Fundación Surfrider Rincón
News and Updates
Water Quality results for May 23: Despite the recent heavy rainfalls, all tested beaches had surprisingly good WQ!
www.surfrider.org/blue-water-task-force/chapter/4
BWTF data also available at: www.caricoos.org/ecosystem-and-water-quality
Photos show (in order) that hurricane debris continues to be washed down to the Ultimo Brinco site, and then a walk along the beach at the special study area from Steps beach to the balneario to document the affects of runoff at various outflow sites. Considering the enormous quantities of runoff, bacterial counts were very low! Also note at the balneario that tinglars know better than to lay eggs where erosion can occur... gotta wonder why people insist on building in similar areas...
A somewhat editorial comment from Steve - Time to get real: I just wanted to share this interview with former EPA chief Gina McCarthy (someone I admire very much, without totally agreeing with her on some points) and her typically blunt observations about what has become an extremely polarized topic. Personally, I don't see much difference between environmental protection, public health, and community resilience - sometimes they have to get artificially segregated for regulatory or legislative purposes, but they are all aspects of the same theme. Hurricane Maria pointed this out as clearly as possible: healthy reef systems = less storm surge damage and coastal erosion; watershed protection = cleaner and safer water for people to use after major disasters; more resilient communities = less needless suffering and faster recovery.
Obviously some long-term programs the chapter has, concerning the Reserva Marina Tres Palmas, the BWTF, and more recently the Post-Maria Sampling, illustrate that there are no clear lines between these issues. And that is the funny thing about reality, it refuses to be constrained by the mental boxes we try to put it into. I also want to give a grateful shout-out to Ms. McCarthy for her outspoken support during her EPA tenure for community-based citizen science programs, and her insistence that when properly conducted these programs generate data that is equally as valid as agency or academic programs, and should be considered as such!
I will also admit to a definite feeling of nostalgia after finishing the article, for the time when honest, intelligent and thoughtful discussion about actual issues was possible... in those dim and distant days of a couple of years ago... It's time to get real again.
Ernesto Luis Diaz CARICOOS.org Mara Hogan Dias Ridge to Reefs
www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2018/05/22/the-climate-change-message-all-wrong-says-former-epa-head...
Former EPA head Gina McCarthy: The climate change message is all wrong - The Boston Globe
bostonglobe.com
Now at Harvard, the Obama administration alum admits it’s been hard to watch the Trump administration take aim at the work she’s proudest of. But she hasn’t lost hope.Water Quality results for May 16: All tested beaches continue to show excellent WQ!
www.surfrider.org/blue-water-task-force/chapter/4
BWTF data also available at: www.caricoos.org/ecosystem-and-water-quality
Photos of the hard-working BWTF team this week: Terry Norman and Jim Crotty processing samples, and Alexis Henriquez doing the testing.
PS the JCA hasn't posted any beach test results for a month now... we are trying to determine what is happening with this agency.
Climate Reality
The climate crisis is throwing natural systems out of whack – and we need to stop it. (via The Years Project)
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