Our Mission
Our mission is to monitor and report on the conditions of South Carolina's inland, coastal, and offshore waters, with an emphasis on the Charleston harbor--one of the busiest seaports on the East Coast of the U.S. with a rapidly growing marine-based industry. By developing testing standards for citizen-scientists and sharing our findings with the scientific community and other stakeholders, we aim to meaningfully contribute to local, national, and global efforts to combat the risks of microplastics to the environment and human health.
Our Vision
Our vision is to raise awareness about the local and global scope of the microplastics problem, including its impacts on human health. We intend to publish data that can be used to encourage grassroots action, inform policy, and facilitate advocacy to reduce plastic use (not just plastic waste) and direct funding toward cleaning up microplastics in marine environments.
Our Values
Our values serve as our guideposts for how we pursue our mission and realize our vision. These values are:
- Compassion – We bring compassion to our work—compassion for the world and the people around us. We want to spread this compassion on a local and global scale.
- Connection – Connections are critical to achieving our vision. While publishing our data serves a critical purpose, it is connecting with other like-minded organizations that will lead to large-scale meaningful change.
- Education – We believe that education is fundamental to making the informed decisions that are necessary for change. We promote education in all aspects of our work, from our efforts to develop standards for citizen-scientists to education about sailing.
- Preservation – Protecting our future inherently requires preservation of our environment. Preserving our environment starts with understanding what needs to be done.
- Stewardship – Compassion, connection, education, and preservation provide a foundation for stewardship. Through our value-driven approach, we believe we can serve as stewards—and help others serve as stewards—for decades to come.
Our Initiatives
Our current initiatives are centered on a three-pronged approach to addressing the global microplastics problem: (i) on-the-water research; (ii) data-driven advocacy; and, (iii) community education and engagement. We are studying the scope of the microplastics problem with a clear plan for using our resources and data to achieve our mission. Learn more about our work.
Why It All Matters
Plastics are among the most pervasive pollutants in our inland, coastal, and offshore waters. They are also among the most dangerous. Studies have shown that 20% to 40% of marine microbes are infected by viruses, and this is due in large part to the way that they interact with microplastics in the marine environment. Marine microbes are direct and indirect food sources for larger marine life—including fish that end up in supermarkets and on dinner plates around the world.
While marine microbes keep our waters clean, microplastics create dead zones and harm human health. Microplastics have been linked to several adverse human health outcomes, and their impacts are only just beginning to be researched and understood.
The scope of the global microplastics problem is also just beginning to be researched and understood. We are doing this research today so that we can help protect our water for tomorrow.