My week at Constitution!!!

    Hey everyone so this week my group and I were placed at Constitution Beach in East Boston. This week has been a pretty good week even though it was HOT. Well, we started off our week by coming up with an idea to present our deliverable for this week. We worked quite efficiently and finished our deliverable faster than we expected. We decided to create a little mini scavenger hunt, based on Constitution. Each of us had a different part of the beach to draw and color as we all hid crabs around the drawing. 

    Since we finished our deliverable we decided to take a trip down Belle Isle Marsh we also brought along a furry little friend. We first took the train to Beachmont and had a little lunch break. After we were done eating we headed toward Belle Isle marsh. We walked along the pathway of the marsh and saw different views of it. This trip was fun and quite an experience. The only thing I didn't like was all the bug bites I was scratching once I got home. 

         Us at the Belle Isle Marsh Reservation. 

    Kayaking today was fun but scary. It was good to get to know some people that work for Save the Harbor/Bay other than the people in my group. We all kayaked as one big group and had some fun. Of course, I was terrified that I was going to fall into the water. But for my first time kayaking, I did a pretty good job. The part the was the most stressful and difficult part of this trip was when we paddled back to the dock because we had to paddle against the current making our arms tired. Every time Che and I stopped for a break we were drifting backward so it took us more time to get back. Towards the end, we all came together as a group and ate lunch more than 6 feet of each other of course. At the end, we all took a group photo and shared some laughs with one another. It was quite an experience to have some fun but also to meet new people

    This week's theme was environmental justice. When I hear environmental justice I think of justice for all people. Environmental Justice is important to this society because there are too many stereotypes and awful incidents causing great pain and immense damage to many people. Different ways to raise awareness for Environmental Justice is by holding different events/fundraisers to help those in need. People should care about this topic because it affects a lot of our people living in this society today. Most people are judged and mistreated by the color of their skin, or the country they come from. It leaves me in shock at how disrespected people are just because they are different. This is important because it is unfair to those who do no harm and are still judged upon. 

Catch you later,

Arianna 

Quality vs. Quantity!

    Environmental justice means ensuring that all people, regardless of race, culture, or background, have equal rights to a clean living environment and access to public areas that can be enjoyed without risk to those using them. This week, Team Claudia was in Fort Point Channel searching for climate justices and injustices, learning about water quality on the Schooner Roseway, and looking at footage of life underneath the Boston Harbor waters. 

Monumental structure on the Harborwalk

      When I think of a big environmental justice success, I think about the Safe Drinking Water Act passed by congress in 1974 after communities in the U.S. realized water quality is important for a high quality of life. The US Geological Survey now has an online tool that helps you learn about the quality of streams, rivers, and freshwater across the states. Find it here!

    On the complete opposite side, when I think of environmental injustice, the 2010 BP oil spill on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico pops up in my head almost automatically. It was the largest marine oil spill in history! It spilled 4 MILLION barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico and had irreversible effects on the marine and coastal environments. These kinds of environmental disasters are incredibly difficult to contain and even more difficult to pin point where they affect. You can't simply clean up an oil spill in aquatic areas with a rag or nets. Instead, a chemical called a "dispersant" is used to break up the oil and dilute it so that the impact isn't as bad in one area, but spreads out instead. This makes you question how much of the world an accident like this actually impacts!

    On a more Boston-related topic, the small city of Chelsea, just north of Boston, struggles with air pollution. This is because Chelsea is known for it's industrial history as well as ongoing industrial projects, like the import of scrap metal for example. Ships constantly coming in and unloading materials most certainly affects the air quality with emissions from boats and metal particles. Currently, Chelsea has a high minority and immigrant population, likely due to how affordable housing is. It makes you think about how environmental justice affects these groups more than others as well as lower-income groups. 

Drain leading straight to the Boston Harbor

    Every person should be concerned with the topic of environmental justice because it affects everyone of us, from the air we breathe to the public spaces we enjoy. Youth and people of the community can be more proactive in topics of environmental justice by getting school programming involved with the city council and state legislators through attending meetings, writing letters, and calling about important topics to you!

