Environment & Nature

Photo by Tom Caruso

DRESSED FOR THE DAY

Tom Caruso of Smithtown sent in this incredible photo just in time for Valentine’s Day. He writes, ‘I recently installed a bird feeder in my backyard and I’ve been able to photograph some very beautiful birds. None is as beautiful as this male Northern Cardinal. This regal bird was taking a break from dining at my feeder when I snapped this picture.  My camera was able to capture an amazing amount of detail in his feathers.’

 The Cardinals

By Ellen Mason, Stony Brook

A flash of brown and orange,

A dash of red and black,

The cardinals have returned.

I’m delighted that they’re back. 

 

Nuts fall from the feeder,

The couple share a seed,

Then fly into my berry bush.

The male bird takes the lead. 

 

He’s dressed in bright red plumage,

His eyes are sharp and bright.

He listens to the other birds

But keeps his mate in sight. 

 

Chickadees and bluejays

Have mounted an attack.

Cardinals will not give an inch

And take the feeder back. 

 

Have they come here for a reason?

With a message to impart?

Bringing solace, peace and comfort 

To my sad and lonely heart?

 

Perhaps this is the moment

To reflect on life and love,

And thank the lovely cardinals

As they fly off high above.

Send your Photo of the Week to [email protected]

Pixabay photo

Join the staff and volunteers at Sweetbriar Nature Center, 62 Eckernkamp Drive, Smithtown for an afternoon of close encounters with wildlife on March 7 (rescheduled from Feb. 14) from 1 to 3 p.m. Meet some of Sweetbriar’s cute and lovable animals, play an animal matching game in honor of Valentine’s Day,  and create a craft to remember the day.  There will be many photo opportunities. Fee is $10 per child/$5 for adults. For more information, call 931-979-6344 or visit www.sweetbriarnc.org.

Photo from the Town of Brookhaven.

It’s helping the environment, but saving a whole lot of money, too.

The Town of Brookhaven Highway Department recently completed phase I of its energy-efficient street light conversion program — a program replacing all low-pressure sodium and high-pressure sodium overhead lights with light-emitting diode (known as LED) streetlights. 

Brookhaven Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro (R) said he began researching for this project as soon as he joined the Highway Department in 2013. With the size of the town being equivalent to all of Nassau County, he said that his department is responsible for 44,000 streetlights. With the support of Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) and the Town Board, the project was approved.

“The goal that I had in those first years was to go after the highest energy-consuming fixtures that we had,” Losquadro said. 

Brookhaven Highway Department employees replace streetlight fixtures and poles as part of the town’s light conversion project. Photo from the Town of Brookhaven.

During phase I, the department tackled streetlights that are mounted on utility poles known as “cobra heads,” which tend to use the most wattage, and most of those overhead lights have been finalized, after three short years of work. Phase II is now in effect, moving to convert all existing neighborhood post top fixtures to LED lighting, and replacing old fiberglass poles with new aluminum poles to be completed by 2023.

“There are a multitude of factors that play in as to why we wanted to do LED,” the highway superintendent said, noting the energy savings, cost savings and maintenance cost that LED lighting can have. “Not only are you saving that money every year on energy, but instead of having a bulb that’s going to last you two-to-three years, you’re buying a fixture that has a 10-year warranty, with an anticipated life expectancy of up to 20 years — so your maintenance costs go down tremendously.”

Losquadro added that LED lighting is safer and will prevent light pollution compared to other bulbs. 

“I’m a firm believer to do something once and do it right,” he said. “This is about the future of Brookhaven Town, and doing things that are going to pay long term with benefits to everyone, myself included as a resident.”

The total project cost was $11.25 million, however, $4.5 million was paid for with part of the $20 million Municipal Consolidation and Efficiency Competition grant the town was awarded. The remaining $6.75 million was paid for with town funds.  

In 2020, alone, the town has saved $930,000 in energy costs.

Losquadro said, from a taxpayer perspective, the town has already saved $1.5 million. By just using raw numbers, they can expect to pay off the project in less than five years.

“To convert the entire town, it’s a big endeavor,” he added. “You make the upfront investment, but you know you’re going to get a payoff in short.”

He said that “even with a 10-year warranty, you’re paying it off before the things are even out of warranty. And with an anticipated life expectancy of 20-years plus, it’s a tremendous, tremendous savings.”

Port Jefferson’s East Beach after the sand dredging was completed this week. Photo by Gerard Romano

The decade-long, multimillion-dollar project to spruce up Mount Sinai Harbor and its jetties is finally looking more complete, as the dredging project was finalized this past week.

In November of last year, the Town of Brookhaven permitted Suffolk County to complete the dredging at a total cost of $2 million with close to 80,000 cubic yards of sand.

A shot from the dredging process last month. Photo by Gerard Romano

“This is just another project where the layers and layers and layers of government all the way up to the federal level worked together,” said Village of Port Jefferson Mayor Margot Garant. 

But the project is more than baskets of sand returning to the local shorelines. After many years of planning, both the east and west jetties in Mount Sinai Harbor were repaired in May 2020. For 10 years, both have been largely submerged at high tide, with water and sand leaking through breaks in the stones and settling into the mouth of the harbor. 

