Environmental Leadership Requires Fiscal Responsibility
Rhode Island has set ambitious carbon reduction targets for 2030 and 2040.
At a recent State House press conference, supporters of the Act on Climate acknowledged we are not currently on track to meet those goals, and yet they still urged that we “stay the course.”
Climate change is real. But we need to ask ourselves: Are we pursuing our environmental goals in a way that is strategic, measurable, and fiscally responsible for Rhode Island families?
Environmental policy matters. But so does the electric bill. So does the cost of heating our homes. So does the burden we are placing on small businesses trying to keep their doors open.
If we are going to ask households to absorb higher costs in the name of environmental progress, we owe them accountability and measurable return.
The Bay Beneath Us
A recent Boston Globe feature highlighted research from the University of Rhode Island showing that between 2,500 and 3,300 tons of microplastics have accumulated in Narragansett Bay since the 1940s.
Using sediment cores, essentially time capsules from the seabed, scientists documented an exponential rise in microplastics from World War II through today with the sharpest increases occurring in the 1980s and 1990s.
This isn’t theoretical. The rise is measurable and layered into the Bay itself.
Once plastic breaks down into microplastics, it becomes nearly impossible to remove without harming marine life.
Unlike atmospheric carbon, this pollution is local.
It settles in our marshes. It affects our fisheries. It touches our shellfish industry and tourism economy, all part of the identity of the Ocean State.
Scale And Responsibility
The United States produces roughly 12–13 % of the world’s global greenhouse gas emissions.
To our credit, Rhode Island is already one of the lowest CO2 emitting states in the country.
Our contribution to the US’s total emissions is in the neighborhood of 0.2 percent, which by any objective measure is small.
Even though our impact is minimal, we should absolutely do our part to reduce emissions, but we should also be honest about scale.
Even if Rhode Island eliminated every molecule of carbon emissions tomorrow, the global impact would be modest.
That reality does not excuse inaction. It demands strategy.
While our share of global CO₂ is small, our responsibility for Narragansett Bay is not.
We control stormwater systems. We control shoreline development. We control marine protection policy.
If we want measurable environmental results within our borders, the Bay is where we can produce the most direct and visible impact.
Environmental Policy Must Align With Economic Reality
This isn’t carbon versus the ocean.
It’s about prioritization.
Are we allocating resources where Rhode Island can produce the most direct environmental return?
Are we investing enough in protecting our shoreline, modernizing stormwater systems that empty into Narragansett Bay, supporting marine science at URI, and preventing plastic accumulation before it becomes irreversible?
In RI, the ocean isn’t just scenery. It’s economic infrastructure.
URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography is world-renowned. It brings research dollars, global partnerships, and scientific leadership to our state.
Narragansett’s beaches anchor South County and fuel our tourism economy every summer.
Quonset Business Park depends on a healthy, navigable bay for shipping, manufacturing, and maritime commerce.
The Port of Galilee anchors Rhode Island’s commercial fishing industry, supporting working families and sustaining generational businesses.
Block Island’s identity and livelihood is inseparable from clean water.
Shellfishing, charter boats, recreational fishing, and waterfront dining aren’t abstract environmental ideals.
They are jobs and tax revenue. They are our neighbors and their small businesses.
If we call ourselves the Ocean State, protecting the ocean cannot be secondary.
Environmental leadership isn’t about staying the course for the sake of staying the course if the data supports a change in direction.
It is about aligning investment with impact while protecting working families from unnecessary financial strain.
We’re also seeing this debate play out in real time with offshore wind development along our coastline.
Supporters see clean energy and good-paying jobs. Critics raise concerns about impacts to marine ecosystems, fisheries, and long-term environmental effects.
Those concerns shouldn’t be dismissed on either side.
Energy transition matters.
The question is whether every major environmental investment is being evaluated with the same level of scrutiny, transparency, and measurable return for Rhode Island.
Why This Is Personal for Me
This conversation is not abstract for me.
I serve as General Manager of the Bonnet Shores Beach Club in Narragansett. Our entire existence depends on the health of Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
If the water quality declines, families do not come.
If our beach closes, we do not operate.
If the Bay suffers, our community suffers.
Ocean health is not theoretical in my life. It is part of my professional responsibility every single day.
Protecting our waters is not a talking point. It is a practical necessity.
What Measurable Progress Looks Like
In addition to my role at the beach club, at my company, Fifth & Ninth, we try to practice what we preach.
We fund ocean plastic removal through 4ocean, a global organization that funds full-time crews removing plastic waste from oceans, rivers, and coastlines around the world.
To date, we have funded the removal of 4,034 pounds of plastic, the equivalent of 80,680 bottles.
That does not erase decades of accumulation.
But every large piece removed today is one less piece becoming tomorrow’s microplastic.
We did not get here overnight.
We will not reverse it overnight.
But environmental leadership in Rhode Island must balance stewardship with fiscal responsibility.
At Fifth & Ninth, we fund global plastic removal efforts through 4ocean.
Every pound matters, and every dollar should, too.
