The People Saving the Ocean Are Burning Out

1
00:00:00,049 --> 00:00:03,709
A growing number of people working in
ocean conservation, they're exhausted.

2
00:00:03,979 --> 00:00:06,309
They're burnt out and
quietly leaving the field.

3
00:00:06,810 --> 00:00:09,800
This is the How to Protect the Ocean
podcast, your weekday ocean news update.

4
00:00:09,829 --> 00:00:13,489
If you care about staying informed
about the ocean news every weekday,

5
00:00:13,539 --> 00:00:16,539
hit that follow button right now
so you don't miss tomorrow's story.

6
00:00:17,136 --> 00:00:21,346
Look, most people enter ocean conservation
because they care deeply for the ocean.

7
00:00:21,806 --> 00:00:23,066
They love marine life.

8
00:00:23,286 --> 00:00:25,496
They want to protect ecosystems.

9
00:00:25,803 --> 00:00:27,053
They wanna make a difference.

10
00:00:27,216 --> 00:00:30,446
But behind the scenes, many conservation
professionals are dealing with

11
00:00:30,446 --> 00:00:32,276
something much harder to talk about.

12
00:00:32,716 --> 00:00:35,476
That's burnout, emotional exhaustion,

13
00:00:35,786 --> 00:00:38,586
financial instability, to be
honest, and the feeling that

14
00:00:38,586 --> 00:00:40,626
problems keep getting bigger.

15
00:00:41,306 --> 00:00:45,593
So today's question is this:
What is the emotional cost

16
00:00:45,593 --> 00:00:47,563
of trying to save the ocean?

17
00:00:48,096 --> 00:00:51,076
Ocean conservation is often crisis-driven.

18
00:00:51,359 --> 00:00:55,546
Scientists study declining coral
reefs, fisheries collapse, marine

19
00:00:55,546 --> 00:01:00,596
heatwaves, plastic pollution, species
decline, and many professionals spend

20
00:01:00,596 --> 00:01:02,936
years immersed in those realities.

21
00:01:03,236 --> 00:01:07,953
That takes a psychological toll,
especially when progress feels

22
00:01:07,993 --> 00:01:13,273
extremely slow, or when funding just
disappears, or when political decisions

23
00:01:13,273 --> 00:01:17,463
ignore scientific recommendations,
hint, hint, Trump administration.

24
00:01:17,869 --> 00:01:21,390
And of course, there's also the financial
reality of just not getting funding.

25
00:01:21,756 --> 00:01:26,016
Many early career conservation jobs
are temporary or contract-based.

26
00:01:26,326 --> 00:01:30,436
People move constantly between projects
and move far for these projects.

27
00:01:30,736 --> 00:01:34,206
Some leave the field entirely
because they can't build stable

28
00:01:34,206 --> 00:01:36,286
careers or even stable lifestyles.

29
00:01:36,486 --> 00:01:40,656
And despite the emotional intensity of
the work, mental health conversations in

30
00:01:40,656 --> 00:01:43,136
conservation are still relatively limited.

31
00:01:43,579 --> 00:01:45,409
There's another challenge
that we're seeing here.

32
00:01:45,826 --> 00:01:50,006
Conservation organizations often feel
pressure to stay hopeful publicly.

33
00:01:50,386 --> 00:01:52,136
Everybody wants to be optimistic.

34
00:01:52,376 --> 00:01:54,066
And to be honest, that makes sense.

35
00:01:54,473 --> 00:01:57,263
People respond better to
optimism than to doom.

36
00:01:57,293 --> 00:02:01,023
But internally, many professionals
are carrying frustration, grief, and

37
00:02:01,023 --> 00:02:05,976
exhaustion, especially when ecosystems
continue declining despite years of

38
00:02:05,976 --> 00:02:08,176
work, years of science communication.

39
00:02:08,386 --> 00:02:09,996
And of course, social
media adds another layer.

40
00:02:09,996 --> 00:02:15,206
Scientists and advocates are increasingly
expected to communicate constantly online

41
00:02:15,260 --> 00:02:17,220
with no financial incentive, mind you.

42
00:02:17,496 --> 00:02:17,576
Right?

43
00:02:17,576 --> 00:02:19,946
We talked about it the other
day, and that made sense.

44
00:02:19,946 --> 00:02:22,666
You should have a growing profile,
and you should be talking about it.

45
00:02:22,666 --> 00:02:25,650
We always love to talk about it, but it's
not necessarily part of our job, although

46
00:02:25,650 --> 00:02:28,360
it's starting to be more and more part
of our job, which is nice and helpful.

