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.
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]
Audubon Zoom webinar
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
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.
A NAUTICAL SCENE
Gerard Romano of Port Jefferson Station snapped this photo in the Village of Port Jefferson on Jan. 15. He writes, ‘As I took a walk for a bit of fresh air along the Danford Hotel pier the seagulls were bracing themselves against the stiff breeze. I used my 18-200mm lens to frame one with the Stony Brook University research vessel Seawolf as a bokeh backdrop.’
By John L. Turner
Situated a mile east of Orient Point, the eastern tip of the North Fork and separated from it by Plum Gut, lies Plum Island, an 822-acre pork-chop shaped island that is owned by you and me (being the federal taxpayers that we are).
The island’s most well-known feature is the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC), situated in the northwestern corner of the property, but Plum Island is so much more. On the western edge lays the Plum Island lighthouse which was built in 1869 to warn mariners of the treacherous currents of Plum Gut. On the east there’s the brooding presence of Fort Terry, a relict of the Spanish-American War, with scattered evidence in the form of barracks, gun batteries, and the tiny tracks of a toy gauge railroad once used to move cannon shells from storage to those concrete batteries. (The cannons never fired except during drills).
And there’s the stuff that excites naturalists:
■ The largest seal haul-out site in southern New England located at the eastern tip of the island where throngs of harbor and grey seals swim along the rocky coastline or bask, like fat sausages, on the off-shore rocks that punctuate the surface of the water.
■ The more than 225 different bird species, one-quarter of all the species found in North America, that breed here (like the bank swallows that excavate burrows in the bluff face on the south side of the island), or pass through on their seasonal migratory journeys, or overwinter.
■ Dozens of rare plants, like ladies’-tresses orchids, blackjack oak, and scotch lovage that flourish in the forests, thickets, meadows, and shorelines of Plum Island.
■ A large freshwater pond in the southwestern section of the island that adds visual delight and biological diversity to the island.
■ And, of course, the ubiquitous beach plums that gave the island its name!
For the past decade a struggle has ensued to make right what many individuals, organizations of all sorts (including the more than 120-member Preserve Plum Island Coalition), and many public officials consider a significant wrong — Congress’s order to sell Plum Island to the highest bidder, forever losing it as a public space.
This ill-conceived path of auctioning the island was set in motion by a half-page paragraph buried in a several thousand- page bill to fund government agencies in 2009. Fortunately, this struggle has been won — the wrong has been righted — as language included in the recently adopted 2021 budget bill for the federal government, repeals the requirement that the General Services Administration sell the island.
Thank you to Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Senators Christopher Murphy and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and members of Congress Lee Zeldin,Tom Suozzi, Rosa DeLauro and Joe Courtney!
Thanks is also due to New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright who sponsored legislation that was signed into law creating a Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle area in the waters surrounding Plum Island.
While this victory is a vital and necessary step to ultimately protect Plum Island, it is a temporary and incomplete one since the island can still be sold to a private party through the normal federal land disposition process if no government agency at the federal, state, or local level steps up to take title to the island.
The Coalition’s next task, then, is to ensure that a federal agency such as the National Park Service (National Monument?), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (National Wildlife Refuge?) or the state of New York (New York State Park Preserve?) expresses a willingness to accept stewardship of this magnificent island, since they get first dibs to the island if they want it. A key enticement toward this end is the $18.9 million commitment in the budget to clean up the few contaminated spots on the island.
Why the sale in the first place? Since 1956 PIADC has been conducting top level research on highly communicable animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease. To this end, several years ago staff developed a vaccine for this highly contagious disease that holds great promise in controlling the disease globally.
Despite this successful research, Congress determined the facility was obsolete and should be replaced, approving the construction of a new state-of-the-art facility, known as the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), to be located on the campus of Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. NBAF is complete and will soon be fully operational so as a result PIADC is no longer needed; PIADC is expected to transfer all operations to Kansas and close for good in 2023.
Plum Island is a rare place — a remarkable asset that holds the promise of enriching Long Islanders’ lives —your family’s lives, if we can keep it in public ownership. The Preserve Plum Island Coalition, with the input from hundreds of Long Islanders, has painted a vision for the island … so, imagine throwing binoculars, a camera, and a packed lunch enough for you and your family into your backpack and participating in this realized vision by:
— Taking a ferry across to the island, debarking to orient your island adventure by visiting a museum interpreting the cultural and natural riches and fascinating history of the island before you wander, for countless hours, to experience the wild wonders of the island. A most worthwhile stop is the island’s eastern tip where, through a wildlife blind, you enjoy watching dozens of bobbing grey and harbor seals dotting the water amidst the many partially submerged boulders.
— Standing on the edge of the large, tree-edged pond, watching basking turtles and birds and dragonflies flitting over the surface.
-Birdwatching on the wooded trails and bluff tops to view songbirds, shorebirds, ospreys and other birds-of-prey, swallows, sea ducks and so many other species. Perhaps you’ll see a peregrine falcon zipping by during fall migration, sending flocks of shorebirds scurrying away as fast as their streamlined wings can take them.
— Strolling along the island’s eight miles of undisturbed coastline, with the beauty of eastern Long Island before you, offering distant views of Great Gull, Little Gull and Gardiner’s Islands, Montauk Point, and the Connecticut and Rhode Island coastlines.
— Lodging at the Plum Island lighthouse, converted into a Bed & Breakfast and enjoying a glass of wine as the sun sets over Plum Gut and Orient Point.
