Published

3 years ago

December 10, 2023

Alice Rush

For ocean advocates like me who have been tracking the $1.5 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) rollout, the need for this long overdue investment in climate resilience is crystal clear. The law earmarks $50 billion for improving critical water infrastructure, like drinking water, stormwater and wastewater systems that are essential for maintaining safe, functioning communities and ecosystems. In coastal counties, which are home to about 40% of the United States’ population, critical water infrastructure is growing more vulnerable to climate change and faces a host of compounding hazards such as sea level rise and flooding, heavy precipitation and extreme storm surges. While swift implementation of climate funds is important, it’s vital that decision-makers are careful to deliver on President Biden’s Justice40 promise, a whole-of-government framework that instructs federal agencies to more equitably deliver climate investments to under-resourced communities.

Ocean Conservancy’s Justice40 interim report dives into research conducted in Florida at the nexus of failing water infrastructure, climate risk, and federal infrastructure investments in disadvantaged communities. Florida, one of the most climate-vulnerable states in the country, received a C rating or lower for water infrastructure types assessed by the American Society of Civil Engineers, signaling that robust investments from the BIL are essential.

Despite its importance for our communities and the environment, critical water infrastructure across the United States is increasingly aging and failing. In 2023 alone, countless instances of climate-related water system failures have made headlines. In South Louisiana, record-low water levels in the Mississippi River, coupled with rising sea levels in the Gulf of Mexico, are causing saltwater to creep north up the river, damaging drinking water pipes and water intake systems. Communities living in southern parishes that tend to be low-income have had to rely on bottled water for drinking and cooking since June to avoid the adverse health impacts of consuming saltwater. A deteriorating wastewater treatment plant in San Diego near the U.S.-Mexico border is causing sewage overflows to contaminate beaches and waters in Southern California. This crisis became considerably worse when Hurricane Hilary inundated the area with heavy rains in August. In low-lying Southeast Florida, residents are constantly plagued by severe floods that engulf roadways and destroy property. Each time I visit Miami during the rainy season, I am struck by the height of floodwaters, rising up onto sidewalks and spilling out from retention ponds. Further communicating the need for upgrades to stormwater infrastructure, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has continued to document instances of record high-tide flooding from coast to coast. Without significant efforts to prepare critical water infrastructure for worsening climate impacts, the well-being of coastal communities and the health of our ocean will continue to be jeopardized.

Not all coastal populations bear the same burden from water infrastructure failure and other impacts. Communities of Black and Indigenous peoples, other people of color and those experiencing intergenerational poverty are often disproportionately overburdened by climate change, environmental degradation and under-funded infrastructure. Nearly 60% of the population living in coastal cities identify as Black, Indigenous or people of color, so these historically neglected groups near the coast should benefit the most from the BIL and other resources to cope with climate impacts, keeping in line with the administration’s Justice40 vision.

To better understand the nature of critical water infrastructure risk and funding disparities at a localized scale, we conducted a geospatial analysis studying systemically disadvantaged communities exposed to the cumulative effects of failing water systems, water pollution and coastal climate impacts. This research focused on the cities of Jacksonville and Orlando and Miami-Dade County in Florida. A funding gap analysis uncovered that, despite being the most impacted by failing critical water infrastructure, overburdened Black and brown communities received fewer infrastructure dollars from two Environmental Protection Agency clean water and drinking water funding sources that received once-in-a-generation investments from the BIL in 2021. This phase of the study also highlighted major challenges associated with leveraging federal infrastructure dollars from the perspectives of local decision-makers and community residents. Some challenges identified include limited capacity to complete funding applications, a lack of transparency regarding funding availability, and competing funding priorities that often leave out disadvantaged communities. The methodology and results of this study could be duplicated in other locations to support community advocacy and identify areas in need of climate investments.

Being a lead researcher on this study, I’ve had an opportunity to carefully observe the implementation of Justice40 and the BIL over time. One of my biggest takeaways is that, as resources continue to be rolled out by the government, members of the public must be attentive and work together to ensure that our decision-makers do not repeat longstanding legacies of leaving the most impacted communities behind. Here are some important first steps to get informed and spread knowledge to mobilize our peers. Ask yourself and your network:

“Who is disproportionately impacted and what infrastructure projects do they want for their communities?
What money is available and where is it being allocated?
What are the best ways to hold state and local decision-makers accountable?
How am I positioned to help?”

We must treat this time of historic investment as an all-hands-on-deck moment, especially as climate justice and clean water access continue to emerge as central to today’s movement for human rights and planetary healing. Check out our new Justice40 interim report to learn more.

