FAQs

What is Running Tide’s mission?

Running Tide is a global ocean health company. We work to restore ocean health and productivity, rebalance the carbon cycle, decarbonize global supply chains, and revitalize coastal communities.

Put more directly, we are on a mission to kill the climate crisis that is Godzilla and heal the ocean so that we can all eat more oysters — and so that all people and the planet can have a future of abundance.

How does Running Tide achieve its mission?

Running Tide develops cutting-edge ocean health diagnostics, monitoring, and measurement capabilities, which enable us to deploy comprehensive solutions that promote ocean health. Our solutions include:

Carbon Removal: We aim to improve global ocean health by sustainably amplifying the natural movement of carbon from the fast to slow carbon cycles through ocean alkalinity enhancement and biomass growth and transport to the deep sea.
Ecosystem Restoration: We improve ocean health by building restorative coastal ecosystems including shellfish reef habitat restoration, coastal kelp reforestation, regenerative aquaculture, and species rewilding.

Why do we need a global ocean health company?

As an ocean health company, everything we do at Running Tide — our research, science, technology, and field operations — is in service to our mission to observe, diagnose, monitor, restore, and promote ocean health.

The work required to heal our ocean and planet is immense. The private sector can help unleash the investment, innovation, speed, and scale needed to promote ocean health globally. We are working collaboratively across the fields of ocean science, ocean diagnostics, and ocean health operations to meet the scale of the problem.

Who does Running Tide work with?

To achieve our mission, we are working closely with partners from the private sector and key stakeholders in governments, scientific institutions, and coastal communities alike to build the necessary systems, marketplaces, and decarbonized supply chains required to heal the ocean sustainably and at scale.

What do you mean by “fast” and “slow” carbon?

The Earth’s carbon cycle has two natural segments — the slow carbon cycle, and the fast carbon cycle.

The fast carbon cycle involves Earth’s atmosphere, biosphere, and upper ocean. Carbon in this cycle circulates more quickly (on human and other organic timescales), and can be best understood as the flow of carbon through living ecosystems.

The slow carbon cycle consists of the movement of carbon via gravity, pressure, chemical weathering, and ocean overturning circulation on geological timescales. These processes move carbon from living ecosystems into geological and deep ocean reservoirs such as sediments, mineral deposits (oil, gas, coal), and deep waters.

The two carbon cycles of the earth.

The fast and slow carbon cycles are both part of Earth’s natural systems — and carbon can move between these fast and slow cycles in a number of ways. However, humans have disrupted and destabilized the natural cadence of these cycles.

What is carbon removal?

Carbon removal is the measurable attribute of a fully accounted supply chain defined as the intentional net movement of carbon from the fast carbon cycle to the slow carbon cycle.

For example, if it takes 20 tons of carbon emissions to transfer 100 tons of fast carbon to the slow carbon cycle then you have only removed 80 tons of carbon.

Details about Running Tide’s multi-pathway carbon removal system are available in our White Paper.

How can carbon removal restore balance to the carbon cycle?

To rebalance the carbon cycle, repair the damage from the burning of fossil fuels, and restore the health of our ocean and planet, we must move excess fast carbon back into safe, long-term storage in the slow cycle.

This movement of mass is possible through carbon removal. We already have a massive industry that moves carbon from the slow cycle to the fast (fossil fuel industry). We need to scale an industry that moves mass back from the fast cycle to the slow (carbon removal) even faster.

To save the planet, carbon removal needs to rapidly become the biggest and most important industry of the 21st century. As has been demonstrated by the IPCC and the National Academy of Sciences, there are no credible scenarios to reduce ocean acidification, revitalize marine ecosystems, and keep global warming below the 1.5℃ mark that do not include carbon removal at the scale of billions of tons per year.

Does Running Tide have an impact on the environment?

Yes, the goal of Running Tide is to have a positive impact on the environment and heal the ocean by partnering with those natural systems through the use of technology and engineering. The cornerstones of Running Tide’s carbon removal system utilize natural phenomena — sunlight, photosynthesis, ocean currents, carbonate chemistry, and gravity.

We use materials that already exist in the ocean, including terrestrial biomass (floatation and transport), calcium carbonate (alkalinity enhancement), and macroalgae (carbon sequestration), to deploy a multi-pathway system that sustainably amplifies the ocean’s biological carbon pump: Earth's most powerful carbon removal technology.

We have a responsibility to act — and the ability to act responsibly. If rigorous testing, environmental impact assessments, and robust data and evaluation from our peers indicate that our systems are not improving ocean health and durably removing carbon, we will seek new solutions, or iterate on our system design to deliver the intended positive outcomes.

How do you work with the scientific community?

The climate crisis has produced complex, extraordinary circumstances that require complex, extraordinary solutions — that can be deployed at scale. We’re working in close collaboration with the scientific community to move the global paradigm of science-for-research to science-for-action to deliver those solutions.

Every aspect of our operations is grounded in the best available science and first principles engineering. We share our research and data with partners in the scientific community and our independent external Scientific Advisory Board, who review our systems and modeling, Environmental Impact Assessments, and quantification methodology to ensure that our interventions are making tangible, positive impacts on ocean health.

Who founded Running Tide?

Running Tide was founded by Marty Odlin, a fourth generation commercial fisherman and Dartmouth trained systems engineer. Marty founded Running Tide after witnessing the devastating impacts of a changing climate on his community firsthand.

Where does Running Tide operate?

Running Tide is proudly based in Portland, Maine with additional R&D, macroalgae, and shellfish operation outposts in neighboring Maine communities. The company’s agronomy and genetics laboratory facility is located in St. Louis, Missouri. Running Tide’s largest carbon removal effort to date is deploying from Iceland, where we operate permanent corporate and operations facilities as well.

Running Tide is continuing to research, scale, and expand operations across the globe.

What is the future of Running Tide?

We’re on a mission to restore ocean health by building a system capable of removing 1 billion tons (a gigaton) of carbon every year. We aim to mitigate the devastating impacts of climate change and heal the ocean — and in turn, the planet — for the sake of all ecosystems and the human communities who rely on them.

What’s it like to work at Running Tide?

Running Tide is a fast-growing, energetic, and determined organization. Our multidisciplinary team includes world-class scientists, engineers, maritime operators, software developers, agronomists, policy experts, and advocates who are tackling the world’s most difficult and important problems. We are unwavering in our motivation to find solutions.

Running Tide is an extremely flat organization. The best idea wins, every time. We learn and adjust constantly, and are as dynamic as the environments we operate in. We believe that Running Tide is a place to do the most impactful work of your life and to help rebuild a sustainable, thriving world for us all.

How can I join the team?

If you’re ready to join us at the front lines in the fight against climate change, we want to hear from you. We are committed to building a diverse team, bringing as many possible perspectives to bear on the unprecedented challenges facing our planet, and fostering an inclusive environment where people of all backgrounds can come do their best work.

Check out our current openings here. Don’t see the right position posted? Reach out and tell us why you should be part of our team through our contact form.