Catch me on the coast!

- Claudia

 

Week 2 @ Constitution Beach

Hello Everyone, 

This week my team and I were at Constitution Beach in East Boston all week. I had an amazing time, despite the difficult weather. Constitution beach overlooks Logan airport, so all day you can see planes departing and arriving. The beach is gorgeous and I highly recommend going there if you can. One super cool thing about Constitution beach is that the tides there are super visible. I have included some pictures to show how crazy it is! 

High Tide

Low Tide

Once low tide comes, it is really easy to walk down to the water and find a whole bunch of clams in the sand. Unlike last week, I actually caught a couple of them! I made sure that they all went right back into the water once I was done looking at them though. Clams can be found all over the Boston area and are usually found under the sand. 

Juvenile Herring @ Constitution

Another animal that I found at the beach was a juvenile herring. It was dead when I found it, but still super cool to look at. When I first found it I thought it was a lure that a fisherman had lost. Juvenile herring are a super important food source because many different species of larger fish feed on them. 

In the end, I had a super fun week hunting for sea creatures at Constitution beach! 

Best, 

Hannah Banana ;)

Charlestown Navy Yard Was A Blast!!!

Hey guys,

We are halfway through the summer and work, work has been very good and fun especially with the group I have this year. The weather has been very crazy this past week, dramatic heat waves, each and everyday I just keep getting darker and darker. My group makes all this hot weather much more bearable. This week was very unpredictable and different. We were at The Navy yard for 2 days but on Wednesday Patrice didn’t feel too well :( So I went to Spectacle Island for the second time which was great. Thursday we went on a harbor tour and learned so much which was fun.

We Focused on the climate resilience plan and how they are planning on keeping everything safe because there will be floods in a couple decades that will hurt the city of Boston so we are making a plan for what we can do, such as keep the city clean and dry. For example the city is thinking about creating rock walls to try and keep the water out and avoid flooding.

The Harbor tour with David was very interesting and fun because I learned so much about each island. I was able to see how long Long Island really is! We went all the way out to Boston Light which is one of the first lighthouses in the country.

Until next time :),

Che Hanks

     

Rising Like The Sea

Hi there, 

We are almost at the end of July and midway through summer, making each second count. This week the team and I were at the Charlestown Navy yard exploring the land and the ports around us. Despite the heat wave Boston was going through this week, we kept our energy high and positive vibes. I think Tuesday was my favorite day at the Charlestown Navy Yard. We had a lot of laughs and jokes going around to distract us from the blazing heat. We also went out on a harbor tour which I managed to get both my arms and shoulders sunburned but it was worth it in the end. 

This week we focused on the city’s climate resilience plan on future flooding of Boston’s coastal neighborhoods. In the next couple of decades Boston will experience disastrous flooding all around the city especially areas like South Boston, East Boston, and Dorchester Bay. The City of Boston has a plan set in motion which includes strategizing of solutions to sea level rising through clean environmental answers. Assistant Deputy Director for Climate Change & Environmental Planning for the City of Boston, Chris Busch expands on the idea of green solutions, creating more outdoor barriers to counter sea level rises around the city's Neighborhoods. Plans and designs are on the way where seagrass, sand dunes, high rises, and rock walls will be utilized to avoid damaging waters and a safer community. 

At the Charlestown Navy Yard climate change is apparent in small forms, whether from the extreme hot vapor rising from the asphalt that last for hours on end, to how high high tide has become, to where the water rises so close to the top of the rock wall. Climate change is all around us and it is imperative we start the fixing now. 

Until next time, 

Jay Gomez  

Caring for Constitution!

Hello everyone! This week my group and I explored Constitution Beach, located in East Boston, where we sand raked and cleaned up the beach. In order for us to enjoy the beach, we wanted to make sure we take care of the area and give back too. While cleaning up the beach on a hot and sunny Thursday, I realized how much trash truly took over the sand. Dispersing things such as bottle caps, cigarette butts and even leftover sandwich bags only cause harm to the plants and animals that live there. It was rewarding to know that just by sweeping the beach and picking up some trash, I potentially saved many animals from getting harmed or even killed. While doing all of this, this week we kept in mind the topic of climate resiliency! Climate resilience, by definition, is “the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous events, trends, or disturbances related to climate.” After taking an Environmental Science course in high school, I genuinely wonder how climate change will get better as the population continues to rise tremendously? How can there be a large population while remaining safe for the many generations to come?