The post Ocean Justice Requires Climate Action for All appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

Ocean Justice Requires Climate Action for All

Ocean Acidification

The Strata that Matta

Published

3 days ago

July 5, 2026

Alice Rush

From Desert to Seafloor

Fig. 1) team Strata That Matta: Victoria C., Maeghan D., Maddie B., Vale B. (from left to right)

The months leading up to OCEAN CORE Academy were filled with another type of adventure for me, surveying the badlands of New Mexico in search of dinosaur bones. Yet, my work in the Gulf Coast Repository consisted of examining ocean cores using a microscope. Although these experiences couldn’t be any more different, the two were similar in that each attempted to answer the same question: what did Earth look like in the past?

I focus much of my research on vertebrate paleontological and geological fieldwork, such as prospecting for fossils, measuring strata, or describing ancient paleoenvironments and faunal assemblages. While I knew about microfossils, I had not fully grasped how much geological history is present in them.

Fig. 2) fieldwork, NM (May 2026)

History Through a Microscope

This leads me to one of the most memorable parts of OCEAN CORE Academy, learning to prepare smear slides and identify what existed within the ocean cores. Ocean sediments are fairly recent in that they have not yet been lithified, each layer represents tens to hundreds of years of depositions onto the seafloor. What I looked at was much deeper!

It was a momentous occasion when I first saw a radiolarian beneath the microscope! These tiny fossilized organisms provide surprisingly detailed insights into ancient environments. The conditions in which different groups of microfossils thrive vary, but by tracking how they fluctuate between layers, we can reconstruct climatic shifts over geologic time.

Team Strata That Matta correlated a transition from calcareous to siliceous ooze layers with a cooling climate!

Fig. 3) my first time seeing microfossils

Fig. 4) radiolarian Fig. 5) coccolithophores Fig. 6) sponge spiccules

Bringing OCA Back to AZ

Upon my return to Arizona, I will carry this new perspective with me. As I move forward with future projects and field seasons in New Mexico, volunteer at the Arizona Museum of Natural History, and pursue my degree, the skills I developed here will prove to be invaluable for strengthening my own research.

Prior to attending OCEAN CORE Academy I viewed microfossils as existing, yet somewhat separate from my projects. This place has challenged that perspective. I came to understand that many of the most detailed records of Earth’s past are the microfossils hidden within a single grain of sediment!

Fig. 7) class of OCA 2026

Written by OCA 2026 student, Maddie Baare

The Strata that Matta

Ocean Acidification

Earth’s History at Every Scale

Published

4 days ago

July 4, 2026

Alice Rush

From Desert to Seafloor

Fig. 1) team Strata That Matta: Victoria C., Maeghan D., Maddie B., Vale B. (from left to right)

Fig. 2) fieldwork, NM (May 2026)

History Through a Microscope

This leads me to one of the most memorable parts of OCEAN CORE Academy, learning to prepare smear slides and identify what existed within the ocean cores. It was a momentous occasion when I first saw a radiolarian beneath the microscope!

Before, I had been hunting for fossils measured in centimeters/meters, but now I am studying those measured in micrometers. These tiny fossilized organisms provide surprisingly detailed insights into ancient environments. The conditions in which different groups of microfossils thrive vary, but by tracking how they fluctuate between layers, we can reconstruct climatic shifts over geologic time.

Using these changing microfossil assemblages, my team correlated a transition from calcareous to siliceous ooze layers with a cooling climate!

Fig. 3) my first time seeing microfossils

Fig. 4) radiolarian Fig. 5) coccolithophores Fig. 6) sponge spiccules

Bringing OCA Back to AZ

Fig. 7) class of OCA 2026

Written by OCA 2026 student, Maddie Baare

Earth’s History at Every Scale

Ocean Acidification

Microplastic Pollution Research at Sea

Published

6 days ago

July 2, 2026

Alice Rush

I have been studying plastic pollution for more than a decade. I’ve analyzed hundreds of samples in labs, pored over data and spent years thinking hard about where plastics go once they leave our hands and enter the environment. I love doing work on the water—this was a big part of my previous professional roles in Alaska and in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands.

And here’s where it took me! I was thrilled to have the opportunity to join the first leg of eXXpedition’s voyage in the South Pacific this past spring, trading my lab coat for a lifejacket to study microplastics at sea. Sailing from Auckland, New Zealand, to the Bay of Islands aboard the 70-foot research vessel Wind Shift over 10 days, our crew of 12 women conducted ocean water-surface sampling via manta tow nets (a long cone-shaped mesh net), cleaned up debris on remote beaches and examined city streets with measuring tapes and field equipment. Our purpose? To collect key data to help us better understand the flow of plastics from land to sea.

