Video: Tide Pooling with Alyssa Tsukada

WWU environmental science major Alyssa Tsukada shares her passion for the education, the environment and science with a look into her hobby- tide pooling.

Video by Linnea Hoover

WWU environmental science major Alyssa Tsukada takes us tide pooling with her. When tide pooling, you never know what you might find, but it’s always a unique experience.

Transcript

I think within climate science, it can get a little bit disheartening.

And so, knowing that like within microbiology and this opportunity that you could just go out on a random like Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. to this beach to go tide pooling provides — like a sense of hope and excitement that there are a lot of things that we don’t necessarily think of, and are exposed to every day that are doing really cool things to support us. That are contributing to the betterment of the world and the way the world turns.

My name is Alyssa Tsukada. I use she/her pronouns. I am a fourth year here at Western studying environmental science.

I don’t necessarily have focus, but a lot of my research is in marine microbiology. And then I also have minors in biology and geology.

I specialize in diatoms, which are a type of phytoplankton that create these silica-like glass houses around themselves — and they are absolutely stunning. And they come in all of these shapes and sizes and functionalities, and they’re just absolutely everywhere.

I’ve always had an interest in biology and ecological systems and how they relate to climate change. So, tide pooling is one of those things where it started as something that was just really fun to go do.

I think my work here at Western is really spurred on just by my passion for the environment, and it all starts with just being excited and appreciating what you have around you. I think tide pooling is really just a really great educational tool that I like, hope everyone has the opportunity to engage in those types of — opportunities.

You’re like crouching down, looking at your own thing, and then you hear an audible gasp from like ten feet away or more. Or you go, wait, or sometimes you get a “EW!” that like that comes out of nowhere and you’re like, ‘Oh no, what did they find?’

And so that’s always fun. Whenever you take people out, they just become little kids again. And it’s quite funny just because there are little kids that you can trust not to, like, hurt themselves. So that’s great. I just I can’t imagine someone like anybody not getting excited about it either.

It’s on the things where our environment is so cool. It’s what we live in. It takes care of us, mother nature, all of that. We’ve always had that narrative growing up, or at least a lot of us, especially if you grew up in the Pacific Northwest.

I think having the people there just it’s so much more of an experience, and it
brings me so much joy. I love science education and I love the people in my life, and I love getting people excited about things that exist around them because it’s one of those like simple joys that if you just can appreciate what’s always there. No, it’s never too bad of a day.

The more you learn, especially when it comes to climate change and in these types of fields, I think you can get really disheartening the more information you have.

But you have to get past that and remember that all of this information is actually quite hopeful because it just means that we know more about what to do in the future.

And so, when we’re engaging in these small ways of either like my research and sharing photographs of the phytoplankton or going out trifling with a whole bunch of friends who don’t necessarily spend their class times learning about these things, the way that I do.

It is just a reminder that there are a lot of resources out there and a lot of people

Click here to read Hoover’s story about tide pooling.