Cleaning up Constitution!!

As I call Boston my home, like many of you, I am constantly cautious of how I treat my community. Boston will continue to see even hotter days, just like what we have seen in the last two weeks. Climate change in Boston can cause sea levels to rise and potentially cause flooding in and around where my family, friends and I reside, making it hard to live. Moreover, at Constitution Beach, the renovations provided have allowed for flood paths to be blocked, while also maintaining the clean and recreational space that the beach is known to be. Similarly, there has been an overload of gentrification in and around Allston, where I live directly, making it hard to enjoy Allston as it was when I moved there in 2009. I want to continue to do my part by reducing, reusing, recycling and refusing, 

SEA you next week :)

Aleena Mangham

Sources-

https://www.boston.gov/environment-and-energy/resilient-boston-harbor

Week 3 Underway

Week 3 of Save the Harbor was super fun, and we made sure we got a lot of work done! On Monday we had our usual meeting. We discussed the events that took place in the last week, among all groups. Its nice to be on the call because we do not get to see each other throughout the summer because of Covid-19. There was also a speaker about journalism, Jonathan Mejia. His story was insanely inspirational. He is a journalist that went to Northeastern University. Although his path had a lot of bumps in the road, he learned that he will get the necessary support as long as he tries his hardest. This meeting has shown us that we need to cooperate and work super hard if we want to see success, and be happy. It was a good note to start the week on.

This week our group was on Carson Beach, in my town South Boston. I like being at Carson because of the convenient location. To be working on the beach, in summer: you can't ask for anything better! We have also decided that we would be making a video for our weekly project as well. Carson Beach used to be polluted, and not a safe environment for those seeking a nice day at the beach. Trash, broken glass, and so on was a frequent sight at Carson, and nobody wants to see the amount of pollution Carson Beach used to have. If it was not for the people of Boston, and the lovely volunteers that come to Carson Beach consistently to make sure it is as clean as it possibly can be for the people of the Greater Boston Area. There were even some volunteers cleaning up Carson on Thursday. We set up a crab trap. This was not a good idea because during the night, it was low tide and a raccoon got into the crab trap, destroying the exterior. It was funny to see, but it is unfortunate.

The Squad

On Wednesday, the entire tone of the summer changed. I was brought back to my favorite place on the Harbor. During the past summers I always worked on All Access Boston Harbor, attending Spectacle Island and George's Island with the lead of David Coffin. On Wednesday, my group was lucky enough to go spend the day at Spectacle. We did a long beach walk, searching for sea glass, and even went into the water for a quick dip. This day was necessary because it reminded why this job is fun in the summer: usually you can spend the day out on the harbor with your friends and can have fun with camp groups on the island. Hopefully Covid will clear soon so we can have some fun next summer!

Carson Beach was lucky enough, due to the relentless effort of Bostonian to experience such a drastic and beautiful change. It deserved the environmental justice it received due to the amount of pollution and trash on Carson. The water was unsafe to swim in, walking without shoes on was a safety hazard, and just being at the beach did not give the same fun vibe that being at Carson today would. We exemplified the true power of environmental justice through the transformation of Carson Beach which is: working together, despite identity and background to push for improvements on environmental policy.

Thanks,
Qalid Hassan :)

Climate Resiliency during Carson week

This week's theme is climate resiliency. Climate resiliency is the ability for us humans to be able to prepare for and deal with changes in the earth's climate. In the coming years, the climate will get worse and hurt the lands we call home if we don't come up with some plans to make that better. There are many groups and organizations around the world that are working together to be prepared for climate change. One of those groups is right here in Massachusetts called Climate Ready Boston. With that being said, a man by the name of Chris Busch talks all about Climate Ready Boston, and gives us more information on the climate changes that could happen here. 

