Feel Good Friday - Waterkeeper Alliance

Today is World Water Monitoring Day, a global call for everyday people to test the water in their own community and share what they find, making it the perfect day to spotlight Waterkeeper Alliance.

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in New York City, the mission of Waterkeeper Alliance is "to connect, support, and advocate with Waterkeeper groups to protect the right to clean water with communities worldwide." The Alliance grew out of an older fight: in 1966, a group of working class fishermen on New York's Hudson River began pushing back against industrial pollution, inspiring local Waterkeeper groups to form around the world.

Each May, Waterkeeper Alliance leads the International Plastic Pellet Count, a hands-on citizen science effort where volunteers search riverbanks, lakeshores, and beaches for the tiny plastic pellets used to make everyday products, then upload what they find to a shared, public database. This year, more than 1,000 volunteers surveyed 249 sites across six countries and found nearly 1.1 million pellets, data now used to push for stronger regulation of the facilities that make and ship them. 

That same hands-on approach runs through the rest of Waterkeeper Alliance's work. Local Waterkeeper groups patrol and test their own waterways year round, a dedicated PFAS testing project is tracking "forever chemicals" in communities facing the greatest exposure, and the policy team is pushing for stronger water protections at the state level and through the ongoing Global Plastics Treaty negotiations.

Waterkeeper Alliance has had a sweeping impact. There are 296 local Waterkeeper groups across six continents who now patrol and protect over six million square miles of rivers, lakes, and coastlines, supporting nearly 2.5 billion people!

Supporting Waterkeeper Alliance is easy, and there are several ways to pitch in. You can make a donation to fund their legal and advocacy work, shop for merch, or find your local Waterkeeper group to get involved close to home. Amplify their message on social media by following them on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or YouTube, and share their fight for clean water with your network.

Happy World Water Monitoring Day!

Feel Good Friday - Earthjustice

With Earth Day just around the corner on April 22nd, this week's Feel Good Friday highlights Earthjustice, the organization fighting to protect our planet in the courts.

Founded in 1971 and headquartered in San Francisco, the mission of Earthjustice, is "to wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change." Originally established as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, the organization became fully independent and rebranded as Earthjustice in 1997 to better reflect its identity as a legal advocate for the broader environmental movement. They represent not just big national groups, but communities on the frontlines of pollution.

What makes Earthjustice unique is its core promise: they represent all clients completely free of charge! That's because they operate on the simple, powerful premise that the earth needs a good lawyer. With more than 220 attorneys working across 15 regional offices, Earthjustice takes on the biggest, most precedent-setting environmental cases in the country. Their clients range from big organizations like the Sierra Club and the World Wildlife Fund to small community groups fighting pollution in their own backyards.

The work of Earthjustice spans four major areas: clean air and healthy communities, climate and clean energy, healthy oceans and wildlife, and the preservation of wild places. In recent years, they’ve won landmark cases resulting in historic limits on industrial polluters, secured a settlement in Hawaii requiring the state to transition its transportation system to zero emissions, and fought back against efforts to reopen protected oceans to oil and gas drilling. 

Since January 2025 alone, they have filed more than 150 new pieces of litigation in direct response to sweeping attacks on environmental protections. The good news is they have an 85% win rate for their cases. Mother Earth has some good representation!

If you’d like to support Earthjustice you can do so by making a donation, shopping for sustainably sourced apparel and gear at their store, and amplifying their message on social media. Follow Earthjustice on Bluesky, Instagram, or LinkedIn and share their stories of legal victories for people and the planet.

Happy Earth Month! 🌎

Feel Good Friday - Pure Earth

We’re wrapping up Earth Month with an organization devoted to solving pollution problems in low and middle-income countries, Pure Earth.

 

Founded in New York City in 1999, the vision of Pure Earth is “a world where all, especially children, are able to live healthy lives and reach their full potential free from exposure to toxic pollution.”

 

Some data from their website explains the extent of the problem. Each year, 9 million people die from pollution-related illnesses, and 90% of children with high blood lead levels live in low and middle-income countries. Pure Earth partners with governments, communities and industry leaders to identify and implement solutions that stop toxic exposures, protect health, and restore environments. Their current focus is on lead and mercury because of the detrimental effects those pollutants have on children and pregnant women.

 

In partnership with UNICEF, Pure Earth released a report that found 1 in 3 children (800 million) are affected by lead poisoning. They are raising awareness of the issue and working to abolish the practices that cause harmful lead exposure, such substandard recycling of lead-acid batteries. They are also screening for lead in products found at markets in 25 countries.

 

As for mercury, Pure Earth estimates that globally, 19 million people are at risk for exposure to mercury. This can cause damage to the nervous, digestive, and immune systems, as well as the lungs, kidneys, skin, and eyes. Not only is mercury found at high levels in many types of fish, it is also used in small-scale gold mining around the world as a way to separate gold from sediment. 

 

Pure Earth is educating community members about mercury poisoning, teaching miners mercury-free methods, and working with them to close out old mines through reforestation. They are also creating awareness of mercury-free gold and connecting international jewelers to miners using mercury-free methods.

 

You can see all of the current and previous Pure Earth projects on this interactive map. Since they began, they have completed over 120 cleanup projects in 24 countries, “improving five million lives, including 1 million children under the age of six.”

If you’d like to help Pure Earth solve pollution, save lives and protect the planet you can join a fundraising event or make a donation – cash or cryptocurrency! You can also help them get the word out by amplifying their message on social media. Like the Pure Earth Facebook page and follow them on Twitter@PureEarthNow and Instagram @pureearthnow 

Feel Good Friday - The Ocean Cleanup

Solving the problem of plastics in the ocean is a recurring theme of the Feel Good Friday blog. Why? Because the oceans are still full of plastic!

I learned about today's organization, The Ocean Cleanup, from this article on the Good News Network, which I recommend you follow if you can't wait until Fridays to feel good.

When Boyan Slat was 16 he was diving in Greece and surprised to find more plastic than fish in the ocean. What did he do about it? Researched plastic pollution as a school project, came up with an idea to develop a passive concentration system, gave a TedX talk in his hometown of Delft in the Netherlands, inspired people to crowdfund $90,000 and founded The Ocean Cleanup in 2013. Like you do.

As explained on their website, "The Ocean Cleanup is designing and developing cleanup systems to clean up what is already polluting our oceans and to intercept plastic on its way to the ocean via rivers." With over 5 trillion pieces of plastic littering the ocean and accumulating in 5 gyres, or garbage patches, Slat's floating system captures the plastic so it can be collected and recycled. Models put together by the team show that "a full-scale cleanup system roll-out could clean 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in just five years." Learn more about that here.

That's not where it ends. The research team at The Ocean Cleanup found that 80% of the trash that ends up in the oceans comes from 1,000 rivers around the world. Enter the Interceptor, a ship of sorts that can extract up to 220,000 pounds of trash in a day. Slat's goal is to have Interceptors in all of the 1,000 worst polluting rivers by 2025. See how they work in this 2-minute video.

The Ocean Cleanup team, with over 80 engineers, researchers and scientists, aims to "reach a 90% reduction of floating ocean plastic by the year 2040." You can help them make it happen! Make a donation, shop for merch and raise awareness on social media by liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @TheOceanCleanup and @BoyanSlat. #TheOceanCleanup