47
00:02:28,823 --> 00:02:31,533
But it can create pressure
to always appear productive,

48
00:02:31,573 --> 00:02:32,693
informed, and optimistic.

49
00:02:32,693 --> 00:02:34,813
Like, there are so many times as
I was doing this podcast where I

50
00:02:34,813 --> 00:02:37,403
didn't want to share clips online
because I wasn't near an ocean.

51
00:02:37,403 --> 00:02:40,193
I wasn't showing what it was like to
be on a boat or doing field work like a

52
00:02:40,193 --> 00:02:41,593
lot of other people who are successful.

53
00:02:41,750 --> 00:02:44,830
I don't have access to go diving
into a coral reef and look at

54
00:02:44,830 --> 00:02:46,006
this kind of beautiful thing.

55
00:02:46,220 --> 00:02:46,300
Right?

56
00:02:46,300 --> 00:02:49,553
I don't have access to see sea turtles
or dolphins as I'm driving a boat around.

57
00:02:49,906 --> 00:02:54,143
I sit in an office, and I talk about ocean
conservation and science on this podcast.

58
00:02:54,446 --> 00:02:56,073
And it's great for me, but it's tough.

59
00:02:56,073 --> 00:02:58,663
It's a lot of pressure to share online
because I'm like, "Is this actually

60
00:02:58,663 --> 00:03:03,330
gonna land? Is it gonna stick?" So even
when people are overwhelmed, and because

61
00:03:03,330 --> 00:03:07,460
many conservation professionals care
deeply about the ocean personally, work

62
00:03:07,460 --> 00:03:10,230
stress often becomes emotional stress.

63
00:03:10,650 --> 00:03:13,160
And the ocean is just not a job to them.

64
00:03:13,290 --> 00:03:14,700
It's part of their identity.

65
00:03:15,013 --> 00:03:18,556
I've explained this before, but as a
marine biologist or ocean conservationist,

66
00:03:18,556 --> 00:03:22,236
when you do work in the ocean, it's
really tough to turn that off.

67
00:03:22,236 --> 00:03:25,876
You're always thinking about what
you can do for the ocean, what type

68
00:03:25,876 --> 00:03:27,136
of projects you can come up with.

69
00:03:27,186 --> 00:03:28,673
You gotta write those ideas down.

70
00:03:28,833 --> 00:03:32,770
You gotta do some scientific analysis
if you're a data cruncher, and you're

71
00:03:32,770 --> 00:03:36,010
trying to figure out how to get across,
like, this R code, and you haven't figured

72
00:03:36,010 --> 00:03:38,390
it out, and then all of a sudden, at two
in the morning, you wake up, and you're

73
00:03:38,390 --> 00:03:40,260
like, "Eureka, I've figured it out."

74
00:03:40,260 --> 00:03:42,930
And you go on your computer, like,
from two to four in the morning

75
00:03:42,930 --> 00:03:45,400
because you haven't actually figured
it out, and it just stresses you

76
00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:46,690
out, so you're not getting the sleep.

77
00:03:46,953 --> 00:03:49,463
It's like being a marine biologist,
being in ocean conservation

78
00:03:49,463 --> 00:03:50,813
is part of our identity.

79
00:03:51,190 --> 00:03:54,109
And so, like, having
that is really difficult.

80
00:03:54,443 --> 00:03:57,586
It's really difficult to
deal with on a daily basis.

81
00:03:57,960 --> 00:03:59,280
You have to come up with boundaries.

82
00:03:59,420 --> 00:04:00,539
There's no doubt about that.

83
00:04:00,829 --> 00:04:02,010
Boundaries is a huge thing.

84
00:04:02,286 --> 00:04:05,726
But I think conservation organizations are
slowly starting to recognize this issue.

85
00:04:06,046 --> 00:04:09,176
There's growing conversation around
burnout, healthier workplaces,

86
00:04:09,176 --> 00:04:12,180
sustainable careers, and better
support systems within that.

87
00:04:12,210 --> 00:04:15,503
Even at conservation conferences,
we're starting to see more support

88
00:04:15,503 --> 00:04:18,060
for people so they feel more
included, so they wanna come.

89
00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:21,540
If they're new parents and
they wanna bring their kids,

90
00:04:21,540 --> 00:04:23,180
there's daycare at these places.

91
00:04:23,436 --> 00:04:26,976
'Cause if it's really, really far, there's
some scholarships that you can take or

92
00:04:26,976 --> 00:04:30,483
some grants that you can get or bursaries
that you can get to fly across there.

