From Snails to Whales: Chantell Alford

Showing posts with label Chantell Alford. Show all posts

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Supporter of Clean Water

If you ask me if clean water is important to me, I'll answer "absolutely". I have become very appreciative of the little things because I believe in our great country, we are fortunate enough to have access to the most vital necessity in life. I think we sometimes overlook how grateful we are to have fresh and clean drinking water. We hear in several media outlets the daily struggle many other nations have to encounter because of the lack of clean drinking water. So I empathize; I put myself in their position and realize, we, as a country, are lucky to be able to have the resources to continue the efforts to keep our waters fresh. The same goes for beach waters. Imagine not being able to step foot into a beach's water. Bostonian's should understand and whole-heartedly appreciate the efforts of those state and federal corporations who value the necessity of clean water and continually work hard to keep the water as clean as possible. If I were strongly connected and knowledgeable to an issue regarding clean water, I would most definitely be an advocate supporting this great movement that keeps water safe, clean, and usable.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Gotta See It to Believe It!

Today's activities at Boston Harbor were very proactive and required lots of engagement. I had the experience of a lifetime; never did I think I would ever search for sea organisms in large bodies of water...multiple times. It was another hot day, but we got through it. We began our journey at approximately 10:30am and we noticed the tide had begun to fall. We observed the water for species at Rowes Wharf and the Barking Crab Dock.

Organisms discovered at the docks:

1) Star Tunicate - also in large colonies, white, ring-shaped from being submerged in water

2) Brown Seaweed -

3) Bivalve Mollusks (Colony of Blue Mollusks) - several colonies observed at both Rowes Wharf and Barking Crab Dock - smooth, black/blue, hard shell

4) Purple Sea Urchin - seemed multicolored at first (grey, black, purple visible), spiny

5) Spongomorpha -

6) Smooth Skeleton Shrimp - thin, about 1" in a length, very squirmy, pinkish-reddish color, slimy

7) Sea Squirt - a rope with diverse groups of organisms attached "fowling organisms"

8) Sea Lettuce - leafy, green

9) Periwinkle -the WTF is this orange stuff. Circular and felt squishy

We also caught a few good looks at some Striped Bass, one which appeared to be about 28" long. We saw lonesome male duck at the beginning of our tour waddling on the rocks before getting into water. We saw two black diving birds, Cormorants, at Gate 3 Dock of Long Wharf while we were throwing bread into water to attract any potential fish in the area.

The image of the dock on the Blackboard site does seem very similar to how we saw it today in person. However, the only difference is there seems to be a much more diverse culture of organisms living in the water. The only speculation I could come to about why I believe this as true is due to how very different the winter has been this past year (2011 into 2012) compared to (2010 into 2011). In 2010, there was much more snowfall than 2011. I came to the conclusion that the more snow led to the greater number of species dying off. Due to the fact that winter this past year was not as bad, organisms were able to survive and reproduce earlier.

Good Ol' Boston Harbor

Yesterday afternoon, our class embarked on a boat trip through Boston Harbor that was pleasantly relaxing with the mix of the shining sun and cool breezes we encountered while out in the bluish-green water; and at the same time, our excursion to say the least, was very informative - we learned the history of how the islands were formed, the steps in which the water released becomes clean, and overall, we were informed of the surrounding areas as we progressed through the Harbor. This was my first ever experience on a boat and I thoroughly enjoyed it and all the knowledge I gained from it.

We departed Long Wharf at 1:31pm and I was immediately stricken by how beautiful the scenery was. Tall buildings in the distance were glimmering from the sun's rays and everything appeared so peaceful - sort of like how postcards appear. Suddenly, Professor Berman had begun to drop knowledge about the areas were passing by. Personally, I think it is a great fact to know that coastal Massachusetts had been carved the way it is now, by glaciers. In a since, I think it worked wonders because everything we experienced on the Harbor yesterday was amazing.

Another important and interesting fact was the purpose of the egg-shape tanks. I would have never in a million years guessed those tanks were filled with our human waste. Of course it sounds gross saying it and imagining it, but there is about a 10-12 step process in which our waste goes through to produce clean water. It still kind of boggles my mind that all of our "craps" can turn into clean water - sick fact.

