Ocean Filibuster Resource List
Here are ways you can get closer to the Ocean by reading, watching, listening and doing
Right now I want to:
Events & Volunteering | Read | Meet Organizations
Events & Volunteering
By NC filmmaker Jamie Berger. Saturday, September 29, 7pm as part of the 2023 Cary Environmental Symposium. The film tells the story of community organizer Elsie Herring and her 30-year fight against industrial hog farm pollution in Eastern North Carolina. Get tickets here.
#EstuariesWeek … It’s National Estuaries Week September 16-23!
Read more about NC’s Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership and visit Restore America’s Estuaries to get involved with the preservation and flourishing of these critical resources that sustain a diverse community of plants and animals.
Durham’s Big Sweep 2023
Every October, groups from across Durham volunteer to pick up litter in their local neighborhoods, parks, and streams. Visit Keep Durham Beautiful for more info and sign up.
A program by the City of Durham to encourage resident attention to storm drains and local water supplies. Read more about Durham’s stormwater quality here.
Duke’s Stream & Wetland Assessment Management Park (SWAMP) in Duke Forest near West Campus
You can visit the SWAMP and do some birdwatching.
Become a Citizen Scientist with Carolina Wetlands!
Volunteer as part of a pilot program to collect data about local wetlands!
NC Flood Inundation Mapping and Alert Network
SIGN UP for flood alerts in your zip code. This web site provides real-time data on stream elevation, rainfall and weather parameters Gather and distribute reliable and accurate rain and stage gage data, providing real-time flood inundation maps and alerts to help prevent and reduce the loss of lives and property.
Read
BOOKS
These are some books on water and environmental justice recommended by PearlDamour
Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons, Alexis Pauline Gumbs (Duke University Ph.D. graduate, English, African and African American Studies, Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies)
The Sea Around Us, Rachel Carson
Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have, by Tatiana Schlossberg
A Line in the Tar Sands: Struggles for Environmental Justice, edited by Stephen D’Arcy, Toban Black, Tony Weis and Joshua Kahn Russell
The World We Need: Stories and Lessons from America’s Unsung Environmental Movement, edited by Audrey LIm
Consider buying or ordering these great books from your local bookstore, the Regulator Bookshop!
NORTH CAROLINA ARTICLES & STORIES
Homecoming: Race, Place and Living with the Tar River, Part I & Part II by Photojournalist Justin Cook
Lisa Sorg’s (@lisasorg on Twitter/X) reporting on Environmental issues across the state for NC Newsline
Coastal Review Online a daily, nonprofit, news and feature service covering the North Carolina coast since 2012
Water in the Lumbee World: A River and Its People in a Time of Change, by Ryan E. Emmanuel
Website: We Are Here - Interviews and stories tracing North and South Carolina Indigenous peoples’ relationship to plants, created for Duke Gardens
And check out the Seas the Day Podcast: highlights research and topics of interest from the Duke Marine Lab
Local Organizations
Check out these organizations for volunteer opportunities and more…
Durham Environmental Coalition: Events, talks, volunteering as part of Keep Durham Beautiful
School for Living Futures: Programming around climate change and changemaking in the Durham community
Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association: Durham nonprofit preserving and managing land for Ellerbe Creek and watershed protection
Eno River Association: Land trust and conservation nonprofit for protecting and conserving the Eno River basin. Provides opportunities for education and to volunteer
Clean Cape Fear: Grassroots organization started in 2017 to address PFAS - per- or poly-fluoroalkyl substances - also known as “forever chemicals” entering the water and soil for decades from a range of actions engaged on military training bases, and from textile and industrial plant production in Eastern and Southeastern NC
Clean Haw River: A related organization in Pittsboro, NC. In recent joint action, the founders of these organizations visited Washington, DC to meet with legislators about PFAS
Waterkeepers Carolina: Each watershed in NC has a nonprofit waterkeeper group. Find them here
Take a deeper dive into policy and protection by following these organizations:
C-COAST: A Research Coordination Network (RCN) including Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, NCCU, ECU, and NCSU funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to address grand challenges in coastal resilience
Southern Environmental Law Center: A nonprofit devoted to environmental advocacy
And learn more about NC DEQ’s approach to PFAS (“forever chemicals”) HERE.