Last week a young Port Kembla scientist was celebrating a major achievement: having her first article published in Renew Economy, Australia's clean energy news website.

Phebe Fidge is a 26-year-old marine ecologist and her piece was titled: I’m an Illawarra-based marine ecologist. I want an honest discussion about offshore wind.

The article ran to more than 2000 words, included 59 references and took her several weeks to write. All this effort took place outside of her day job at Deakin University's Blue Carbon Lab.

As National Science Week begins across Australia, we asked Phebe to tell us more.

Please tell us about your connection to the ocean.

My grandparents on my mum's side moved to Wollongong after their families immigrated from Italy in the 1940s.

I grew up on this coastline, part of the Italian Catholic community and a member of my local surf club. My dad was the one who taught me to open my eyes under the water. During my first snorkel on the reef off Port Kembla beach, a huge bull ray swept up from underneath me. Though it startled me, I was immediately filled with awe.

Our ocean adventures continued. We found giant jellyfish (featured in the Illawarra Mercury), cuttlefish, grey nurse sharks and weedy sea dragons.

However, it wasn't until my first scuba dive at the age of 16 that I was completely overcome. I found magic beneath the water when a boulder shifted and took the form of a cod, gliding silently past colourful coral terraces. Seeing the Great Barrier Reef with new, hopeful eyes was the catalyst for a lifetime of learning to appreciate and protect our extraordinary marine environments.

What work do you do?

I am currently working as a technical officer at Deakin University's Blue Carbon Lab, which is an interdisciplinary group of scientists working to protect and restore freshwater and marine wetlands for climate change mitigation and other benefits.

Coastal wetlands are amazing, and Australia has some of the best in the world! Did you know that mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows capture and store carbon up to 40x faster than terrestrial ecosystems, including rainforests?

Australian researchers like Professor Catherine Lovelock, Dr Valerie Hagger, Prof Peter Macreadie and Dr Melissa Wartman have made fantastic ground in describing wetland carbon storage and quantifying other wetland benefits to facilitate their inclusion in Australia's voluntary carbon and nature repair markets. These amazing people have been integral to my career and have supported me to publish my own scientific research, which has focused on opportunities for coastal wetland restoration on private land, especially through livestock exclusion.

I love that my current role is dynamic and allows me to work across a broad range of projects, from technical feasibility assessments for potential restoration projects to citizen science events!

Congratulations on having your article published in Renew Economy. What inspired you to write it?

Thank you! I decided I'd write the article I wanted to write and then find a platform retrospectively; not an approach I would recommend if you want to get published!

Having previously worked in environmental education and policy, I am very passionate about the power of effective science communication. What’s the point of scientific research if it's not communicated, understood, and inspiring positive action?

This article was inspired by some heated dinnertime conversations and frustration with the pervasive misinformation campaign that has penetrated our community. I would like to draw particular attention to the misleading logo of the "No Offshore Wind Farms Illawarra" group, which implies risks to whales that I knew to be false as an active contributor to the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) for many years.

What did your research involve and how long did it take?

Though I can passionately vouch for the necessity of renewable energy, I felt I did not know enough about the offshore wind industry to discredit the slanderous claims being put forward during conversations with family members and friends.

Although renewable technologies are not my area of expertise, I know how to think critically and conduct meaningful research, so I started working through the scientific literature to find the knowledge I was missing.

This mini literature review took several weeks. I also sought advice and feedback from coastal scientists and geographers at the University of Wollongong, including Associate Professor Errol McLean, Professor Colin Woodroffe, Associate Professor Sarah Hamylton, Natasha Larkin as well as members of the Blue Energy Futures Lab.

Some NGOs had already put together fact sheets that dispelled common wind farm myths, but the references were about as reliable as the sources used to propel and escalate them.

In my opinion, the main thing that differentiates a valid argument from a poor one is the reliability of the supporting information. I asked myself, how could we have productive discussions about offshore wind when many people wouldn't even know what a reliable source looks like? How can we expect our governments to make evidence-based decisions when the evidence is so hard to find?

Knowledge is power, so I put all of the best evidence I could find into a centralised format that was accessible and impactful. Renew Economy provided an ideal platform for my work.

What did you learn that was most surprising?

I found it fascinating looking into the psychology of "NIMBYism", a derogatory term coined to describe the "Not In My Backyard!" mindset. I found Patrick Devine-Wright's article on NIMBYism as a form of place-protective action inspired by positive connections to a familiar place particularly insightful.

By describing the psychological consequences (e.g. anxiety and loss) of place disruption, this article led me to conceive some claims I had previously dismissed, as cultural risks that should be considered and managed by project developers in the same way as other environmental and socio-economic risks.

I also found it encouraging to learn that 85 to 90% of wind turbine materials are currently recyclable, and we already have technologies that could increase this number to 100% … so let's move on from those photos of wind turbines lying in their mass landfill graves. That's not what the future looks like!

What has the response been like?

I am excited by the magnitude of responses! Hundreds of people from around Australia and overseas have shared and commented on my article across various social media platforms. If the aim was to engage people in a productive and honest discussion about offshore wind, then the article has definitely done that!

Although some people continue to confidently vomit mispunctuated garbage without understanding or supporting information, much of the feedback, comments and questions I have received have been positive and/or constructive.

I have received personal thanks from many of the young science professionals in my life, who are united in my cause. However, we still have work to do to secure the support of older generations more resistant to change.

There is nothing altruistic or compassionate about the argument, “I’ll be dead before then.” To those who have uttered that statement, I implore you to please climb out of your echo chambers and engage in meaningful discussions that empower young people to control their own futures.

You are our parents and our grandparents, and we depend on you to make decisions that will create a better world.