An absence of long-term vision including a meaningful commitment to renewable sources and reducing greenhouse emissions.
LILCO, LIPA, PSEG — the names may have changed over the years, but for more than 30 years electrical service on Long Island has been one frustration after another. At a meeting in East Hampton on Tuesday, residents and elected officials were expected to speak out about a host of issues; whether their pleas will receive a meaningful response is subject to doubt.
Just weeks after blue-green algal blooms were detected in Georgica Pond, extremely high levels of the toxic rust alga Cochlodinium have emerged in Sag Harbor and East Hampton waters.
Cochlodinium first appeared on Long Island in 2004 and has been detected in local waters every summer since. According to Professor Christopher Gobler, who conducts water quality testing and is a professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, densities above 500 cells per milliliter can be lethal to both finfish and shellfish. The Gobler Laboratory recorded Cochlodinium at densities exceeding 30,000 cells per milliliter in Sag Harbor Cove, and over 1,000 in Accabonac and Three Mile Harbors.
The problem: The growing emission of carbon dioxide from a wide range of human activities is causing unprecedented changes to the land and sea. Identifying effective, efficient and politically acceptable approaches to reduce the atmospheric concentration of CO2 is one of society’s most pressing goals.
The Peconic Land Trust, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was established in 1983 by John v.H. Halsey and a small group of local residents to ensure the protection of Long Island’s working farms, natural lands, and heritage. Since 1983, the Trust has worked diligently with landowners, communities, municipalities, and partner organizations to protect nearly 11,000 acres of land, conserving more working farms on Long Island than any other private conservation organization, and securing millions of dollars from the public and private sector for land protection.
Peconic Baykeeper is the only independent, not-for-profit advocate solely dedicated to the protection and improvement of the aquatic ecosystems of the Peconic and South Shore estuaries of Long Island. Its clean water mission is advanced through conservation and management initiatives, public education, research, monitoring and participation in the public environmental review of projects and activities that may adversely impact the ecological health of the region's estuarine waters. Where violations of the law threaten water quality or undermine protection of natural resources, our advocacy may include plaintiff litigation. In 1997, Peconic Baykeeper became the 19th keeper organization to be sanctioned by Waterkeeper Alliance.
nap.edu - Institute of Medicine. Understanding the Connections Between Coastal Waters and Ocean Ecosystem Services and Human Health: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2014.
Authors
Rose Marie Martinez and Erin Rusch, Rapporteurs; Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine; Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice (BPH); Institute of Medicine (IOM)
Spring 2014 Lecture Series Friday, April 4, 2014 7:30 p.m. Duke Lecture Hall –Chancellor’s Hall Southampton Campus
Dr. Christopher Gobler Stony Brook University
“State of the Bays, 2014: Nitrogen loading, estuarine flushing, and the fate of Long Island’s coastal waters”
This talk will first introduce a new organization, The Long Island Coastal Conservation and Research Alliance (LICCRA), whose mission will be to engage in coastal research and monitoring that can be used to protect and restore Long Island coastal ecosystems. Next, this seminar will highlight recent observations and research important for the conservation of these ecosystems.
13 August 2014 - By Mara Certic
submitted by Cheryl Stroud