This is one of many posters for the Climate Ready Boston program.

    In the video that Chris made, he talked about some of the changes in weather, for example, we may see hotter days in the coming years, an increase in extreme precipitation, and a higher amount of sea level rise. He mentioned that later on in the century, we may see 90 days up to 90 degrees, just like places like Alabama. The heat will continue to rise if we don't make changes. Also, when he talked about an increase in extreme precipitation, meaning there could be lots of rain and thunderstorms because of the hot weather. Finally, when he mentioned sea level rise he pointed out that a good majority of Boston is right on the waterfront and has the potential of flooding completely. 

    If climate change were to happen in Boston, it could affect me and my family quite a bit because we practically live on the water. The beach is right around the corner from our house, so with sea levels rising, the houses around us and ours could be affected. Some changes I have seen though are the building of rock walls. Down Revere beach and many others, people have made rock walls to hopefully stop the water from damaging the areas around it from the water. When there are storms the water rises and unfortunately can destroy many lives. Also, something from the video that had shocked me was the waterfront flooding. They have recently built many new and beautiful buildings and to know those may be destroyed in the future if we don't stop this now is very upsetting. 

A beach rock wall. This one is from the town of Winthrop.

A beach rock wall. This one is from the town of Winthrop.

  Honestly, this week I didn't really see how climate change has been affecting the sites, but I will definitely be on the lookout for it in the future. There are many questions when it comes to this topic, but one of them would have to be, what would we do if none of these plans work?

Sea You Later!
Madi

Week at Carson

      Going into our third week, our group was placed at Carson Beach in Dorchester. Our group had decided that we would make a video for our weekly deliverable, but with only two days at this site, we had time against us. On the first day, we had mostly all of our script done, we wanted to be able to include everyone in the group so we would all speak on a different topic concerning Carson beach. I specifically had to talk about the tides and how the gravitational pull of the moon affected the way the tides at Carson Beach worked. But being able to describe this and more in a short bite-sized video was challenging. The day after, our group had traveled to Spectacle island which had been my first time going in about a year, we weren't the only ones going on the trip which made the trip much more enjoyable. We collected sea glass and walked around the island, taking in the beauty of nature. We even ended up seeing a turkey which to me was shocking. I wondered how did this turkey even ended up getting here? For our final day at the site, we had the whole day to record our video, which meant we had free time to do whatever we needed, we ended up using this free time to plan out our deliverables for next week which would end up saving time for us on our Monday meetings. Overall this week turned out to be a blast and I enjoyed the extra time with my group!

Boston from Spectacle island

                                         

       Considering that our site location was a beach, it is important to talk about climate resiliency and how the increase of seawater levels due to global warming is going to affect future generations. With the rise in water levels, most of South Boston is going to be in trouble considering that this land is not natural, being man-made the natural elevation of most of Boston is barely at sea level with the highest point being only 14 feet above the water. Boston is the fifth most vulnerable city to flooding in America. So if the water would rise a couple of inches then a good portion of Boston would go underwater. However, there are ways to combat this, for locations such as Carson Beach where storm surges are prevalent, natural resources such as rocks or sands can act as a natural barrier that absorbs these sudden waves from coming in. The beach itself already works as a natural barrier in the prevention of flooding, with the sand working as a method to stop the rise in water. Another method that could be implemented is the usage of storm drains, just like the ones Spectacle island the storm drains could be a huge impact on taking out water from the city if it were to ever flood in certain locations. This storm drains could be the difference between major and minor floodings. Even though the increase in sea levels might be working at a slower pace, it does not mean that we should not prepare for this. With the right amount of funds and the correct thinking, our community should be able to combat this. After all, this isn't our first city-wide project.

This is what the sea level rise in Boston would look like

Until next time,
Albert!

