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July is Plastic Free Month: A dozen quick & easy ways to ditch the single use

June 29, 2017 by 1 Comment

Every year I get so frustrated with myself for not making the commitment to the challenge for Plastic Free July. This year is different since I have no tests or classes (I write this as I sit in a training for AP Environmental Science!). 

My craziness is going to be lots of travel and that I’ll have two kids in tow. But, it’s going to be a commitment for just ME this July and I’ll see what I can “challenge” them with along the way. These are the dedicated twelve ways that will help me stay focused.

  1. Choose glass over plastic (think milk containers and on-the-go drinks)
  2. Use my homemade dish detergent (borax, castille soap, essential oil)
  3. Use my homemade laundry detergent (borax, washing soda, castille soap, baking soda)
  4. Use the Preserve triple razor and toothbrushes (they’re made from old yogurt cups and they come in pretty colors)
  5. Use my favorite shampoo bar (that I didn’t make)
  6. Not purchase coffee/tea using a cup with a lid
  7. Refuse the straw
  8. Bring bags (and bags!) to the grocer
  9. No online deliveries (that bubble wrap!)
  10. Carry my own plasticware (get a carry case for a spork so you can take it home and wash it; if I have a party maybe I’ll switch to these disposable bamboos)
  11. Carry a water bottle (there are so many places that have water refill stations)
  12. Eat local and fresh and no frozen foods containers or take out (this is my least favorite!)

Just a quick FYI, you don’t need a whole lot to get started when making your own soaps and detergents but definitely get a small food processor. What’s your quick way to reduce your use?

 

Filed Under: Conservation, Inspiration, Marine Debris Tagged With: ,

World Oceans Day is June 8th, but then what? 10 ways to show the ocean love throughout the year

June 6, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Acknowledging all of the movements and days of awareness can seem like a lot to keep up. Just yesterday was World Environment Day and in two days it will be World Oceans Day. Of course, I want to celebrate, support, and demonstrate a commitment to making a difference every day and especially on these special days. The first step has to be “being prepared”! So here is a guide I created for all the important days to look out for the next year. Mark those calendars, add a reminder on your phone, get ready to throw down for some serious high key awareness!

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July is Marine Debris/Plastic Free Month when you can take the challenge and urge people to refuse single use plastic. Why does reducing our plastic use matter? Here are two alarming facts from Scientific American:

  • Chemicals added to plastics are absorbed by human bodies. Some of these compounds have been found to alter hormones or have other potential human health effects.
  • Plastic debris, laced with chemicals and often ingested by marine animals, can injure or poison wildlife.

August 5th is National Oyster Day! Did you know oysters spawn during the summer months and therefore tend not to be as tasty. This is the epitome of the old wives’ tale on why “you shouldn’t eat oysters in months that don’t end in ‘R’.” Find an oyster festival near you here.

This September hosts the 15th Annual Sea Otter Awareness Week during September 24th-28th in 2017. Did you know that the sea otter has a fur that is not as dense as river otters?

October is National Seafood Month. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries takes this month to highlight sustainable fisheries as the smart seafood choice. Learn about sustainable choices as well as lots of recipes (someone please make the flounder stuffed with crabmeat for me, please!) from FishWatch.gov.

The 15th of November is designated as America Recycles Day. It’s a national initiative from Keep America Beautiful to learn what can be recycled in your community, recognize what can be reduced, and identify products made with recycled content. Learn more here.

December into January each year is one of the largest citizen science projects: Christmas Bird Count. Each year since the early 1900s the Audubon Society has been at the forefront of organizing this event. Get the app and see what a remarkable value you can be especially in providing data for reports such as the 2014 Climate Report.

International Polar Bear Day is February 27th. Let’s not pretend it just because they’re cute and cuddly. After all, they’re ferocious and male polar bears might eat their young if they can’t find food. This day is all about calling attention to their habitat loss (i.e., they’re in need of some serious sea ice) due to climate change.

The last Wednesday in March is Manatee Appreciation Day. These slow-moving creatures are slightly adorable and slightly gnarly. Regardless of your feelings they’re populations are going down and it’s primarily caused by human interactions.

Many people reading may know that April hosts is Earth Day but did you know that April 25th is World Penguin Day? This is the time of the year when the penguins travel north from Antarctica as winter moves in on the southern hemisphere.

