3 ways to help Save The Bay in 2025

Through the committed actions of Rhode Islanders, Narragansett Bay is cleaner and healthier today than it was in 1975. But as we turn the corner to 2025, Narragansett Bay faces persistent challenges that threaten a swimmable, fishable Bay accessible to all. Save The Bay urges Rhode Islanders to support three initiatives in the coming year to face these challenges and to invest further in Rhode Island’s most important natural resource.

First, Save The Bay urges support of federal, state, and local efforts to respond to climate change. Climate change is the single greatest threat to Narragansett Bay because it will affect virtually every aspect of the Bay as we know and enjoy it. Coastal communities are struggling with erosion. Salt marsh habitats are at risk of being submerged before they can adapt. Public access points are being compromised. Inland waterways are flooding neighborhoods and bringing new sources of pollution downstream. Infrastructure built for the environment of the past – roads, bridges, wastewater treatment facilities, recreational facilities – will not survive in their current form. 

Projects are underway and in planning stages to relocate infrastructure from shorelines, restore floodplains and improve stormwater management. However, they urgently need funding. While recent "green bonds" have provided some financial support, the need for stable funding far outstrips available resources.

Second, Save The Bay believes that 2025 will be the year when the long-anticipated Coastal Resources Management Council reform will become law. CRMC is on the front lines of dealing with climate impacts alongside other challenges like shoreline access and offshore wind. Their small but mighty staff of scientists and engineers do great work, but decisions are still made by a politically appointed council whose members are not required to have expertise in coastal law or science. Too often, these political appointees make decisions going against the recommendations of CRMC staff. Please join Save The Bay as it continues to advocate for making CRMC a more transparent and accountable agency by eliminating the politically appointed council.

Third, Save The Bay needs your help on the front lines of addressing the surge of plastic waste in our watershed. A recent study from URI found that roughly a thousand tons of microplastics are now at the bottom of Narragansett Bay. Beverage containers – including plastic bottles – are among the most collected items during shoreline cleanups, contributing to that microplastic problem, and littering both inland and coastal neighborhoods. This is why Save The Bay and others have been strongly advocating for a recycling refund system for beverage containers – also known as a “bottle bill” – as the most effective policy we can adopt to address the problem. Decades of data from states and countries with bottle deposit systems clearly show that these systems reduce litter and improve recycling. A majority of state legislators support a bottle bill for Rhode Island; it’s time to get it done.

As Save The Bay works on these and other issues in 2025, our success will ultimately depend on the voices of members and supporters who share our love of – and concern for – the Bay and watershed. Our past victories and improvements in the Bay happened because people demanded them. And as we work to address new and emerging threats in the coming years and decades, that “strength in numbers” has never been more critical.

Topher Hamblett is executive director of Save The Bay. George W. Shuster Jr. is president of the Save The Bay board of directors.