Fort point channel

             Hello again, this week I was at Fort Point, the site of the children's museum as many people know. While there, me and my teammates were on the pier. We started off the week with a walk around the fort pier; we saw the tea party museum and the channel. We also had the opportunity to play around with the underwater drones to explore the harbor. We saw so many cool organisms like schools of cunner, blackfish, green crabs, and an eel! Then we visited a harbor boat and tested the water ph and saw what kind of animals live in each type of water.

Group picture for the win

Me and my teammates trying out the drones

            

            While there we worked on our deliverable, a lesson plan for one of the Boston community centers. I was in charge of talking about the history of fort point. I explained how it was built in 1853-1856 and how it was a historical landmark where Samuel Adams and his colleagues inspired the revolutionary war by throwing tea into the harbor. It was challenging trying to pack all the info about fort point into a lesson plan and also make an interactive game for students.
            We also learned about climate resilience and how it will change the neighborhood. Climate resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous events related to climate. Improving climate resilience involves assessing how climate change will create new climate-related risks, and taking steps to better cope with these risks. This affects the neighborhood of fort point because it can prevent the effects of climate change that would impact the more vulnerable people of the community like children and elderly. it an interesting concept that would drastically impact the community for the better.

Dee

Climate Resiliancy at Constitution Beach

    Climate change affects everyone and everything very differently. In Boston, climate change can potentially create more hot days in the summer and heavy precipitation. There will also be a greater sea level rising rate throughout Boston. Especially on the historic waterfronts of Boston, it is important because there will be a greater chance of flooding the areas. Through all of these changes to the environment, it can affect people who are children, senior citizens, and people with health problems, it will also affect Boston economically as there will be more money towards the rebuilding or fixing due to all of the upcoming natural disasters. Through Climate Ready Boston, different groups, and organizations such as UMASS Boston and UMASS Amherst, Boston is preparing through various solutions that will be added on overtime. For example, many are researching in on possibly building a harbor barrier looking forward and researching ways to stop flooding from the shoreline to predict the routes of floodwater and protecting it from neighborhoods near the water. They are also looking at redoing older buildings to prepare themselves for potential flooding and looking at new waterfront buildings, parks, and other waterfront areas that will be safe for people visiting.

    This week I was stationed at Constitution beach, located in East Boston, and home to one of the most diverse areas in Boston. The beach was kept in very good condition and many have looked after it. Climate change had an effect on Constitution beach due to the sea levels rising causing the waters to slowly increase at the beach. During low tide, I was able to discover that different parts of the sand were darker in color depending on how close they were to the water. Although tides have a great role in creating the different water levels throughout the day, I could tell significantly that there was a greater piece of land on the higher shore that was now darkened in color. Since I used to come to this beach as a kid, I could tell that the waters were rising because the ends of the tide were significantly closer to the ocean than how they were before. I would like to question the budget on the projects that they are starting up, and how long it will take them to be completed. I play a role in advocacy and awareness to climate change in Boston by being a part of the Boston Climate Strike team as an area-director. My job is to inform my peers and spread awareness through posters, social media, and more to get the word out about the strikes and other informational events happening in Boston. By educating my peers, I hope the severity of how little time we have left spreads in order for more people to be an active member in helping the planet.

To another week at the beach!

Regina

One of many works of art we had created in the sand!

Castle Island with a sprinkle of Climate Change

        Guess who's back, back back, back again,(Eminem's voice). Fatima's back :)

I caught a fishy :))) 

      Heyy everyone, for week 3, my team and I spent our time exploring Castle Island. The island which is really a peninsula get it's name from the giant fort-- which resembles a castle-- that sits on the top. Fort Independence has so much history within it. It was used as the main base for military operations for the British back during the American Revolution. On Monday, my team and I had the awesome opportunity to go on an amazing fishing trip on the Belle! That fishing trip had to be my most favorite one by far!
     That day was the first time I ever caught more than three fish! Kristen caught more fish than I can remember, she was on a roll! (I was feeling kinda jealous, haha). While fishing we made various videos for our deliverable that showed how to do two different types of casting, how to bait fish, and team members catching fish! For the remainder of the week, my team and I were on Castle Island fishing off the fishing pier, getting familiar with the area, playing a few games, and making a painting of the island! While we were fishing we didn't catch as much as we thought we would :(. Aidan caught two fishing rods that were stuck together and covered in lots of seaweed and Karen caught a crab on the rod. In the crab trap, we caught some crabs and a tiny fish. While on the fishing pier, we saw Kristen, David and another team on their way to Spectacle Island, haha!

the picture speaks for itself. 