Everything about our boat trip was great to me. Learning that just 25 years ago, Boston Harbor now was a sewer. It amazes me how scenic it is now with: the Blue Hills in the distance, Castle Island right off the water; and in the water: Spectacle, Long, Snake, Thompson, and Deer Island. It's just a beautiful trip I think everyone in Boston should experience. There lies so much history it is kind of scary. Nonetheless, it makes you appreciate the Harbor for what it has gone through and what it is now.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Hi, my name is Chantell Alford. I am originally from Connecticut and I am student at Boston University. I do not know much about harbors which is why I am interested in this class.

Today, in a group of three, we were given an assignment to take a trip to the women's restroom, plug the drain of a sink in the bathroom, run water until a significant amount has filled the sink, release the hand from the water and observe and come to a conclusion whether the water spun down the drain clockwise or counterclockwise. As a group, we experimented twice and agreed the water had gone down counterclockwise both times.

Additionally, we were assigned to research the direction water drains in Australia. Many sites have published water spins differently depending on the hemisphere in which one lives - the Coriolis Effect. The Coriolis Effect "causes an apparent deflection of moving objects to the right in the Northern Hemisphere; to the left in the Southern Hemisphere; an no apparent deflection on the equator" (Hiskey, 2010). Therefore the idea that water spins down a drain clockwise or counterclockwise isn't necessarily a right or wrong distinction, but rather the perception the individual has. So there is no one, correct direction in which the water spins in Australia, but rather how the individual sees it.

Hiskey, Daven. (2010, July 23). What hemisphere you are in does not affect the way water spins down your drain. Today I Found Out retrieved from http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/07/what-hemisphere-you-are-in-does-not-affect-the-way-water-spins-down-your-drain/

From Snails to Whales

Welcome to Snails to Whales, Bruce Berman's blog focused on both the little and the big things that make Boston Harbor such an interesting and extraordinary place to live, work and play.

With 50 miles of protected water, four sheltered bays, seven river systems, 34 islands and a nine-foot average tide, Boston Harbor is one of the most diverse urban ecosystems in America.

This blog focuses on the flora and fauna of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay - on the beach, the shore, and the harbor islands, and in the cleaner waters of Boston Harbor and Mass Bay - including this ecosystems most important species - people.

During the summer, it is also a place for my Boston University Students and my colleagues at Save the Harbor / Save the Bay to share their work and experiences.

Where I am coming from...

Love that clean(er) water
Learning about the Boston Harbor Cleanup from the waterway’s eyes, ears, and mouthpiece

By Brian Fitzgerald, BU Bridge

On Georges Island, Bruce Berman talks with his students about the history of the Boston Harbor Cleanup,
which is largely complete. Photo by Vernon Doucette

Bruce Berman, aboard a ferry from Boston’s Long Wharf to Georges Island, poses a question to his students: “How clean is clean enough?”

He’s talking about the water below.

It’s a brilliant July day, with the smell of salt spray in the air. The sky is clear, and so is the ocean. But there was a time when Boston Harbor wasn’t so clean, when the stench of sewage assaulted the nostrils of anyone who went near it.

Berman is the communications director for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, a public-interest environmental advocacy organization whose mission is to help restore and protect the harbor and Massachusetts Bay. He also teaches a Metropolitan College summer course called Politics, Public Relations, and Public Policy: The Boston Harbor Cleanup.

“The Boston Harbor Cleanup is an amazing success story, and I just love to share it with students,” says Berman, noting that the harbor’s “bad old days” weren’t that long ago. Those were the days when untreated human waste, syringes, condoms, and tampon applicators routinely washed ashore. The antiquated sewage treatment plants on Deer Island and Nut Island were so poorly designed and maintained that they flooded during even mild rainstorms, sending millions of gallons of untreated waste directly into the harbor.

Since then, bacteria counts in the water have decreased by more than two-thirds. Now the harbor teems with plants and animals, and people can legally dig for clams on Carson Beach in South Boston, which was unheard of in the 1980s.

“It was one of the filthiest harbors in America, and now it’s one of the cleanest,” says Berman. “What I’m trying to impress upon students is how this incredible comeback occurred, and how business, advocacy groups, environmentalists, and government can affect the outcome of large projects such as the Boston Harbor Cleanup through negotiation.”