Our all-female guest crew—hence the XX in “eXXpedition”—brought aboard expertise from the fields of structural engineering, circular economy strategy, sustainable fashion, plastics research, robotics and more. Together, we represented a remarkable cross-section of disciplines united around a shared concern for the health of our ocean.

Seeing it with my own eyes

We found plastics of all shapes and sizes everywhere we went—in the city streets of Auckland, while crossing the Hauraki Gulf and even at Aotea Great Barrier Island (one of the most remote and protected stretches of New Zealand’s coastline). Our ocean is vast and some of these places felt far removed from the centers of human activity, but this eXXpedition was a good reminder that plastic doesn’t respect remoteness. It moves, accumulates and shows up where we least expect.

Working alongside local NGO Sustainable Coastlines, we arrived on a remote stretch of beach on Aotea Great Barrier Island to audit and clean up any plastics we came across. What we found there told the same story our Auckland street surveys did: We found bottle caps, food packaging, fragments, plastic pellets and fishing debris. The everyday materials of modern life—but weathered, broken and scattered.

Science at sea

One of my favorite parts of the voyage (which was also one of the most challenging, if I’m being honest!) was the sea-surface manta trawl analyses we did onboard. I found out quickly that sorting microplastics from krill-laden seawater samples under a microscope while sailing is not for the faint of stomach.

The most common plastic culprit we found in those samples? Microplastic fibers. This type of microplastic is no wider than a human hair and is the most common type of microplastic found in the environment. Microplastic fibers can come from a variety of sources like cigarette butts, weathered ropes or wet wipes, but actually, most microplastic fibers shed from synthetic clothing and textiles. Laundering is a major source— shockingly, a single load of laundry can generate up to 18 million microfibers.

And yet, we found these tiny plastic fibers floating in the ocean many miles away from the nearest washing machine.

In my lab research, I have found microplastic fibers time and time again, but there’s something even more sobering about hand-picking them out of a seawater sample collected from pristine-looking waters. It was a good reminder of why understanding where plastic comes from, how it moves and where it ends up is so critical to addressing the problem at its roots.

Filter Out NSFW Microplastics

Tell your elected officials to take action against plastic pollution by requiring microplastic fiber filters! Adding your name takes less than two minutes, and goes a long way in protecting our ocean, forever and for everyone.

TAKE ACTION

What I’m bringing back

Studying plastic pollution from the deck of a boat in some of the most remote waters in the Southern Hemisphere made me appreciate the work I do even more. It also made me appreciate how important people are in this giant puzzle of plastic pollution solutions. The plastic pollution crisis is a human problem, and solving it requires all of us. The courage and dedication of the women I shared those 10 days with is something I won’t forget. Going to sea, doing the science and pushing through discomfort to collect data that matters was not easy. We were seasick some days and exhilarated others. Despite that fact, we showed up for it fully, every day.

The plastic is out there, even in far-flung corners of the ocean. And the answer is not to be paralyzed by that fact, but to use it as fuel. Every sample we collected is now a data point in a larger story about where plastic comes from and where it goes. Every cleanup, every surface trawl, every street block walked and every hour spent at a microscope are parts of building the evidence base that informs policies, regulations and systems-level changes that can actually turn this crisis around.

Cleaning up beaches and coastlines is valuable and necessary work. But we also must stop plastic from entering the ocean in the first place—through stronger policy, better product design and real investment in waste management infrastructure everywhere. Luckily, when it comes to the most common microplastics in the ocean— microplastic fibers—there is already an effective, affordable solution to immediately reduce microplastics coming from our laundry by roughly 90%: washing machine filters. These filters act just like laundry lint filters in our dryers, capturing fibers in tightly-woven mesh and effectively preventing them from leaving our homes and leaking into the environment.

What can you do?

There’s no better time to tackle plastic pollution than right now, during Plastic Free July! Take two minutes to add your name and call on your elected leaders to combat those pesky, dangerous microfibers that are pouring into our ocean daily—like the ones I found from my samples at sea. Together, we can stop plastic pollution at the source and protect our ocean forever and for everyone.

My biggest takeaways from this experience? People are remarkable. Our ocean is remarkable. And our ocean is worth fighting for, including from 70 feet of sailing vessel in the South Pacific, staring down a microscope with a pair of tweezers and a queasy stomach.

The eXXpedition South Pacific I voyage ran from April 27 to May 6, 2026, sailing from Auckland to the Bay of Islands. Learn more about the research team and our itinerary at https://exxpedition.com/voyage/auckland-to-bay-of-islands/.