Insights from Erica Allen, Youth Environmental Activist
By Bryan Hayes
Bringing fresh new ideas and an energetic passion for the environment, technology, and supporting businesses who practice sustainability, the millennial generation is making waves, and pushing for change. One such person who exemplifies this is Erica Allen, an expert in marine life and the only female, and youngest member, of the marine advisory board for the city of Boca Raton.
Her dedication to community, to the environment, and to making a difference inspires her to action. “If it is not for me and my friends who are motivated about saving the planet then these decisions are going to be left to outdated ideas.” Erica explained. “It is not just about the generations that will come after us. It affects us now. If you personally throw a bottle off a boat, even though you may think that is glass and it will decompose, that process does not happen for hundreds of years. That will affect future generations, but that bottle could entrap an octopus, for example, and you cannot propagate the species being trapped in the bottle.”
Water is essential for life, and most of the Earth is covered with water. Florida is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, though much of it is beyond our line of sight.
There is so much that happens below the surface that is essential to sustaining life. As a scuba diver, Erica is seeing firsthand how climate change is currently taking a toll locally. “It is creating more pollution in our ecosystem. I see how fragile it is when scuba diving with fishing line, for example. A fisherman who cuts their line, may find that the line ends up in our reef. I will see yards of fishing lines on the reef. If that reef dies, and without a thriving reef system, it effects everything including the marine life as well as providing much needed oxygen. So much of oxygen comes from the ocean, and we are depleting our oxygen.”
“Every other breath we take comes from the ocean.” Water covers most of the Earth’s surface and produces as much as 50% to 80% of critical, life-sustaining oxygen. Microscopic organisms, phytoplankton, live off of sunlight and nutrients in the water. The sunlight produces the energy needed for photosynthesis. Not only is it critical to focus on trees, but “the more that we cut down trees, and destroy our oceans, the more we deplete the oxygen levels.”
There are areas in the ocean where there is naturally occurring lower oxygen levels, but the rate of oxygen reduction has been alarming. In some places, there are “dead zones” where this is little to no oxygen. This effects the entire ecosystem.
Florida, surrounded by water, is feeling the effects of climate change. There is a common misconception that climate change will not be something that we see in our lifetime, or that we can make a positive difference in our lifetime. It is critically important though to not “give up on the idea that they too can have an impact.” What we do today will affect future generations, but also, Erica is seeing it now.
She hears “a lot of people say that this is not going to happen in their lifetime, but it is happening right under our noses. I have seen it in the intercoastal and on the beaches with all of the trash.” During the King tides, with the increasing sea level, she has seen “the sea wall littered with Sargassum and plastic. After Hurricane Dorian, there was all kinds of debris washing up ashore. It was from the Bahamas – but, the problem is not to one country. It is every nation – including the United States.”
When asked about an immediate action step that anyone can take Erica feels it is “not as much about recycling, although we do have a recycling issue, it is more a matter of limiting single use plastic from the source. The world can be a cleaner place with a more thriving environment.”
In the past several years in Florida, we have seen algae bloom. This is coming from a lack of oxygen in the waterways “caused by having too many nutrients, resulting in depleted oxygen levels, which among other things kill fish in that area due to not having the oxygen to survive.” If they do survive, the algae bloom tends to cause neurological issues.
“Several years ago, while in Naples I was photographing dead fish,” when Erica felt the brunt of the algae bloom, “because I could not stand on the beach for more than 15 minutes without choking.”
If she is not able to stand on the beach, because she cannot breathe how about the citizens living on the ocean? Or, the fish who are in that area? And, the birds whose diet is dependent on fish?
All of these issues are questions that Erica, and her collogues work with to create viable solutions. One area of specific interest for Erica is tuna and being able to educate people on consuming sustainable seafood. Directly related to the oxygen dead zones, larger fish, like tuna need more oxygen to survive. They also have been the product over fishing. One way to counter that is “getting away from commercial fishing and to also find alternative species, such as oysters and mussels. Fish farms should not be seen as completely negative, because it is done in other industries. There are places where they have done it well, and others where there is room for improvement. I do believe it is the way of the future.”
The future is in the present moment, and what we do individually and collectively, is going to have a lasting impact for generations. Erica is someone who is devoting her time to her community, to the ocean, and to helping make the world a little bit cleaner and more sustainable.
Get involved! Participate in this upcoming event with Erica. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/little-plastics-big-ocean-fb-live-tickets-126575182779
More about Erica…
After finishing her undergraduate degree at The University of Rhode Island in Marine Affairs and Communications, Erica went on to get her Masters of Professional Science (MPS) from The University of Miami-RSMAS, focusing in Marine Conservation. As a masters candidate, she wrote her thesis on how to create a global awareness campaign about the effects of the tuna industry. She also traveled to Nicaragua and designed an outreach plan utilizing international techniques for the conservation of marine resources, specifically issues of bomb fishing and empowering women in the local fishing communities.
Today, Erica works as an environmental scientist for an environmental consulting company, an environmental liaison to THe Florida Department of Transportation, and sits on the Marine Advisory Board for the City of Boca Raton.