Paradise regained

Berman points to the left as the boat cruises by the cleanup’s centerpiece: the gargantuan white egglike tanks of the Deer Island waste treatment plant, which in 1995 replaced the antiquated facility. The plant treats an average of 350 million gallons of sewage a day.

“And what comes out of the Deer Island treatment plant?” he asks. Berman, his booming baritone competing with the roar of planes taking off from Logan Airport, has a habit of putting students on the spot to see if they’re paying attention.

“The outfall pipe,” say several simultaneously. “Treated water,” chime in a few more.

“That’s right,” he says with a smile. “The plant separates the solid and liquid waste, and it pumps the treated water through the 9.5-mile outfall pipe, which empties into Massachusetts Bay. The resulting sludge is converted to high-grade fertilizer.”

Now Berman returns to his original question: “How clean is clean enough?” There’s no quick and clear answer to this one. “It’s a question that at the end of the day the federal courts had to decide.”

In 1985, a landmark federal court case required that the harbor’s beaches be made swimmable and fishable by 2000. Save the Harbor/Save the Bay was formed the next year to raise public awareness of the $4.5 billion Boston Harbor Cleanup. Sewer ratepayers in the 43 cities and towns financing the project cried foul over the prospect of astronomically rising bills, but because of the determination of environmental advocacy groups such as Berman’s, the cleanup was largely completed on schedule.

Berman says it isn’t finished, however. There are still frequent beach closures because the counts of Enterococcus bacteria exceed the federal and state standard for swimming. The culprit: filthy storm water and sewage, much of it from leaky pipes and illegal hookups emptying into storm sewers, and then into the harbor.

“So is the harbor clean enough,” the Springfield native asks his students, “when you can’t swim in it one out of five days in the summer?”

Work to be done

Berman and his class look out from Georges Island to Gallops Island (left) and the white tanks of the waste treatment plant on Deer Island (right). Photo by Vernon Doucette

This summer the state approved one of the last parts of the cleanup: the construction, by 2011, of a 2.1-mile tunnel near the Dorchester and South Boston shorelines that will hold sewage and storm water during bad weather. It then will be pumped to Deer Island for treatment.

Berman is ecstatic over this development, the result of “tireless negotiation and consensus-building,” he says. “After 2011, we’re looking at beach closings once every five years, when there is a major storm, instead of once every five days.”

But he is not about to let his guard down. To say that he is a man obsessed with the harbor cleanup would be an understatement. Berman is also Save the Harbor/Save the Bay’s “Baywatcher,” and he lives on his 40-foot trawler Verandah. Polluters beware: if you’re discharging oil or sewage into Boston Harbor, the Baywatcher just might be watching.

He is quick to point out that his zealotry is not just on behalf of the harbor’s flora and fauna. “The harbor is for everyone,” he says. “If you’re from a working class or poor family in Boston, and you can’t afford a Cape Cod getaway in the summer, a clean harbor is important. The same is true if you’re a tourist vacationing in Boston or you happen to live in a pricey waterfront condo.”

Accordingly, Berman, who was a political consultant and contributing editor to the Phoenix newspaper before joining Save the Harbor/Save the Bay nearly 10 years ago, also teaches his students about the harbor’s role in the city’s economy. He points out that in the early 1990s, just a few ferries cruised the harbor’s waters. Today, more than 100,000 people visit its islands each summer, discovering their ecological and historic treasures.

“The best way to protect the harbor cleanup,” Berman tells his students, “is to make sure that the public has access to the resources and can see a return on its investment.”

Trevor Kosmolsick (MET’05) has lived in Boston for seven years, but until taking Berman’s course, he had never been to the waterfront. “I’ve also wanted to go camping in the area, but I never knew that you could camp on a few of the islands,” he says. “Bruce Berman is not only a great professor, but the ultimate tour guide.”

He also backs up his words with actions. Sometimes he takes off his shirt and dives in the water to demonstrate to passing boaters that it’s safe to swim. To show people on ferries that fishing is safe, he’s been known to grab one of the bluefish or striped bass he’s caught and (very carefully) plant a wet kiss on it.

“What I want everyone to understand is that investment in the environment really does pay off,” says Berman. “We’re willing to pay for a clean Boston Harbor, so we should enjoy it.”