      Climate change and climate resiliency is a topic that doesn't get talked about enough! Climate change is real and I am patiently waiting for the day that the leaders of the United States stops seeing it as a political issue and a deadly environmental one and make some important changes. Climate change affects the world in various ways which include sea levels rising, glaciers melting, animals dying, extreme temperatures and much more. This issue can affect people personally, especially those who live on the coast and around large bodies of water. If sea levels continue to rise at the rate that they are, areas in Boston can become floated and cause lots of damages. I live in Charlestown and have been to the Navy Yard over 1,000 times and over the 15 years I've lived here, I definitely noticed the rise in sea levels. A way that I can play a role in advocacy about climate change in Boston is continuing to work for Save the Harbor Save the Bay and keep the harbor the cleanest it can be. Also, find a way to hold community gatherings about the severity of this topic and initiate change to the leaders of the city, state, and country! 

   Until we speak again, stay safe and help the earth stay healthy! :)
           Fatima Fontes
   

Climate Resiliency and the Navy Yard

For this weeks schedule our team had the o’so lovely Charlestown Navy Yard, a place known for its unforgettable past. We had a lot of fun catching crabs and making a music video that goes a little like 

“Way hall away we’ll hall away together. Way hall away we’ll hall away joe

My verse: The beaches the lakes it was litty everyday

Bunker Hill Monument

Swimming with the fishes was better than the dishes.”

Now off the topic of our week at the navy yard, let’s talk about climate change and how it can and will impact our future especially knowing that we are living on a coastal city. Something I learned from the video is the effects climate change will have on Boston. A few things that will happen to Boston in about a decade plus is hotter days, more precipitation, and sea level rises. 

Climate change could possibly affect me personally because I live Very close to water and since one of the effects of climate change is water levels rising my housing project may flood and all residents will have to move out.

Hopefully you learned a little more about climate change and how it will affect us people living in Boston and in other cities close to the coast. 

Signing off ,

Alex Solano ❌

Climate Resiliency at Carson

    So this week I placed in Carson Beach. This is a beach in South Boston. The nearest train station is JFK station. The theme for this week was climate resiliency. Climate resiliency is basically how the environment reacts to certain climate change. Climate change is a serious topic. The change in weather can not only affect the people but can affect many habitats. According to the video, climate change will affect Boston by having more hot days. Something that shocked me is that in Boston we should be expecting some pretty intense precipitation. This is important because heavy precipitation can cause massive flooding which results in a lot of destruction. Sea level rise has been an issue in Boston recently and will continue to affect it in the future. Climate Ready Boston is a program that consists of multiple other universities combined who's goal is to try and figure out how to avoid a lot of damage due to climate change. I find it amazing how there are multiple programs in Boston that are interested and concerned about climate change. I'd have to look into it more because climate change is really important and can affect us a lot in the future. Nowadays we tend to have a lot more rain and the rain has been very heavy and may even bring some lightning and thunder. It's a little weird because one day can so hot and sunny and the next day consists of rain with lightning and thunder and even possible flooded areas.

    Last week my group and I created a video providing information about how climate change/resiliency affects Carson Beach. The first day of shooting the video it was very hot out. We also spent most of the day trying to figure out who was going to deliver what information. We also spent time researching and rehearsing what to say in the video. Most of us were able to finish filming that day. Early that morning we set a crab trap by the pier and planned on leaving it there till Thursday. 

Me and my group at Carson Beach.

   The next day my team and I went to Spectacle Island. We learned about the island's history and explore the sea glass found by the shore. Towards the end, we got a little tired of walking and had some fun in the water. The last day at Carson was more laid back because we finished filming so we just walked around the beach and played some games. 

                                             

The view of Boston from Spectacle Island.

