Social Media
Megan Seabury
Megan Seabury grew up with a unique awareness of the natural world. Her father founded an outdoor clothing company focused on sustainability, and the family enjoyed an adventurous lifestyle that included long road trips through the wild regions of the West.
“One thing we did regularly was attend the Telluride Mountain Film Festival,” Megan recalls, “a lot of the screenings centered around various environmental issues. In 2014, we saw the film Mission Blue, about the life and work of oceanographer Sylvia Earle. Her dedication to protecting marine life was inspiring and definitely influenced my passion for science and career path.”
After high school, Megan opted for Bates College in Lewiston, Maine where she pursued a dual psychology and biology major. At Bates, she was captivated by the intersection of media and science, an interest that only deepened following graduation. She took an internship with the National Park Service at Channel Islands National Park working on a visitor communications project based on the area’s climate change data.
“The Channel Islands are expecting an increase in severity of climate related stressors, ranging from inundation of bird nesting sites to ocean acidification,” said Megan, “and the National Park Service is trying to develop programs to prepare for those impacts. Education is a critical part of that effort. Without public understanding and support, we won’t get much accomplished.”
Her role focused on how the island’s climate data would affect the local indigenous and migrant communities throughout the South Coast.
“It’s important that people understand the greatest impacts will fall on the most underserved communities, our adaptive capacity is dependent on our access to available resources,” she said.
From the NPS, Megan went to work for Tuesdays for Trash, a grassroots organization devoted to tackling the surging waste problem in a direct and effective manner—by picking up litter. Started in 2020 by two young activists looking for a way to stay engaged during the pandemic, the organization keeps it simple: every Tuesday, supporters organize trash pick-ups in their local area—beaches, parks, greenspaces, or roadways.
“As a marketing strategist, I developed ways to spread this basic yet extremely powerful message globally,” Megan observed. “When you provide a mechanism for doing something truly effective for the environment, people are eager to participate. I came away from that position with more than just a better grasp of marketing—I felt more optimistic about the power of collective action.”
Megan joined C-WIN in 2023 at the behest of communications director Christina Speed to address one of the organization’s most pressing needs: social media expertise.
“C-WIN is doing spectacular work litigating for more equitable water distribution and educating the public on California’s antiquated and unfair water policies,” Megan said. “But social media has been an underutilized tool for growing our community of supporters and Californians’ awareness of the State’s misappropriation of water.” Megan works on multiple platforms to communicate the full gravity of California’s water emergency.
“The crisis affects all people in the state because it affects the basic natural systems that make life possible here,” she says. “It’s a bipartisan issue, and one of my greatest challenges is spreading that message of universality. It isn’t about right or left—really, the issue shouldn’t be viewed through the political lens at all. It’s about ensuring our public trust resources are used sustainably.”
But while it’s essential to disseminate that information through diverse channels, said Megan, the tenor of the communication is also important.
“There’s a lot of doom and gloom around environmental activism, and that’s understandable given the stakes,” she said. “But you can’t garner much support if that’s the only thing you’re messaging. People need to feel their participation will mean something—they need hope. So, I try to remember that in my work. Because there is reason for hope. We’re making progress at C-WIN—and it’s because our supporters are determined to change things for the better.”