Garant added that after about 60 days, “basketfuls of sand” were brought back to Port Jefferson’s East Beach, which included sand from the postponed Stony Brook Harbor dredging project, to replenish the erosion caused throughout the years. 

“We’re just so thrilled to have our beach back,” she said. 

Brookhaven Councilwoman Jane Bonner (R-Rocky Point) said the completion of the project was a long time coming.

She said there were numerous issues with the jetties, the inlet and the harbor itself. 

“We rebuilt the fishing pier that has been subjected to numerous nor’easters, built two new jetties and a complete dredge of the beaches,” Bonner said. “I’m hopeful it lasts a long time.”

The same spot in 2018. Photo by Gerard Romano

In November, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers designated that most of the sand be primarily brought to the Port Jefferson side of the harbor. While Bonner admitted she hoped for an equitable split of sand, she’s happy that the goals of keeping recreational boaters and fishermen safe, while enhancing the North Shore’s water quality, have been achieved. 

“All levels of government have put a lot of money and resources into this project,” Bonner said. “It’s a win-win.”

It’s not completely done, though. Garant said the next phase is to repair the retaining wall going down the hill and revegetate the bluff. 

“It’s just an ongoing process of protecting our shoreline,” she said. 

Photo from Pixabay

By Ken Taub

A formidable collection of naturalists, scientists, academics and Long Island nature organizations came together in a remote meeting to discuss the current status and future viability of the ancient horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) in our area.  The January 15, 2021 meeting, via Zoom, co-sponsored by Seatuck Environmental Organization and Sierra Club, Long Island group, was a continuation of the first meeting at Seatuck in February 2020.   The goal of an ongoing working group was curtailed by the Covid pandemic.  This January meeting represented the delayed, but no less dynamic, follow-up with 29 esteemed attendees.

The opening presentation was by naturalist John Turner and Dr. Matthew Sclafani of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) to discuss the alternative bait project, a cutting-edge endeavor to refine, test and distribute a synthetic bait alternative, so that local fishermen and baymen use this, rather than the horseshoe crabs, as bait for eel and whelk.  The project, in development for several years, was given new momentum, and funding, by a substantial, joint donation by Seatuck and Sierra Club.

Other presentations included proposed 2021 horseshoe stock management directives by the NY Dep’t. of Environmental Conservation (DEC); monitoring and tagging of these now vulnerable 350 million year old arthropods with a new app, to be used by research groups and “citizen scientists” alike; habitat protection; the increased use of mesh bait bags; and reduction of harvest quotas.

The group picked up a key topic from the 2020 meeting: increasing lunar closures, or moonlight moratoriums, on the taking of horseshoe crabs as bait during full and new moons in the late spring mating seasons.  Currently, there are four days in late May and early June where the DEC does not permit bait harvest.  The discussions explored when we might have more harvest moratorium days, or even a full moratorium as they have in other East coast states, since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in 2019, summarized the New York region as having a worsening picture after each annual assessment of area horseshoe crab stocks, which used to be plentiful on Long Island beaches and inlets. 

As Dr. Charles Bevington, outgoing Chair of the L.I. Sierra Club, stated in his opening remarks:  “I am not a scientist. I am an advocate for ecological biodiversity.  My present horseshoe crab advocacy is for their actual survival as a species.  I believe that the horseshoe crab lifecycle is in precipitous decline.”  On this troublesome evaluation there was general agreement.  Recent stock assessments by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission point to the fact that our area is at a critical juncture, which will require a multi-prong effort, including bait moratoriums, to reverse this worrisome downward trend for a unique, ecologically vital species.  Horseshoe crab eggs provide sustenance for migrating shore birds, while their special blood is used to test for dangerous endotoxins in medical procedures, chemotherapy and vaccinations, including the new Covid 19 vaccines.

Attendees included biologists, marine scientists, professors, and organization leaders from the DEC, Stony Brook University, Adelphi University, the Audubon Society, NYS South Shore Estuary Reserve, Save the Great South Bay, The Nature Conservancy and The Safina Center, Southampton Baymen’s Assn., a fishing fleet captain, as well as 14 representatives from Seatuck, L.I. Sierra Club and Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Author Ken Taub is a member of the L.I. Sierra Club.

A Lesser Scaup

Audubon Winter Workshop

Four Harbors Audubon Society presents a winter workshop, Identifying Winter Waterfowl, via Zoom on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. Guest speaker Mike Cooper will discuss tips and techniques for observing and identifying local waterfowl including seabirds and puddle ducks. Free. Email [email protected] to register.

*This post has been updated to reflect the new workshop date.

Photo by Tom Caruso

A FLEETING MOMENT

Tom Caruso of Smithtown snapped this photo of an Eastern Bluebird at Nissequogue River State Park in Kings Park on Feb. 17.  He writes, ‘There was a flock of these birds flying through the trees and they took short breaks to rest on branches, but their rest was short lived. I was lucky to catch this little guy sitting still!