Catch you later, 

Arianna 

Rocky Carson

Carson beach view from bathhouse

 Ayo welcome back! Wow it’s crazy that we are already going into our 4 week! Last week my team and I were at Carson beach in south Boston. One thing I noticed about Carson that differs from the rest of the sites we’ve visited so far is how rocky the shore is. I even tried getting my feet wet but it was really uncomfortable because I kept getting rocks in my crocs. One thing I learned for doing research for my deliverable was: In the 1990s, the beach was unsafe due to sewage water, but as of 2019 the beach was approved of being safe to swim in. On tuesday we spent our day making content for our deliverable (video) about Carson beach connecting it to climate resiliency. That day was very hot and humid but we still managed to get half our video down. The next day my team spent their day at Spectacle island swimming and exploring the island looking for sea glass. Our final day at carson we wrapped up on your work and even played some games throughout the day. Our team leader, Michael, won Heads Up!

 As mentioned in Chris’ video: by 2070 Boston will be potentially experiencing up to 90 days of 90 degrees as we further progress. We will also get more rainstorms meaning more precipitation as we get further along. And lastly our waterford areas around Boston will start to rise greatly. One thing that shocked me by this video is I didn’t realize how flooded Boston will be at the rate we are going at. It’s pretty scary to think about how far this is progressing from when I first learned about Global warming and climate change way back in middle school. I’m also interested to see if our predictions will be true or not, or even worse. The city of Boston has been making accommodations and plans for these issues that residents will face, and I’m interested to read more about it further down the line.

Smooth sailing,

Tnysha

More info 

                

Climate Change and Resiliency

Hello again!

     There is a big issue with climate change that in Boston can impact me personally. The main issue with climate change in Boston, however, is rising seas. Boston is a place that has a fairly big harbor and is low-lying, because of this if the tide rises by a significant amount it will cause flooding and exterior damage in the city of Boston. As of right now, that has to be our biggest worry and the reason it can affect me personally is that that it is going to affect any of my future jobs and activities. So far what I have noticed is that the tides are getting higher and the weather is getting hotter as time passes. My main concern and the thing that was the most shocking for me was the mentioning of the “90 days of 90-degree heat.” That is nerve-racking because places like Boston, which is more of a colder environment, haven't had that intense amount of heat before.

Just like I mentioned before, the heat increase that is related to climate change has a big impact on the places I work in. Each year, the sites I go to get hotter and hotter, making it more uncomfortable for work. Also, it is easy to notice when the tides are rising more and more each month/each year, It is fairly easy to notice all the changes that surround someone especially when it involves working outside in those hotter environments. One main question I have in regards to climate change and climate resiliency in general is, how do we know when the issue is fixed? How can we know if the problem with climate change is solved?

I believe I can play a big role in awareness of climate change, by making the public and my community care about the issue. It would be good if more people are aware of what is going on in our community and grasp an idea of what issues can come from climate change, as well as how it affects them. More and more people would look forward to fixing those issues. The more people know, the better our society gets.

Be Fossil Fueled up and get ready to tackle climate change!

~ Kamal

Peering Over Fort Point Channel

Fort Point

Heyy everyone,

    This week our topic has been about climate change and resiliency. Though my neighborhood isn't as close to the harbor as the rest of Boston, flooding would affect where my friends and I meet up to hangout and to eat. Making plans in the future may be a little harder as the temperatures rise and extreme weather starts to occur more frequently, and no one wants to be outside when its hot or when there's a storm as well as the possibility of transit lines being delayed. I was with my friends yesterday and it started raining very hard very fast, and after having a lot of fun during a sunny day, we ended up going home soaking wet on the slow moving train with the AC on. It sucked. Flooding is a big risk for the seaport and neighborhoods closer to the coast, and we learned about different resiliency plans that could help prevent it. Specifically in Fort Point Channel, there are plans to enhance park space, like adding trees and other vegetation to help stop flooding, as well as extending the harbor walk and turning bridge guard rails into flood walls. A deployable floodwall has already been built in East Boston, so that's a start. Assistant Deputy Director for Climate Change & Environmental Planning for Boston, Chris Bosch, made a video explaining impacts of climate change and more, and compared Boston's future climate to southern states like Alabama. Just thinking about that type of heat was scary to me, we are known for having all types of weather, and having the idea that we could have temperatures like Alabama had never crossed my mind.