— Learning about the role Fort Terry played in protecting the United States and the port of New York as your explore the many parts of the fort — the barracks where soldiers stayed, the gun batteries that once housed the cannons angled skyward to repel a foreign attack.
— At the end of day, if you don’t stay over, taking the ferry back to the mainland of the North Fork, tired after many miles of hiking in the salt air of the East End stopping at a North Fork restaurant to share a chat among friends and family about what you’ve learned relating to this fascinating place.
This legislation has given Plum Island (based on the above perhaps we should call it Treasure Island!) a second chance and an opportunity for us to achieve this vision. But this law is only the first step. We need to take the vital second step of new ownership and management in the public interest if all of the above adventures are to become realities. We collectively need to tell those elected officials who represent us, and who can make a difference in determining the island’s fate, that we want Plum Island protected in perpetuity and the opportunity for its many wonders to become interwoven into the fabric of life on Long Island.
Go to www.preserveplumisland.org to learn more about the Coalition, receive updates, and what you can do to help.
John Turner is the spokesperson for the Preserve Plum Island Coalition.
Join the staff at Caleb Smith State Park Preserve, 581 W. Jericho Turnpike, Smithtown for a family program, Who’s Been Walking in the Snow?, on Jan. 16 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Families will become nature detectives as they unravel the clues left behind by the park’s wildlife. Follow the signs and hopefully find the creatures that made them! Dress for the weather. Masks are mandatory. $4 per person. Preregistration required by calling 265-1054.
PLEASE, JUST ONE LITTLE KISS
Elisa Hendrey of Sound Beach came upon these two young deer at Cedar Beach in Mount Sinai on Dec. 30. She writes, ‘It looked like one baby deer just wants to give a little kiss to the other one.’
By Chris Cumella
Rows of sugar kelp – a brown native seaweed — are being planted and will be harvested in Setauket Harbor, not for decoration but to provide cleaner water and other benefits to the community.
Neighboring next to Port Jefferson Harbor, the Setauket Harbor Task Force has installed two 100-foot lines with sugar kelp seedlings in hopes of cultivating them when they are ready for harvesting. There are numerous ways in which the sugar kelp can be benefited from.
This aquatic plant is edible for both people and pets. It can be used as a fertilizer, bioplastic, biofuel, cosmetics and is a method to help improve water quality.
“Our main goal for this year is to spread the word about kelp and where it grows, the conditions it needs, how to process it and how it can benefit growers on Long Island,” said Wendy Moore, benefactor and manager of the sugar kelp project.
Moore, along with her husband, Justin, founded The Moore Family Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit community involvement program.
“To that end, we’ve developed relationships with 11 growers this season,” she said.
Moore attributes her profound interest in the project to the fact that sugar kelp is self-sustaining. It is what she describes as a “low-intensity process,” which has seen nearly no obstacles other than lesser amounts of sun in the winter months. The Town of Brookhaven was one of the first to support the project and even provided equipment to the task force. There are plans to expand the project in the following years.
Even in a continuous pandemic, the project has not been swayed. According to Moore, the gear distribution and outplanting have been outdoors. Everyone on the team has been able to gather safely and follow proper COVID protocols.
“We’re lucky that much of the needed operations at this time are outdoors,” she said.
David Berg, a scientific advisor to the Moore Foundation, said that the cultivation rate would be more likely to increase after the equinox in March.
Besides Setauket and Port Jefferson Harbors, the Moore foundation has set up in other locations including Islip, Brookhaven, Greenport and Oyster Bay.
Two years ago, the Setauket Harbor Task Force began conducting water monitoring in Setauket Harbor. They set out in the spring, summer and fall seasons to take water chemistry readings and samples to document the water quality. With authorization from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the task force has been able to look at what can be done about the water and possibly cleaning it up.
“There’s oyster harvesting and clam harvesting,” said George Hoffman, a trustee of the task force which helps oversee the sugar kelp cultivation and production. “We decided to try sugar kelp harvesting, and they’re cleaning up the water by feeding on the C02 … which leads to water acidification.”
Hoffman describes his feelings about the task force being included in this pilot project as “exciting” and wants to show the public that harbors like Setauket can become productive areas for marine agriculture.
“We’re happy to have a product that will help us clean and improve the quality of the water and likewise providing beneficial food,” he said.
Cultivating the sugar kelp requires attaching the seeds to two 100-feet lines in the harbor, held together in place by mushroom anchors. When the kelp is ready to harvest, it is thick, rubbery, and a glistening shade of brown before it is processed and cleaned into a vibrant emerald green color, ready for distribution.
According to Hoffman, the harvesting sites take up roughly 200 feet of water, and he hopes to see expansion in a couple of years if this project yields successful results.
“The main thing we’re interested in doing is taking the interest that’s already here and helping Long Island along in the momentum of progressing further,” Moore said. “We want to seek out and connect with people and help get the word out about the amazing potential that it has.”
Northport-East Northport Public Library presents a virtual program via Zoom titled Exploring the Pacific Ocean and Beyond: A Discussion about Plastic Pollution, Science, and Solutions on Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 7 p.m.
Science writer and artist Erica Cirino has explored many of the oceans, lands, and ecosystems of the Earth with a single purpose: find out the truths about plastic pollution and what it is doing to the planet, wildlife and people. Ms. Cirino will share her findings and testimony as a journalist, illustrated by amazing photography, during the presentation. Open to all.
Registration is underway at www.nenpl.org. Code: NENA979
Questions? Call 631-261-6930.
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