When third mate Leonora Cruz realized the Harbor Belle’s panoramic windows were wasting sunlight, she called the community college horticulture lab. Two weeks later, the crew had pop-in planter boxes clipped along both aisles, LED grow strips disguised as rail lighting, and a logbook where passengers can note plant health while the boat glides past the shipyards.

The pilot began as mental-health care for crew members who spend twelve-hour shifts bouncing across whitecaps. Now it doubles as a citizen-science project. Commuters volunteer for watering duty, capturing humidity and pH data that the parks department uses to determine which seedlings can survive in salt-sprayed waterfront beds. On Fridays, the trays are swapped out and the week’s plants head to a different neighborhood planter, labeled with the names of the riders who tended them.

It’s a small gesture with big ripple effects: riders linger on deck instead of doomscrolling, kids quiz captains about kelp forests, and the ferry line just ordered custom planters for the rest of the fleet. Next up—partnering with café carts so riders can grab tea infused with herbs they helped grow between tides.