  

Kamal & Dee trying to get the underwater drones to work

This week we hung out at Fort Point near the children's museum. It was raining Wednesday morning so we went under the bridge near the Barking Crab. We actually ended up seeing a few big blackfish (tautog) and an eel. We got to use underwater drones which took a while to figure out but turned out to be really fun to drive around. We got it to do some pretty cool tricks, and by we I mean Kamal. He could actually make it back flip while I couldn't even navigate when I went underwater. Other than that we fished and used the crab trap as well but were at a loss for luck. We didn't catch any fish or crabs, but the trap got caught on the dock and ripped so that was fun. Figuring out how to set up our lesson plan was actually pretty fun as we were all in a group working on it and asking questions and discussing while also working separately on our own parts. Overall it was just a great week.

Our ripped crab trap

Don't worry Grace fixed it :)

The only question I'll bring up is ways to prepare for rising temperatures. Not going to lie, If it's going to be as hot as Alabama one day I'm going to be a little bit mad. Especially for those of us who don't have AC. Are there resiliency plans for the heat or do we just have to try and stop it before it gets here? To advocate for climate change in Boston I first want to be educated about it as much as I can, but programs and jobs like this one are are great way to raise awareness about the environment and climate change. Education is so important, and we are in a great position (if Covid wasn't holding us back so much) to let those younger than us and have the potential to make change like we are doing by knowing about the problems in our world.

Best selfie I could find :)

Sea you out there!

-Jane

Fort Point

This week our focus was on creating a lesson plan centered around climate change and resiliency. The Fort Point Channel area is one of the many neighborhoods that are on the forefront of feeling the effects of climate change. Climate change is a worldwide problem, but here in Boston sea level rise is the most threatening impact of climate change for the city. Boston is built on over 5,000 acres of reclaimed land, Meaning that at one point large parts of the city were underwater. The land is created by pumping out the water and adding to the elevation with dry earth. This means that a lot of the coastline has been artificially made.

Fort point is one of the areas of the city that was built on reclaimed land and has a man made coastline. This combination makes it especially susceptible to sea level rise. However there are things that can be done to lessen the effects of sea level rise in places like Fort Point. These are called Climate Resiliency plans. These plans include changing what is called hard coastline into soft coastline.  We saw examples of the hard coastline at Fort Point not only on the surface but also with the underwater drone that we got to use this week. Another part of the Climate Resiliency plans is to create a deployable flood wall to protect neighborhoods from storm surges.


Fins Up!

Underwater Drone in Action

The Roseway 

First week at Castle Island

                  This week I was at castle island... well, it's really a peninsula. Me and my coworkers fished on the pier there and explored the park around the pier. We learned about the history of the island and we saw the monuments and the statues that honored fallen soldiers in battle. The general vibe of the place was just soothing to experience; the calming nature is truly something to treasure and preserve. families from all around come to the island and have a calming and fun time and while practicing social distancing you can go down to the shore and enjoy the water.
           

               Some back story that we learned while one the island is the history of the harbor and how we became the cleanest urban harbor in america. Back in the 19th century there was no such thing as a good plumbing system. Human waste and foreign objects would just flow right into the harbor, causing a lot of damage to the ecosystem and to the people that lived around them. They would literally have sludge dumped at an alarming rate into the harbor.

           However in 1972 the clean water act helped Boston develop a good cleaning and filtering system that takes rain and waste water from the city and cleans it to go back to the harbor. We learned that by using the wind powered windmills and the sludge cleaners that sort of look like egg domes they can purify the water and dump it back in to the water clean! This way slowly but surely the ecosystem came back with many species of fish and other life being able to flourish now that the water is safe for them, which makes it good for people like us to fish off of the pier at castle island so we can teach the public about the many different species.

Dee