Making Waves in the new academic year

Welcome back to another year!

It has been such a wonderful feeling to be hosting in-person events again after such a long period of time! Our society has had a great start to the semester having already hosted two events, namely our Meet-and-Greet during Welcome Week and a beach clean at Portobello Beach.

Although last academic year was an emotionally tough one with majority of it being under national lockdown, us Ocean Advocates still found a way to make the most of it and host a variety of meaningful events to encourage engagement with our oceans. We kicked off the year with an online pub quiz that we co-hosted with Stirling University’s Marine Conservation society (of course there was a David Attenborough round). The year was also interspersed with an array of talks from leading experts in the field, such as Sophie Peutrill from Compassion in World Farming who gave us a talk on farmed salmon populations in Scotland; Tara Proud from the Marine Conservation Society who gave us a run-down of how to volunteer for marine conservation during the pandemic; as well as Will Pearson, co-founder of “the world’s most needed reusable bottle” company, Ocean Bottle, who taught us more about the true meaning of ‘sustainable business’. We also hosted some social events for our members, such as a Neflix Party sesh of My Octopus Teacher (a fantastic documentary we recommend to all!) and an Origami Wine Night. As an event series, we held three Discussion Nights, two of which were hosted with the University’s Conservation Biology Society. During our Discussion Nights, we discussed and debated controversial marine conservation-related topics such as ocean tourism, indigenous whaling and the sustainability of eating fish and learnt a great deal about each topic from different people’s shared perspectives.

Most notably, we hosted our Ocean Saver’s Raffle with Conscious Change and the University’s Windsurf and Surf Club, raising nearly £1000 that was donated to Blue Ventures – a science-led enterprise that works closely with coastal communities in places where the ocean is vital to their culture and economy. You can find out more about the work of the organisation here. This raffle also included a panel discussion with a host of speakers who are enacting positive change to our seas, such as Hugo Tagholm from Surfers Against Sewage, National Geographic Explorer Shannon Switzer Swanson and Professor Murray Roberts from the University of Edinburgh.

We also prioritised regularly updating our blog with weekly blog posts written by our committee members on topics ranging from coral bleaching, slavery at sea, leading female ocean activists and how to participate in the Scottish election. Interested in writing for us? We’re always happy to accept blog posts written members and non-members! Be sure to contact us here if interested.

As mentioned, we have already held two in-person events so far this semester. We were completely blown away by the sheer number of students who attended our Meet-and-Greet during Welcome Week and expressed an interest in our society. We hope everyone was able to make like-minded friends during the social and to see you at our future events!

Most recently on Saturday the 25th of September, we hosted our first beach clean of the academic year – only the society’s second ever! – and this time with brand new litter pickers that we were able to fund through the University’s Sustainable Campus Fund. We were thrilled at the turnout of fellow ocean advocates who volunteered their Saturday afternoon to help clean up Portobello Beach, and we hope everyone enjoyed grabbing pizza with friends afterwards! Beach cleans are so important for local coastal communities and marine life, and we very much look forward to hosting our next one at Cramond Beach next weekend!

Being founded in 2019, and with only 1.5 semesters of in-person events under our belt, our society is very much still a young ‘un with ample space and opportunity to grow and leave its mark at the University. This year, we intend to host more talks, socials, fundraising events and day trips to engage the local student community in marine conservation even more. We also plan to collaborate with more environmental-oriented societies at the University to help better foster a sense of community and to help generate a greater awareness for environmentalism on-campus. We’re also always open to hearing suggestions from our members and non-members on the kinds of events you would like to attend and for us to host. Simply email us here – all suggestions welcome!

We hope you are as excited about the upcoming year as we are – we can’t wait to meet you at our events! Be sure to stay up to date with the ongoings of our society on our Instagram and Facebook.