May finishes the annual list with World Turtle Day on the 23rd! Did you know that if you see a tortoise, turtle, o terrapin is crossing a street, you can pick it up and send it in the same direction it was going – if you try to make it go back, it will turn right around again! Also, drive slow.

Now, when can we fit in a celebration for horseshoe crabs?

Filed Under: Bony Fishes, Conservation, Inspiration, Penguins, Random Fun! Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Hurricane vs. Cyclone vs. Typhoon

June 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Today is the start of hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean. Lots of times people are curious how these storms are different from, say, a cyclone or typhoon. Well, there isn’t any difference other than where they start. Each storm is a low pressure system that forms in tropical or sub-tropical latitudes. Light winds develop in the troposphere (the area closest to earth) that generally generates winds with a speed to about 75 miles per hour after a trigger such as a convergence against another front.

But, how they get their name depends on where they start. Here is a graphic from Lagoon Inside that helps to clarify.

  • Hurricane: Atlantic Ocean; Caribbean Sea; central and northeast Pacific Ocean
  • Typhoon: Northwest Pacific Ocean
  • Cyclone: Bay of Bengal, Arabia Sea; Southwest India Ocean; Southwestern Pacific; Southeastern India Ocean

Map

 

Filed Under: Weather

Do water molecules “surf” the waves?

May 21, 2017 by Leave a Comment

It seems like water molecules might follow the path of a wave given what we know from the water cycle.

Water-Cycle-Art2A

But, if you watch a floating object like a toy boat on a wave in the open sea it won’t travel with the wave but rather bob up and down. The water molecules are actually swirling under the waves helping to move energy to the wave. This swirling motion is known to oceanographers as the “circular orbital motion”.

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Waves are mostly moved by wind. The water molecules in waves of the open ocean are not traveling along with the waves but rather under the waves in a circular motion.

When you get closer to the shore the orbital motion is non-existent because the waves touch the bottom. That phenomenon helps when you lose your boogie board in the surf zone.

Filed Under: Ocean, Oceanography Tagged With: ,

10 best in the past nine years

May 20, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Sometimes it’s nice to look at the past and see what’s worked. From the past nine years of posts on Beach Chair Scientist, it seems that one post has been the “most valuable player”. 100 ocean quotes is a surefire “make you stop by BCS for the first time and join the mailing list” kinda post. It’s the Wayne Gretzky, Babe Ruth, or Micheal Jordan in terms of stats. All other posts just fall short. But in the ethos of sportsmanship, here are ten posts that also bring some well deserved worth to this little blog. Which one are you rooting for?

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Filed Under: Animal Homes, Arthropods, Beach, Biodiversity, Cephalopods, Cnidaria, Crustaceans, Echinoderms, Egg Cases, Fish, Gastropods, Invertebrates, Jellyfish or Jellies, Marine Science, Mollusks, Seashells, Vertebrates, Wrack Line

Wednesday Wisdom: Anonymous

May 16, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Whether it’s playing in the sea or just taking each day at a time, waves eventually bring happiness.

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Find more great ocean and conservation quotes here and please feel free to share with your friends and family!

Also, ask away! If you have a question about something you found on the beach or just something you’re curious about just send an email to info@beachchairscientist.com or tweet us!

Filed Under: Wednesday Wisdom

My awesome, overprotective mom and horseshoe crabs

May 14, 2017 by Leave a Comment

limuluslove_beachchairscientistwebNo joke. I like horseshoe crabs, but not more than my family. Especially my mom. Let me tell you a story about how incredible she was one particular evening in early June. It was probably about 2002 and I was a seasonal employee for the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife. The job was awesome in every sense. Except the hours … either really early for tagging stripers along the Delaware Bay or really late to survey HORSESHOE CRABS!

In case you haven’t heard watching the horseshoe crabs come up to the wrackline to spawn is an incredible experience (check out my post on the short and sweet of horseshoe crab spawning here). You might see some Limulus polyphemus the nights near a full moon or new moon right as the sun is going down. But, it’s not until the tide is at its highest point that the ancient fossils really come out of their hiding spots. 2.IMGP1651-Photograph-James-Bulley-1024x680My co-workers and I went about as normal for this event and used the  quadrat to estimate the amount of females and males every six steps (the females are much bigger!). We’d log the numbers on a clipboard. After the length of the beach that was our responsibility we’d head home. It was about 2am one particular morning when we finally made it back to the van. I also worked as a waitress in the summer so it had been a long day. The data sheet was my responsibility. It blew away. It’s really windy by the sea usually!

