Nurdle Patrol Ridealong with Jace Tunnell

October 4, 2020

Join the Nurdle Patrol and help win the fight on plastics

On this episode, Peter and Tyler talk with Jace Tunnell, Director of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve and founder of the Nurdle Patrol, a citizen science project looking to gather information about where nurdles are located, remove nurdles from the environment, and create awareness about the nurdle pollution. Nurdles are small plastic pellets used in the pre-production of plastic products. They are released into the environment by the millions every year. Nurdle Patrol trains citizen scientists of all ages to survey their beach for nurdles and share findings on social media.

Show Transcription
This transcription was generated by a computer. Please excuse any errors.
Peter Ravella & Tyler Buckingham

Peter and Tyler joined forces in 2015 and from the first meeting began discussing a project that would become Coastal News Today and the American Shoreline Podcast Network. At the time, Peter and Tyler were coastal consultants for Pete’s firm, PAR Consulting, LLC. In that role, they worked with coastal communities in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, engaged in grant writing, coastal project development, shoreline erosion and land use planning, permitting, and financial planning for communities undertaking big beach restoration projects. Between and among their consulting tasks, they kept talking and kept building the idea of CNT & ASPN. In almost every arena they worked, public engagement played a central role. They spent thousands of hours talking with coastal stakeholders, like business owners, hotel operators, condo managers, watermen, property owners, enviros, surfers, and fishermen. They dived deep into the value, meaning, and responsibility for the American shoreline, segment-by-segment. Common threads emerged, themes were revealed, differences uncovered. There was a big conversation going on along the American shoreline! But, no place to have it. That's where CNT and ASPN were born.