Keeping Up With Current Events at Constitution Beach

After reviewing a video created by Chris Busch on Climate Resliancy, I found a few things surprising. I knew that with climate change there would be rising sea levels and hotter overall climates, but I never took into consideration how these two aspects would affect cities. Busch addresses the effects of climate change in cities, specifically Boston, and how the heat will affect these densely populated areas. For example, areas with darker surfaces, such as buildings and paved roads would absorb much more of this heat, causing certain areas to be unbearable. He also mentions rising sea levels and illustrates what exactly a three foot sea level increase would do to the city’s shorelines.  As the water expands and elevates, it would wash out much of lower level areas of Boston, specifically the areas of Boston that have been built up over time. Some of the possible solutions are flood barriers and creating elevated buildings, however these would take more time, money and resources.

This week my group went to Constitution Beach. Constitution beach is a popular spot in East Boston to host gatherings and cookouts, and there are designated spots to set up picnics. This beach is the closest swimmable beach to the airport, and the water is incredibly clean, when compared to what it once was. We talked as a group this week about climate resilancy, specifically talking about preventing the creation of more greenhouse gas emissions from plastic waste. We took part in a beach clean-up, collecting trash from the beach to prevent it from contaminating the harbor. There can be a lot of plastic waste used at cookouts, and this plastic is incredibly harmful to marine life if it gets into the harbor. One way we can protect marine life in Boston is by “Refusing” to use plastic. This way we can “Reduce” the amount of plastic that gets into the ocean, and protect our beautiful beaches. 

As rising waters are beginning to threaten neighborhoods in areas of Boston, people are wondering what is the solution? Globally, we have used about 9 billion tons of plastic since the 1950’s, yet around just 9 percent of this has been recycled. Around 79 percent is left in our environment, in our waters and neighborhoods. 50 percent of plastic is single-use or disposable plastic. As it does, sunlight and heat cause the plastic to release greenhouse gases, leading to a cycle. As our climate changes, the planet gets hotter, the plastic breaks down into more methane and ethylene, increasing the rate of climate change, and so perpetuating the cycle. We can do our best to stop this cycle by reducing, refusing, reusing, and recycling plastic, and being responsible for our environment!

SEA you next week!

Caroline

Fun in the Sun!

Hello again, it’s Maeve Fittz and this week is a little less crazy than last week for those of you who remember. I jumped around from 3 sites last week within a five day span! This week I have decided to make my blog about a specific theme: my activity of the day.

This week I started out at Piers Park which was a normal day until after lunch when the Save the Harbor staff was tasked with coming up with a fun activity to engage the kids for the next hour. Our SHE, Meaghan, had a fun idea where we briefly taught the kids a little about the important role that leaves play in the environment. After that, we took our groups around Piers Park to find various leaves that they would like to make a leaf print out of. Next, we gave each child a piece of paper and some crayons, instructed them to put the leaf under the paper and then to use the side of crayon to trace the leaf. There were so many types of leaves in the park that each child's artwork looked different. It was a really fun activity and it was cool because the kids were learning about nature while making art at the same time.

My beautiful leaf art

The view from the dock at Piers Park

On Tuesdays instead of going to Piers Park we go to the Courageous Sailing Center to fish and play a game with the kids. For the first session at Courageous I was running the fishing group which was fun because we got to see a lot of sail boats go by. In the second session I was running the activity which was Pictionary: Boston Harbor Edition. We split up the kids into two teams and we had a bunch of pieces of paper with words on them that the kids had to draw. If their team did not guess the picture within three tries then the other team could try and steal. The games were really entertaining because some of the pictures were hilarious looking.

Apparently this is a sting ray

This is actually a good looking seal

On Wednesday I did not go to Piers Park because I was asked to represent Save the Harbor, along with my coworkers Eric and Kharliyah, in front of a group of funders. Before we were able to impress the funders, Kharliyah and I were tasked with cleaning out the supply closet in the office which was NOT easy. It took us almost three hours and about 5 garbage bags of trash. I have to say that I felt really accomplished when it was all done so that was my activity of the day on Wednesday.

I've never seen it so neat

On Thursdays we have a half day at Piers Park and then we take an uber to Community boating on the Charles River. To continue with the theme of the the activity of the day, at community boating we taught the kids how to use a refractometer. A refractometer measures the amount of salt in water by seeing how the light refraction changes because of the amount of solution in the water. We had 5 cups of water and we put different amounts of salt into each and kept track of which had the most and which had the least. The kids could take a drop from each cup and then write down the order they thought was correct. After that was finished we did our usual fishing programming which was difficult that day because of the sweltering heat. Besides the temperature it was a great day to be out on the water and to be able to interact with different kids for a change.

This is my Boston Harbor (I know it is missing some things)

I hope you guys all enjoyed my artwork this week because I put a lot of effort into it! Talk to you next week!

-Maeve Fittz

Any Fish In There?

Views of the city from the boat

Hey everyone! So today was the fishing tournament, and this morning I got to the dock before boarding the boat in hopes of if not winning the tournament, at least catching something worth remembering. Last summer I caught my first fish on this tournament and it was a big striped bass. I remember it being one of the best days of the summer for me and definitely one of the most memorable.

This year, it was five of us on a boat and it was a pretty nice boat. We started of by going further into the harbor and as we were moving I stared off into where the city was behind us and it always gives me a sense of aliveness whenever I feel the breeze and see the beautiful views of  Boston Harbor. To me that is what making the best out of the summer is, enjoying the great outdoors.

Anyway, before fishing for any big fish, we tried catching some mackerel to use as live bait which I had never done before, so it was exciting. We used special rods that had like four hooks on each and oh boy did we start catching mackerel like crazy! As soon as we would put the rods down into the water about 5 seconds later there would be 2 or 3 or even 4 mackerel on the rod. In total, we caught about 20 mackerel fish within 10 minutes! After that exciting moment, we then moved further into the harbor and waited for the bigger fish.... we waited and waited when we finally heard a tug on the rod and we immediately tried to rail it up but unfortunately the line snapped. The captain said it was a blue fish that had been on the rod but snapped off the hook. I was kinda of disappointed but still had hope to catch something else. Later on, when we were heading back to Boston, there was one more big tug and this time we railed it up enough to see that it was a big striped bass! Unfortunately it also snapped off the hook and we didn't get to bring it up. When we got back we heard that other groups hadn't caught much either because I guess it was a slow day for the big fish. But at the end of the day, this fishing tournament was a fun experience and I learned a lot of new things and I would definitely do it again next year in hopes of catching something great.

See you around the harbor!
-Rusenny

Ahoy Mateys!

Ahoy Mateys!

This Friday, I had the pleasure to go to the Atlantic Wharf for a day of fun activities. We were visited by campers and families all afternoon. It was an extremely hot and sunny day, but we were powered and energized by a free Boloco lunch! The activities kicked off with some fun stories with "Tony the Pirate!" After his pirate stories, we split off into separate groups to maximize our time with activities such as fishing, mural painting and touch tanks.

I was assigned to the touch tanks. We set up the touch tank, but the sun was so hot that it was practically boiling the water. We had to place an ice pack in it to keep the water even mildly cold. It didn't work too well, so we had to continuously change the water to keep the crabs alive and functioning for the kids to see. We got to spend our time explaining to the kids what type of crabs we were catching in our crab trap. They were mostly Green Crabs and we got to explain some fun facts about them. Females are usually orange and you can almost spell out the word green on its shell. Despite the hot weather, we all had an extremely fun time. It was nice to be able to do some of the activities I normally do in the middle of the city and not just on Spectacle Island.

Signing off,

Henry

Touch Tank!