Category Archives: opinion

Where are the Currents Weakest Around Manhattan?

A law firm recently contacted our oceanography research group with a request for research on whether or not the Marine garbage Transfer Station (MTS) proposed for 91st Street in Manhattan would cause navigational problems.  If we were willing to do … Continue reading

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Is there a Future to Skiing in the Adirondacks?

I often find myself correcting environmentalists about their mis-representations of certain aspects of the scientific consensus on climate change.  For example, after Hurricane Katrina trashed New Orleans, I think that hurricanes seemed to be a politically useful topic for getting … Continue reading

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Garbage Transfer Stations and Delicate Ecosystems

[This is an Op-Ed that was originally published in text-only form yesterday in the weekly free newspaper Our Town, serving Manhattan’s Upper East Side] Mayor Bloomberg has been pushing to rebuild and reopen a shuttered marine garbage transfer station (MTS) … Continue reading

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Jamaica Bay Restoration for JFK Airport Expansion?

Would you consider a trade-off of JFK Airport expansion for billions of dollars in funding to improve the environment of Jamaica Bay and surrounding neighborhoods? What is the expansion of JFK Airport worth to New York City, State, and the … Continue reading

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Jamaica Bay Restoration: Anything is Possible if You’re Strategic

[This is a guest post from Charles “Si” Simenstad, Research Professor; Wetland Ecosystem Team, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, in response to the question posed in a prior post, “What specific actions would you propose, if … Continue reading

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Jamaica Bay: What Restoration Steps would you Propose?

In an earlier post, I argued that Jamaica Bay is not New York City’s “crown jewel” and has many problems, such as sewage spills, low-oxygen dead zones, and disappearing marshes and islands.  Hundreds of thousands of people living in neighborhoods … Continue reading

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Creating a Climate-Resilient Jamaica Bay

It can start with a rain barrel.  The renewal of the idea of water as a resource –an obvious concept to a farmer, but one that has escaped the consciousness of many city dwellers whose water starts at the faucet … Continue reading

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Jamaica Bay: Pollution, Flooding and Human Vulnerability

Jamaica Bay is often referred to as New York City’s “ecological crown jewel”, and it is indeed a spectacular location to view migrating birds or catch large sport fish like striped bass, among other positives.  However, the bay has some … Continue reading

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