By Erik Vance Anyone who lives near the Bay or walks along the shoreline knows the land and water share a constant connection of give and take. Sediment flows from the mountains, through the marsh, into the Bay. Meanwhile, salmon go exactly the opposite direction, bringing a little of the open ocean into Sierra foothills. It turns out that this link is even tighter than anyone had ever guessed. Scientists at the University of California Davis recently did a series of tests to see how easily diseases can transfer from land to water. They were looking at a particularly nasty bug, called …
Search Results for: what in your watershed
Be a Trash Hero this Coastal Clean Up Day | Join Us for the Planet’s Largest Volunteer Event
By Juliana Gonzalez On the morning of September 25, 2010, Richmond High School student Pablo Rodriguez will don his gloves and get his bucket ready to clean up the East Bay shoreline. So too will students in Mexico, The Netherlands, and more than 90 other countries around the world, cleaning up their local shorelines. This unified effort is inspirational in the face of a growing amount of trash accumulating in our oceans, running through our rivers and fouling our shorelines. During the International Coastal Cleanup Day, the entire planet pitches in to reduce marine debris while making an …
Flotsam Flotilla Hits the Bay | Join the Fun on Coastal Clean Up Day
By Erik Vance There are lots of ways to enjoy the Bay and enjoy your watershed. You can hop on a sailboat, take a swim, or just walk along a shoreline and squish your toes in the sand. But perhaps none is as intimate and revealing as a trip in a kayak. Sitting right next to the water not only gives you a workout, but it puts you in the perfect place to see the Bay. Since your boat makes almost no noise, the wildlife takes little notice of you. Kayakers regularly spot seals, sea lions, skates, and even porpoises in the Bay these days. Since the days of the native Ohlone people and their …
Oil on the Water | How You Can Fight Water Pollution
By Aniko Drlik-Muehleck We have a serious catastrophe on our hands. Each day, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association estimates that 12,000-19,000 barrels of oil are spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's damaged wells. We're at Day 56 now and counting. That makes this the largest oil spill in the history of the US. Now, disturbing images of oil-drenched birds and workers coated in oil sludge are hitting the American public as the oil slick spreads relentlessly toward the Gulf Coast shoreline. Surely this is the worst case of water pollution ever, right? Surprisingly and sadly, …
Showdown Over Plastic Bags | Finally, A Statewide Effort to Reduce Trash, Save Energy, and Protect Marine Life
By Jeff Embleton As I begin this article, the ticker on www.reuseit.com shows that 293,651,720,000 plastic bags have been consumed this year. Since the plastic bag first found its way into the back seats, kitchen cupboards, and spare space under the sink in American households, we have been consuming them at an alarming rate. Worldwide plastic bag consumption falls between 500 billion and 1 trillion bags annually. That breaks down to almost 1 million every minute. The plastic sandwich bag was introduced into American lunches in 1957. The long roll of plastic that hangs above fruits …