93
00:04:30,686 --> 00:04:34,056
Or they're moving conferences from place
to place or all around the world so

94
00:04:34,056 --> 00:04:37,466
that it's easily accessible to places
where that normally can't go to like

95
00:04:37,466 --> 00:04:40,546
North America because they live in
Asia, and it's expensive to go there.

96
00:04:40,816 --> 00:04:43,666
So we're starting to see
things change in that way.

97
00:04:43,910 --> 00:04:47,150
But some organizations are also
discussing like mental health resources,

98
00:04:47,266 --> 00:04:51,926
realistic workloads, long-term funding
stability, and communication boundaries.

99
00:04:52,226 --> 00:04:52,876
That's really good.

100
00:04:52,876 --> 00:04:56,826
And to be honest, it actually matters
because conservation requires people.

101
00:04:57,246 --> 00:05:02,010
If experienced scientists, communicators,
educators, and advocates keep

102
00:05:02,010 --> 00:05:05,996
burning out, the entire movement
loses knowledge and momentum.

103
00:05:06,396 --> 00:05:08,796
And protecting the ocean,
it's long-term work.

104
00:05:08,796 --> 00:05:09,813
It's a career thing.

105
00:05:10,393 --> 00:05:13,473
That means people who are doing the
work need sustainable careers too.

106
00:05:13,790 --> 00:05:16,100
Enough of this paying
by contract by contract.

107
00:05:16,150 --> 00:05:18,560
It's up to the conservation
organizations to do more to

108
00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:20,280
get better sustainable funding.

109
00:05:20,370 --> 00:05:23,330
And to be honest, if you wanna get better
sustainable funding, you can check

110
00:05:23,330 --> 00:05:26,420
out the sponsor of the show and the
place that I work for, Pisces Oceans.

111
00:05:26,726 --> 00:05:30,656
We work to help with your communication
for your organization to get out to

112
00:05:30,656 --> 00:05:34,780
the right people, speak to the right
audiences, and get known for what you do

113
00:05:34,876 --> 00:05:39,416
and get funded for what you do and have
that long-term stability, that financial

114
00:05:39,416 --> 00:05:43,373
stability so that you can get your
workers, your staff long-term stability,

115
00:05:43,373 --> 00:05:47,453
financial stability, and be happier with
those boundaries and with that stability.

116
00:05:47,696 --> 00:05:49,996
So check that out, piscesoceans.ca.

117
00:05:50,213 --> 00:05:51,143
Love to work with you.

118
00:05:51,366 --> 00:05:54,946
Hit me up on LinkedIn or any of my
socials in the show notes, and I'd

119
00:05:54,946 --> 00:05:57,126
love to have a conversation with that.

120
00:05:57,586 --> 00:06:01,353
So the future of ocean conservation
really depends not just on protecting

121
00:06:01,363 --> 00:06:04,636
ecosystems, but on support for the
people who are trying to protect them.

122
00:06:04,966 --> 00:06:06,656
I think that's a really important thing.

123
00:06:07,106 --> 00:06:09,856
It's really important to protect
the people who are working on these

124
00:06:09,856 --> 00:06:12,283
systems 'cause they work hard, and
they have a lot of passion for

125
00:06:12,283 --> 00:06:13,723
this, but they deserve better.

126
00:06:13,723 --> 00:06:17,413
We all deserve better for things that
are happening in and around our ocean,

127
00:06:17,413 --> 00:06:18,583
and we're trying to protect them.

128
00:06:19,003 --> 00:06:22,163
So if you enjoyed this episode and you
wanna check out the interview that I'm

129
00:06:22,163 --> 00:06:26,193
doing tomorrow with James Misner, who's
a nonprofit consultant, he gave great

130
00:06:26,193 --> 00:06:31,456
tips with ocean consulting or ocean
conservation, nonprofit like organization

131
00:06:31,456 --> 00:06:33,006
and business management and fundraising.

132
00:06:33,243 --> 00:06:34,443
That's the episode you wanna hit.

133
00:06:34,443 --> 00:06:37,220
So hit that follow button right now
so you don't miss tomorrow's episode.

134
00:06:37,506 --> 00:06:38,636
That's it for today's episode.

135
00:06:38,636 --> 00:06:41,166
I wanna thank you so much for
joining me on today's episode of the

136
00:06:41,166 --> 00:06:42,426
How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

137
00:06:42,656 --> 00:06:43,356
Have a great day.

138
00:06:43,396 --> 00:06:45,446
We'll talk to you next time,
and happy conservation.