Our Mission
Two crises. One material. One mission.
The beaches of Bávaro and Punta Cana are buried in sargassum. Vulnerable families across the Dominican Republic need safe, ecological homes. We're building the bridge between them.
How it started
A problem you can see from the beach.
Since 2011, the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has grown into one of the most visible environmental crises in the Western Hemisphere. Every summer, millions of tons of seaweed wash ashore on Caribbean beaches — and the hotel corridor from Bávaro to Punta Cana is among the hardest hit.
For the resorts, it's a costly nuisance. For the fishing communities nearby, it's an existential threat. The seaweed blocks boat launches, collapses fish populations, and releases hydrogen sulfide gas that drives away tourists and harms residents. Governments and hotels spend hundreds of millions of dollars removing it — and can't keep up.
Sea to Shelter was founded by a U.S. military veteran who saw a different possibility: what if the seaweed isn't waste? What if it's a building material — and the people clearing it could also be building homes with it?
The science
Sargassum makes a surprisingly good brick.
Research into sargassum-based construction materials has shown that processed seaweed can be compressed into structural blocks with thermal and acoustic properties that rival conventional materials. The process removes salt and moisture, neutralizes the hydrogen sulfide, and produces a stable, workable brick. It's not experimental — it's proven at small scale. Our job is to prove it at community scale in the Dominican Republic.
Thermally efficient
Natural fiber structure provides insulation suited to the Caribbean climate.
Structurally sound
Compressed blocks meet load-bearing requirements for single-story residential construction.
Carbon-sequestering
Seaweed locked into bricks removes carbon from the atmosphere rather than releasing it as it decomposes on shore.
Locally sourced
The raw material is already on the beach in Bávaro and Punta Cana. No supply chain. No import costs.
The pilot
First, we prove it works at scale.
We've identified the sargassum source — the beaches of Bávaro and Punta Cana — and committed to building the first home for a vulnerable family in the Dominican Republic. Before we can break ground, we need the equipment to harvest, process, and compress the seaweed. That's what this fundraise is for: $50,000 to get the full equipment chain in place and build home number one.
01
Equipment funded
Harvesting gear, processing setup, and brick-making machinery purchased and shipped to the Dominican Republic.
02
First harvest
Local crew trained and deployed on the Bávaro–Punta Cana coastline. First sargassum collected and processed into bricks.
03
First home built
Bricks laid, roof on, keys handed to a vulnerable family. The proof of concept becomes a proof of impact.
04
Scale
With the model validated, we raise for the next round — more equipment, more crews, more ecological homes.
The vision
One pilot. Then many.
We're not trying to solve the Caribbean housing crisis in year one. We're trying to prove that this model works — that sargassum from Bávaro and Punta Cana can become ecological homes for the families who need them most, that local crews can run the process, and that the economics make sense. Once we have that proof, the path to scale is clear. But it starts with one home, and one home starts with $50,000 in equipment.