Carissaandclimate

Yes — Carissa holds an MSc in marine science policy and identifies as a marine biologist across her platforms. Her content reflects genuine scientific training: she covers topics like CITES regulations, habitat loss policy, and ecosystem restoration rather than staying at the surface level of general eco-content.

Carissa is the founder of Future Swell, an ocean-focused organization she built herself, referenced directly in her Instagram bio. Her posts about professionally building literal ecosystems and creating community around ocean conservation reflect what Future Swell is oriented toward — making ocean advocacy accessible to everyone.

Yes — she hosts a podcast called Sustainability and the Sea, which she promotes in her TikTok bio. The show extends her broader approach of pairing marine science expertise with accessible storytelling about ocean conservation and climate solutions.

She has created content around open ocean diving and oceanic whitetip shark encounters, documented through her #openoceandiving and #oceanicwhitetipshark posts. She uses these experiences to educate followers on pelagic ecosystems and the conservation stakes for deep-water shark species.

Carissa has partnered with Planet Wild, a crowdfunded conservation platform that finances wildlife and ocean restoration projects globally. The collaboration appears in her content under #planetwildpartner and ties directly to her hands-on ecosystem restoration work and her message that ocean conservation should be community-driven.

Yes — she actively tracks and explains federal conservation decisions, including the U.S. Interior Department's move to narrow the legal definition of habitat harm under endangered species protections. She also covers international frameworks like CITES, translating dense regulatory developments into content her audience can actually act on.

This is a recurring and candid theme in her content. Posts like "We didn't ask for this when we chose to study the ocean" and her "Whiplash" series address the emotional cost of doing conservation work during an era of rapid policy reversals and ecosystem loss. She frames it honestly rather than performatively, which is a significant reason her engagement runs well above the category average.

She has made kelp forests a distinct talking point, arguing they deserve far more recognition in mainstream climate conversations. Kelp forests are highly productive marine ecosystems that sequester carbon and support biodiversity, and Carissa positions them as an undervalued ocean climate solution worth urgent attention.

Her largest active following is on TikTok, where she has built an audience well into the hundreds of thousands with engagement rates that significantly outpace the category norm. YouTube is listed as her primary platform, suggesting that is where she invests in longer-form content, while TikTok drives her widest reach.

Carissa is based in the United States, which is where the large majority of her audience is located. Her coverage of U.S. federal conservation policy and domestic ocean legislation reflects that context, even as her ocean science content addresses global issues like coral bleaching and international fisheries agreements.