Send your Photo of the Week to [email protected]

 

Cerulean Warbler

Audubon Zoom webinar

Presenter Katie Fallon

Calling all bird lovers! Join the Four Harbors Audubon Society for a webinar titled Saving the Cerulean Warbler on Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m. Guest speaker Katie Fallon will share tips for finding and identifying Cerulean Warblers while birding, how you can help save migratory songbirds, and much more. Free and open to all but reservations are required by emailing [email protected]. Webinar registrants will be sent a link to join the program. For more info, visit www.4has.org

Photo courtesy of Hulu

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

One of the most fascinating public figures of recent years is Greta Thunberg, the Swedish environmental activist. At the age of fifteen, Thunberg began a solo protest of climate change by sitting outside of Swedish Parliament. Beginning in August of 2018, she spent the days she should be in school with a sign reading “School strike for climate.” 

Thunberg’s quest to bring attention to climate change has sparked a worldwide movement, bringing both support and harsh criticism to her and her cause. The documentary I Am Greta tells this story. Director Nathan Grossman followed Thunberg from her early protests in 2018 to her testimony at the U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis the following year. Whether Grossman was prescient or just lucky is hard to judge.

The film chronicles Thunberg’s rise in fame: from people on Stockholm streets questioning why she wasn’t in school to meeting European heads of state. Furthermore, it touches on how she became a target of derision from deniers across the globe. At the heart of Thunberg’s message is her belief that the adults of the world have failed to stop what is the most dangerous and most immediate threat to the future. She calls out this failure to act: “Adults always say one thing and then do something completely different.” She has no hesitation in citing hypocrisy

Presented early in the film is Thunberg’s Asperger’s, a syndrome that places her on the autism spectrum. She has not seen this as restrictive. “Sometimes, it seems that we who have Asperger’s —autism — are the only ones who see through the noise.” She believes that this condition has allowed her the ability to give climate change her complete focus. When asked by a reporter if she suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, she replies, “I wouldn’t say I suffer from … but I have it.” Further, she states: “I don’t see the world in black and white. It’s just the climate issue I see in black and white. “Sometimes I feel that it might be good if everyone had a tiny bit of Asperger’s … at least when it comes to climate.”

Thunberg’s obsession with what she considers “the defining issue of our time” began when she was eight years old. The showing of a film in school on the topic sent her into a deep depression. She stopped eating and suffered from selective mutism. Until that point, her family led a “high consuming” life, as demonstrated in a handful of home movie clips. Thunberg explains her insistence that her family converted to lives that were simpler and environmentally friendly: no flying, using an electric car, giving up meat and dairy, etc. 

The film is a wealth of footage of her crusade across the world. Starting with the passing out of flyers in Stockholm to her speaking to 30,000 people at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Poland to a string of engagements throughout Europe, she continues to spread her message. Thousands of students have taken up her #FridaysForFuture. 

Throughout, Thunberg confronts leaders for going forward with the same bad ideas to remain popular; she makes clear that popularity is not her concern. This view has made her a lightning rod for petty politicians who dismiss her as “mentally ill.”

Perhaps the most frustrating part of the film is the title: I Am Greta. It would have been better titled Greta’s Journey or Greta Thunberg, Activist. There are no interviews with people who know her or have worked alongside her. There are glimpses of who she is but many of these moments have a disingenuous feel. There is a good deal of footage of day-to-day life with voiceovers — in class, in the car, in the lunchroom — but nothing that adds up to a better understanding of her as a person. There are a few moments of her dancing that seem inorganic. Thunberg’s struggle to finish writing a speech and her father arguing with her to stop feels strangely staged. And yet, perhaps it is this absence of personal details that gives a stronger sense of her preoccupation.

In a revelatory moment, she says, “I don’t like making small talk … socializing with people …” which can explain the stretches of silence and the lack of her interaction beyond the driving passion. She indicates that she grew up with other children being unkind; she was not invited to parties and was always left out. She spent most of her time being with her family and her dogs. Her father is the most present in the film, with her mother appearing briefly and her sister not at all.

One of the joys is her spontaneous laughter that pops up in unexpected moments. In particular, this is Thunberg’s response to those attacking her on social media; her ability to see their smallness and inconsequentiality are telling. She laughs hysterically in reaction to a photo of herself with Pope Francis. Another personal moment is her mother teaching her to bake. Again, the laughter indicates this is a genuine event.

The climax of the film is her address to the U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis on September 18, 2019. Since she refused to fly, she took a harrowing fifteen-day journey in a sailboat from Plymouth, England, to New York harbor, where she was greeted by hundreds if not thousands of supporters.

Her eight-sentence statement to the committee — spoken in her nearly flawless English — is scathing and resonates in its directness. “How dare you?” The message is summed up with “You are failing us.”

“The world is waking up and change is coming whether you like it or not.” Thunberg has inspired the largest strike for climate in history — more than seven million people. And yet, the world is still not on track to meet the Paris Agreement. She still goes on strike every Friday. And hundreds of thousands still support her. “Once the climate crisis has gotten your attention, you can’t look away.” Ms. Thunberg has our attention. The rest is up to us.

I Am Greta is currently streaming on Hulu.