We didn’t fudge any numbers. I went back the next night … but, not alone. My amazing, overprotective mom came with me. After all, I had to drive about an hour to a small town along the Delaware Bay in the middle of the night. It was going above and beyond. I mean, she’s not a nature-type so this was in pure mama bear mode that she made the trek with me. It was incredible … my mom was totally amazed by the phenomenon too. One minute there were about fifteen horseshoe crabs and the next hour as soon as high tide occurred they were covering the beach! That night I was able to share my love of teaching and horseshoe crabs with someone I loved. She exuded such enthusiasm that I have no doubt it’s one reason I keep this blog and it’s focus of all things horseshoe crabs going. She might have been pulling my arm and thought the whole experience was really gross and icky, but parents know how to let their kids shine and that’s just fine with me.

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NOAA’S Ocean Today provides a great view of the field experience, too. Yes, I did wear a headlamp like those citizen scientists.

What citizen science projects have you participated in lately? Check out what’s going one here.

Filed Under: Atlantic Horseshoe Crab, People, Science Communication Tagged With: , ,

What gives a beach its unique features?

April 25, 2017 by Leave a Comment

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Tides. Winds. Waves. You might think of those right away when you ask yourself “Why are beaches so different from one another?” The story of how and why beaches are unique is more than what we witness while lying in a beach chair watching the tide go out hour by hour. The personality of a beach actually started long before … depending on what type of activity occurs near it.

If a beach is on a coast with a lot of earthquakes and volcanoes than it means that coast is active. Active coasts are going to be rocky, jagged, and edgy. Think “lots of cliffs”. This is easily seen along the West coast of the U.S. On the other hand, a beach might have a gentle slope with dunes leading to the sea. Think “the picture above”. There may be earthquakes but they’re rare and no volcanoes. This would mean the coast is passive. Being an active or passive coast is the foundation of a beach. Almost like its genetics or DNA.

active_passiveSo what gives a beach its true character is what it relates with on a daily basis. Just like the people and media we interact with on a daily basis shape our true character. For instance, does a beach have an expansive estuary nearby? Does a beach have an energetic or dormant volcano nearby? If this is the case the coast would also be considered primary. Primary coasts have been created by land based factors such as drowned river valleys, glaciers, or volcanoes. On the other hand, the ocean can play an important role in shaping a coast as well. Maybe there is considerable wave erosion lapping the shore? Are coral reefs, barrier islands, or other marine depositions nearby that helped to form a shoreline? These coasts are called secondary.

Beaches are either on a passive or active foundation and each have prevailing short term factors of primary (land based erosion) or secondary (ocean based erosion). The combination of characteristics give each beach a distinctive quality. Just like each one of us each beach is valuable and precious.

Filed Under: Beach, Marine Science Tagged With: ,

How to say “I love you” with friends from the sea

February 13, 2017 by 1 Comment

Happy Valentine's Day!

Top to bottom: Octopus; Whale; Cuttlefish; Otters

Filed Under: Random Fun! Tagged With: , ,

Millions of smiles for miles at the #womensmarch

January 22, 2017 by Leave a Comment

49b02a578bdcc86ebe96ffad6711045aI am proud of the way the Women’s March in D.C. was planned and executed. It was thrilling and invigorating to be with the droves of people who wanted their voice to be heard. I chatted with folks from North Carolina, Maine, and even Nevada. It was peaceful, fun, and loud at times. It made my feet hurt but I didn’t notice. I was joyful to be a part of it. I was there vibrant and strong with a chanting voice for equal rights for all those in this great country.

And, as a marine science enthusiast/ocean conservationist I was VERY hyped to many signs reminding the new administration of the reality of science and climate change. There will be more to come in posts this year urging for action for climate change. Maybe not a shout out to the federal government but for more grassroots changes. If there is one lesson learned from 2016 it’s that everyone should make more conscious choices in our daily actions – what we believe, read, share on social media to what we eat matters! For now here is a short film on some highlights from the day. Please share your favorite march moments below!

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Filed Under: Conservation, Inspiration, Ocean Conservation Tagged With: , , , ,