Cities by the Coast

Posted in Cities by the Coast, What We Do, What We Do on Mar 10, 2009 18:49

Even native New Yorkers sometimes need to be reminded that our city really is a city of water. With the Hudson River, Long Island Sound, and the New York Bight bathing our four island boroughs and one peninsular borough, we are an urban archipelago. All of these highly urbanized waters have a long history of misuse, followed by partial recovery. Major problems have included chemical and sewage contamination, tributary dams and other habitat modifications, and a high incidence of invasive species. However, governmental regulation and societal forces have greatly improved the condition of these waters and shores.

Beyond regulation and a new found interest in revitalizing these water ways, climate change poses a significant disruption to the improvements made. Warmer waters and nutrient loading will lead to a loss of certain species and over all changes to our waterways. CISC works to understand the place in history that we now stand with regard to our waters and what the future holds for them.

Program Leader: Prof. John Waldman of the Department of Biology at Queens College.

Read about related research and projects below:

A Historical Perspective on Water in New York City with Focus on Jamaica Bay E.E. Cummings once wrote, sitting near the long-since forgotten edge of Minetta Water in Greenwich Village, …For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), it’s always our self we find in the sea.” In this talk, Dr. Eric W. Sanderson of the Wildlife Conservation Society will attempt to find the part of the soul of New York ...
Bill Solecki and Cynthia Rosenzweig Co-Author NY Times Op-Ed Piece on Rising Sea Levels CISC Director Dr. Bill Solecki and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Senior Research Scientist Cynthia Rosenzweig co-authored a response to today’s New York Times “Room for Debate” section on sea gates, sea walls and other proposed solutions to sea level rise in the aftermath of “Super Storm” Sandy: “Since 2001, when “Climate Change and a Global ...
Turning the Tide: New York’s Waterfront in Transition The Turning the Tide: New York’s Waterfront in Transition event series has come to a close. CISC would like to thank all those who helped make this such an amazing series; the speakers, the hosts, and of course all those great citizens who attended the events. If you missed any of the events, frett not! You ...
Cities by the Coast Even native New Yorkers sometimes need to be reminded that our city really is a city of water. With the Hudson River, Long Island Sound, and the New York Bight bathing our four island boroughs and one peninsular borough, we are an urban archipelago. All of these highly urbanized waters have a long history of ...
Greening Manhattan’s Waterfront: A New Perimeter Park for the 21st Century An evening panel and discussion featuring noted author Phillip Lopate, Urban Planner Ann Buttenwieser, Biologist John Waldman, and Public Policy Scholar Rutherford Platt, dedicated to tracing the history of Manhattan’s 26 mile waterfront and looking ahead to its future potential. An audio recording of this event can be found at the CISC Podcast ...
Jamaica Bay Bioblitz The Institute was a co-sponsor to this 24 hour Bioblitz, which served to catalogue the diversity of organisms in a particular area. This Bioblitz was part contest (racing against the 24 hour clock), part educational event, and part scientific endeavor. From the Jamaica Bay Research and Management Information Network: Jamaica Bay has ...