortable learning about their surroundings and enjoyed the many adventures the beach offers. A lot of field trips consist of coastal cleanups, which to date has cleaned 1 million square kilometers of shoreline, and demonstrated to students that the simple act of picking up garbage can make a difference.

As the global community knows, COVID-19 has turned the world upside down, making funding harder to obtain and in-person learning risky. Despite this, Sea Smart School continued to forge ahead and began utilizing online programs that have far-reaching impacts to the health of our ocean. One example of this is the creation of an initiative especially geared towards girls, called Marine Biologist in Training. This summer camp and online program was created to address the gender barrier in STEM, focusing on teaching scientific sampling techniques and providing a long-term mentorship program. The program aims to emphasize that STEM can be fun, and that STEM is for women and girls! For those participants still on the fence about their career trajectory, Dr. Leung made it very clear that you do not need to be a professional in this field to make a difference--the ocean needs as many advocates as it can get!

In four short years, Sea Smart School has educated approximately 400,000 people in over 20 countries through their free online educator resources and in person programming. With this momentum, Dr. Leung still remains steadfast in her mission to protect the ocean. “We can’t ignore the fact that our oceans are in trouble,” says Dr. Leung. “I always tell my students ‘no oceans, no us.’ We can’t keep ignoring it and thinking it’s not a priority.”