Engagement

In September 2023, Monterey Bay Aquarium employees, volunteers, and interns completed the Sustainability Engagement Survey (SES). The SES is meant to gauge staff awareness of and involvement in sustainability efforts at the Aquarium. A total of 201 employees and 2 volunteers completed the survey, which is a response rate of 43%.

The “scores” shown in the table to the right correspond to the percent of respondents who chose the two responses at the top of the scale (i.e., those who were very aware and moderately aware of efforts, as noted in the table). The overall score is the average of the five dimensions and can be used as a metric to measure progress over time and compare to other organizations that have completed the survey.

Deploy the SES every other year

The SES is aimed to both gauge the success and locate opportunities for improvement to sustainability efforts at the aquarium. Our next engagement survey will be conducted this August 2025!

Focus on the connection between DEIA efforts and sustainability efforts

As part of analyzing the data from the Aquarium’s initial survey, we looked at how our Aquarium community felt about which areas we should focus on to be more sustainable based on the lived experiences of our staff. We pulled out the data of all groups to show differences in response rates between groups.

While white-identifying staff placed a large emphasis on waste, climate resiliency, and greenhouse gases, our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) staff identified diversity, social justice, and community wellness at greater rates. The things that the majority of respondents from both groups viewed as an important area of focus was pursuing ocean conservation and inclusion. See the graph below for a graphic representation of this data.

To learn more about the Aquarium’s DEIA efforts, visit our website.