Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Emma is a 19-year-old student at the University of British Columbia studying Natural Resources Conservation. Frequent trips to the beach and aquariums as a child sparked Emma’s passion for the ocean. In 2017, she started volunteering at the Vancouver Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Centre helping to rescue, rehabilitate, and release sick and injured marine mammals. Upon seeing the impact humans have on the ocean, Emma’s passion for ocean advocacy only grew. In 2020, she joined Ocean Wise Youth to Sea where she developed numerous community conservation projects, including workshops about orcas for elementary students and ORCA Festival, a community-centred climate fair and pop-up market that featured booths run by local, sustainable businesses and environmental organizations to promote ocean conservation and climate action in her community. She was also selected as one of nine high school students to be a member of NOAA’s Coastal Ecosystems Learning Center (CELC) Youth Planning team where she helped plan the inaugural CELC Youth Summit that brought high school students together for a weekend of keynote speakers and workshops to promote ocean stewardship amongst youth. After the summit, she co-founded Protecting Canada’s Coasts, a campaign to promote the establishment and reform of marine protected areas in Canada. As a member of EarthEcho's Youth Leadership Council, Emma has played a key role mobilizing her peers to advance marine protected areas and the global goal of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030. In 2023, she hosted one of eight in person EarthEcho Youth Leadership Summit events focused on ocean-based climate solutions, directly engaging her peers in providing their perspectives on ocean climate action to senior government officials.