Microplastic Community Testing Project
A community-led initiative to measure microplastic levels in drinking water and air, and transform that data into storytelling and advocacy for environmental justice.
Community science. Health Justice. collective leadership.
Community science. Health Justice. collective leadership.
Fossil fuel frontline communities bear the heaviest burden of microplastic pollution poisoning their air and water, yet the data needed to demand accountability barely exists – not by accident, but by design. Communities need to own their data, their stories, and their healing. We’re using community science to fight for health and climate justice, seed new leaders, and connect with one another to make decisions for ourselves.
The ProJect
Phase 1: Community Engagement and Survey Design
Working alongside local organizations, we will co-develop a survey to identify community needs, priorities, and concerns, ensuring that every decision reflects what communities have named for themselves.
Phase 2: Community Science Sampling and Research Collaboration
Seeding Sovereignty will collect samples of tap water, bottled water, and household air for microplastic analysis, supporting community members through hands-on training, accessible educational materials, and science kits – with findings contributing to a co-developed, peer-reviewed article that communities can wield as evidence.
Phase 3: Storytelling, Advocacy, and Policy Engagement
Participants will shape and amplify project findings through multimedia storytelling, backed by free media trainings that build lasting skills and power, while supporting direct advocacy with local legislators to reduce plastic pollution burdens on frontline communities.
Our Team
Carolynn Box
Independent consultant with nearly 25 years of ocean conservation experience, has traveled 25,000+ nautical miles researching microplastics with deep expertise in community science program design.
Dr. Timnit Kefela
Madeleine MacGillivray
Climate Justice Lead at Seeding Sovereignty, brings 10+ years of microplastics community science experience at the intersection of environmental justice, public health, and plastics.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Science & Resource Management at CSUCI, researches microplastic sources, pathways, and fates in urban and marine environments, and community-informed interventions to mitigate their impact.
The Mission
Seeding Sovereignty is seeding a community-based initiative to address microplastic contamination in drinking water and ambient air within frontline communities affected by failing infrastructure in the United States – communities whose infrastructure has been neglected and whose bodies have been treated as sacrifice zones. By weaving environmental sampling, collaborative research, and multimedia storytelling, this project will generate actionable data, center the leadership of those most impacted, and fuel policy advocacy for environmental and climate justice. This research is done by communities, not to or for them.
Low-income, BIPOC, and fossil fuel frontline communities are disproportionately burdened by environmental pollution and its devastating health consequences, and yet the data needed to demand accountability and change barely exists. This is not an accident: systemic political structures and the fossil fuel industry have long prioritized profit over the well-being of our communities, withholding health data before regulatory standards are set and routinely excluding residents from decisions about their own environments. Collecting this data is foundational to preventing harm, healing our communities, and building policy rooted in justice rather than power.
