Eye-Catching Designs Made from Recycled Plastic Bottles
waterlust.com / @abamabam
The company sells a range of eco-friendly items like leggings, rash guards, and board shorts that are made using recycled post-consumer plastic bottles. There are currently 16 causes represented by distinct marine-life patterns, from whale shark research and invasive lionfish removal to sockeye salmon monitoring and abalone restoration.
One such organization is Get Inspired, a nonprofit that specializes in ocean restoration and environmental education. Get Inspired founder, marine biologist Nancy Caruso, says supporting on-the-ground efforts is one thing that sets Waterlust apart, like their apparel line that supports Get Inspired abalone restoration programs.
"All of us [conservation partners] are doing something," Caruso said. "We're not putting up exhibits and talking about it — although that is important — we're in the field."
Waterlust not only helps its conservation partners financially so they can continue their important work. It also helps them get the word out about what they're doing, whether that's through social media spotlights, photo and video projects, or the informative note card that comes with each piece of apparel.
"They're doing their part for sure, pushing the information out across all of their channels, and I think that's what makes them so interesting," Caruso said.
And then there are the clothes, which speak for themselves.
Advocate Apparel to Start Conversations About Conservation
waterlust.com / @oceanraysphotography
Waterlust's concept of "advocate apparel" encourages people to see getting dressed every day as an opportunity to not only express their individuality and style, but also to advance the conversation around marine science. By infusing science into clothing, people can visually represent species and ecosystems in need of advocacy — something that, more often than not, leads to a teaching moment.
"When people wear Waterlust gear, it's just a matter of time before somebody asks them about the bright, funky designs," said Waterlust's CEO, Patrick Rynne. "That moment is incredibly special, because it creates an intimate opportunity for the wearer to share what they've learned with another."
The idea for the company came to Rynne when he was a Ph.D. student in marine science.
"I was surrounded by incredible people that were discovering fascinating things but noticed that often their work wasn't reaching the general public in creative and engaging ways," he said. "That seemed like a missed opportunity with big implications."
Waterlust initially focused on conventional media, like film and photography, to promote ocean science, but the team quickly realized engagement on social media didn't translate to action or even knowledge sharing offscreen.
Rynne also saw the "in one ear, out the other" issue in the classroom — if students didn't repeatedly engage with the topics they learned, they'd quickly forget them.
"We decided that if we truly wanted to achieve our goal of bringing science into people's lives and have it stick, it would need to be through a process that is frequently repeated, fun, and functional," Rynne said. "That's when we thought about clothing."
Support Marine Research and Sustainability in Style
To date, Waterlust has sold tens of thousands of pieces of apparel in over 100 countries, and the interactions its products have sparked have had clear implications for furthering science communication.
For Caruso alone, it's led to opportunities to share her abalone restoration methods with communities far and wide.
"It moves my small little world of what I'm doing here in Orange County, California, across the entire globe," she said. "That's one of the beautiful things about our partnership."
Check out all of the different eco-conscious apparel options available from Waterlust to help promote ocean conservation.
Melissa Smith is an avid writer, scuba diver, backpacker, and all-around outdoor enthusiast. She graduated from the University of Florida with degrees in journalism and sustainable studies. Before joining EcoWatch, Melissa worked as the managing editor of Scuba Diving magazine and the communications manager of The Ocean Agency, a non-profit that's featured in the Emmy award-winning documentary Chasing Coral.
NAM "moves to withdraw as an intervenor—defendant from this case." Based on its pleadings in court, "NAM is the nation's largest industrial trade association representing the manufacturing sector of the United States economy."
"Over 18 months ago, NAM, like the other fossil fuel intervenors, went to great lengths to become a party defendant in this case," Julia Olson, counsel for plaintiffs and executive director of Our Children's Trust, said.
"They claimed their members were seriously threatened by our case. Now faced with significant legal victories by these young plaintiffs, and on the eve of having to take a position on climate science, NAM wants out of this case. We believe the court will determine that there should be consequences for wasting the court's time."
When youth plaintiffs filed their lawsuit in 2015, they did not name the trade associations NAM, American Petroleum Institute or American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, as defendants. On Nov. 12, 2015, these trade associations joined to intervene the side of the U.S. government defendants, calling the lawsuit a "direct threat to [their] businesses."
The position of these associations was that "significant reduction in [greenhouse gas] emissions would cause a significant negative effect on [their] members by constraining the sale of the product they have specialized in developing and selling."
In a January 2016 proceeding before Judge Thomas Coffin, an attorney representing all three trade associations explained how these associations would speak with "one voice" if permitted to join the litigation:
"...having the associations participate as associations in this litigation effectively represents those interests without a multiplicity of disparate viewpoints and voices. Rather, in fact, they have joined to speak with one voice through this intervention motion."
The court allowed NAM and its fellow fossil fuel industry associations to become defendants. However, when these intervenor defendants filed their answer to the allegations in youth's complaint, their "one voice" lacked "sufficient knowledge to admit or deny the factual allegations" to take a position on most of the claims in the complaint.
During a March 9 case management conference, intervenor defendants agreed to set forth their positions on the facts in the form of responses to requests for admissions, which Plaintiffs subsequently filed on March 24. When the intervenors had not submitted their responses by April 20, Judge Coffin ordered that they be electronically-filed with the court. At the May 18 case management conference, Judge Coffin granted intervenor defendants an extension to submit their responses until May 25. Now NAM "no longer wishes to participate" in the case, according to Monday's filing.
#NAMKNEW
For more than a decade, NAM was a member of the Global Climate Coalition, a group that led an aggressive lobbying campaign against the scientific consensus that greenhouse gas emissions caused global warming, as Andrew Revkin revealed in the New York Times in 2009.
By way of background, NAM, like the American Petroleum Institute and their common member, ExxonMobil, had its own long-standing knowledge of climate danger. For example, NAM's Environmental Quality Committee published a document in 1975, Air Quality Control: National Issues, Standards, and Goals, which included a section on carbon dioxide, concluding:
"And it is believed that the huge amounts of carbon dioxide emitted each day are very slowly heating the Earth's atmosphere. In time, some scientists fear this scarcely perceptible rise in temperatures may cause the partial melting of the polar icecaps and extensive flooding throughout the world."
NAM's Environmental Quality Committee published a document in 1975 called Air Quality Control: National Issues, Standards, and Goals, which included a section on carbon dioxide. Our Children's Trust
It is yet to be determined whether the American Petroleum Institute and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers will join NAM in seeking to leave the case. Counsel for intervenor defendants has indicated to the court it is possible all three association may seek leave to withdraw.
Juliana v. United States was brought by 21 young plaintiffs who argue that their constitutional and public trust rights are being violated by the government's creation of climate danger. The case is one of many related legal actions brought by youth in several states and countries, all supported by Our Children's Trust, seeking science-based action by governments to stabilize the climate system.