ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Bay area faith-based conservation group is making waves internationally with its efforts to clean up our waterways.

Repair the Sea was founded by Rabbi Ed Rosenthal, who is also a campus rabbi at Eckerd College.

That's where he started a scuba diving club called Scubi-Jew in 2010.

The students go out diving twice a week to clean the waters off St. Pete.

Their work inspired Rabbi Ed to create the nonprofit Repair the Sea in 2022.

It encourages people of all faiths from around the world to make the same effort.

Thousands of volunteers participated in the organization's Reverse Tashlich last year, pulling an estimated 12 tons of debris from global waterways.

“We like to see ourselves as the intersection between science and spirituality," Rosenthal said. "So we see what we’re doing as protecting that which is God’s, yet we’re guided by the science.”

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