SHINE’ing the Spotlight on…
Dr Sarah Pye

My parents took me out of school at aged 13 to sail the world. I learnt from the environment and cultures around me, experiencing nature’s beauty and power. I worked on tourism boats throughout the world before immigrating to Australia in 1994 and building an award-winning boat company in the Whitsundays (Ocean Rafting). I moved to the Sunshine Coast in 2003 and focused on parenthood, publishing Kids Welcome to Queensland travel guide in 2009. I recently completed my doctorate writing the biography of a charismatic Malaysian ecologist (Saving Sun Bears), and the first of a series of nine conservation book for children (Wildlife Wong and the Sun Bear) was published in February. The second (Wildlife Wong and the Orangutan) will be launched May 16th.

Sarah, you’ve worked in so many areas and have held many amazing roles over the years, can you tell us a little about and the driving force behind?

I was raised by two incredible people. Not only were they my parents, but they were my teachers as we sailed from the UK to the Mediterranean, across the Atlantic and through the Caribbean and North America. Two of the greatest lessons I learnt (as the view outside my porthole constantly changed), were to embrace change and all the experiences life offers; and to respect the power and wonders of nature.

What guided you towards working in the areas of environmental and sustainability areas?

I wouldn’t say I ‘work in sustainability’ instead, I try to work sustainably. I respect that nature has taken eons to create a balanced system and humans are only a part of it. Other beings like sharks, whales, koalas and sun bears have just as much right as me to be here, so I aim to have as little negative impact on natural systems as is practically possible. This philosophy permeates my work life, as well as my private life.

How important is volunteering, community and business collaboration in a region to help with becoming more environmentally friendly?

The short answer is that the survival of our species depends on us addressing the imbalance between humans and nature. For some reason, it is acceptable to make money raping the environment, but not acceptable to make money saving it. Therefore, many of the essential environmental boots on the ground are volunteer ones. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if every business consulted with (and paid) appropriate environmental non-profits to identify their unsustainable practices, then they worked together to improve their impacts?

Tell us about Saving Sun Bears and why this cause in particular is so important to you?

In 2012, I took my daughter to Borneo on holiday, ostensibly to see orangutans before they became extinct. While there, we met Wong Siew Te, a Malaysian ecologist and founder of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre.

Just like the Amazon, the Bornean jungle where Wong works, is often called ‘the lungs of our planet’. I was reminded of the interdependence of all species, and realised it was not just sun bears he was saving by protecting the rainforest. I asked how I could help. “Do what you do best,” he answered. Those five powerful words propelled my life on a new trajectory. I introduced Wong to the University of the Sunshine Coast where I worked. This resulted in numerous research and student projects and, in 2016, I began writing Wong’s narrative biography as part of my doctorate. Saving Sun Bears was launched on World Environment Day 2020 and it is helping raise awareness of his important work. However, unless we can engage the next generation in conservation, our future (and the future of the rainforest) looks dire.

The first in the Wildlife Wong series of chapter books for children (Wildlife Wong and the Sun Bear) was published in February 2021. Each book will focus on a different rainforest species. They include an engaging narrative, informational text, and experiments so kids can embrace science. With any luck, one of these books will spawn the next David Attenborough, Jane Goodall or Wong Siew Te!

Can you share three tips that we can all embrace that will help our planet?

1. Vote with your money: It is easy to feel powerless, but most Australians have superannuation, and most funds allow you choose only sustainable investments so make the switch today. Be part of the solution, not the problem, saving the planet while you earn money.
2. Meatless Mondays: Eating meat is less sustainable than eating plants. If the entire world made one day meatless, we would have a positive impact without working too hard.
3. If you don’t need it, don’t buy it. We spend endless increments of our life (time) making money to buy things we don’t need that eventually end up in landfill. Conscious buying not only saves the planet, but it frees up our disposable income for more important things!

And what’s next on the agenda for Sarah Pye?

I aim to write and publish the entire Wildlife Wong series by the end of 2022. I am currently developing school workshops around their content, and the response to these has been terrific. I have also developed the Wildlife Wong Kids’ Club (www.sarahrpye.com) where children have access to all sorts of cool conservation resources.

Also in 2022, I am planning a 1000km kayak down the Murray River. It’s a journey my parents did 25 years ago in a small boat, and I want to compare my Dad’s diaries of their adventure with the current environmental state of Australia’s longest river. Although my parents are long gone, I look forward to them once again being my teachers…

Favourite food and why?

Any street food. I love experiencing cultures through everyday food from street hawkers!

What’s one thing that you do for yourself every day?

I mentally list three things I am grateful for before I close my eyes each night.

What mantra do you live by?

I want to leave the world better than I found it.

To find out more about Sarah and Saving Sun Bears head to:

Webpage
https://sarahrpye.com/

Facebook
@sarah.pye.12