The paint has arrived! Yesterday afternoon 8 quarts of ePaint’s Ecominder was delivered to our office in preparation for Friday’s “Blue Boat Maintenance” workshop. The Lady C will be getting a bit of a makeover… a new coat of environmentally friendly, copper free bottom paint.
On July 10 from 5-7pm, Charleston Waterkeeper, the Sustainability Institute, AlphaGreen and ePaint are all joining hands to introduce an environmentally-friendly bottom paint option to the Charleston community. Join us on the Maritime Center’s T-head as experts from AlphaGreen and ePaint give the Waterkeeper patrol boat a new coat of antifouling paint.
After the workshop, the Charleston Water Taxi will be taking all attendees out for an hour long harbor tour (7:30-8:30pm). This will be a great opportunity to ask questions about the impacts of copper on our waterways, mingle with other attendees and enjoy Charleston’s waterfront. The Water Taxi will leave from the Maritime Center. Free beer to those of age.
The Roots and Shoots club at Trident Technical College is a group of students committed to environmental stewardship. As members of Charleston Waterkeeper, they have made great efforts to spread the message about our mission to the Trident Tech community.
Last month Cosima Franke, one of Roots and Shoots most devoted members, organized a good old fashioned bake sale to raise awareness and funds for Charleston Waterkeeper. The day was incredibly successful and the club was able to raise $141! Thanks so much guys!!!
The Department of Health and Environmental Control has recently published an updated list of fish advisory. The latest information cites 28 rivers throughout SC that are impaired due to mercury and other contaminants. As a result, many bottom-feeding fish are unsuitable to eat. Coal-fired power plants, incinerators and cement kilns are all contributors to the presence of mercury in our waterways. For the Post and Courier article on this topic, click here.
The 11th Annual Waterkeeper Alliance Conference brought together some of the hardest working, brightest, most progressive and creative individuals in the entire world. Nearly 200 Waterkeepers were present at the conference, representing 19 countries and 6 continents.
On day two, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President of Waterkeeper Alliance, introduced guest speaker, President Bill Clinton. Before handing the mic over to the President, Kennedy reflected on the role Waterkeepers play around the world. He quoted President Lincoln, saying that “America is a great nation because we are a good nation.” He explained that democracy is measured by a country’s ability to protect the commons - the air we breathe, the water we drink, the fish we eat. Because “nature is the infrastructure of our communities,” Kennedy declared that we all have a role in protecting our waterways.
President Bill Clinton shared with all of the Waterkeepers his experiences as a boy that influenced his passion for protecting our nation’s waterways. On the matter of environmental laws, Clinton said quite simply that “if you have a law and you don’t enforce it, you don’t have a law!” As a concluding point, he warned each of us that we could win every lawsuit we bring against polluters, but if we as a global community don’t change the way we produce and consume energy, then we will have lost the war.
Sir Robert Swan, an advocate for the protection of Antarctica and renewable energy, spoke at dinner this evening during the 11th Annual Waterkeeper Alliance Conference. Swan was the first person to walk to both the North and South Poles and has dedicated his life to the preservation of Antarctica by the promotion of recycling, renewable energy, and sustainability to combat the effects of climate change. His organization, Antarctica 2041, has been established to engage and inspire “the next generation of leaders to take responsibility, to be sustainable, and to know that now is the time for action in policy development, business generation and future technologies.” Visit his website here.
Swan ended his presentation with his quote, “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”
Sir Robert Swan and Charleston Waterkeeper, Cyrus Buffum at the Annual Waterkeeper Alliance Conference. Photo by: Alan Mehrzad, Congaree Riverkeeper
Day one is over at the 10th Annual Waterkeeper Alliance. Already, the interactions with the other Waterkeepers from around the world have been incredible. Ten years ago, 25 Waterkeeper programs made up “The Alliance.” Today, the Waterkeeper Alliance consists of 189 programs from 19 countries. (Thirty-nine percent of these programs are international!)
During the conference welcome speech, Robert Kennedy, Jr. (Chairman of the Waterkeeper Alliance), reflected on our global community’s right to clean water, “everyone has a right to their share of the commons.” However, he continued, this right is not always protected; environmental laws are not enforced the same way other crimes against humanity are… and they should be!
Throughout the evening, all of the Waterkeeper programs were introduced by region: North Atlantic Region, Latin American Region (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru), International Programs (Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe), U.S. Great Lakes Region, Southeast Region, Canadian Region and the Gulf Region.
Here’s a short clip of Charleston Waterkeeper’s introduction to the rest of the Waterkeeper Alliance…
This week, Charleston Waterkeeper is at the 11th Annual Waterkeeper Alliance Conference in New York! Nearly 200 Waterkeepers from 19 countries convened at the SUNY Maritime Campus in the Bronx to plan for another year of protecting our global water supplies. This year’s theme was global warming.
Thanks to a grant from the South Carolina Green Foundation, Charleston Waterkeeper was able to attend the conference and purchase a small digital camcorder to document events and occurences from the week. Please enjoy our first video below…
The Department of Health and Environmental Control, Charleston Police Department, Charleston Fire Department and the SC Department of Transportation all responded to the incident. Eyewitnesses claimed to have seen a truck traveling up Ashley Avenue with a pipe discharging fluid out of the underside of the vehicle.
Hours after the incident, a DHEC official told me that they had not identified a responsible party. Efforts were taken to decrease the danger to commuters. Sand was spread over the spill to provide traction; however there were no efforts to remove or clean up the spill. While officials covered the oil with sand, rain began to fall over downtown. As rain fell, the oil began to run off into the storm drains on either side of the street (storm drains are connected directly to our waterways).
Charleston Waterkeeper will follow up on this incident to see if any further information is discovered. This spill raises potential questions about the effectiveness of the methods used by officials when responding to oil spills. I did not see that all efforts were made to mitigate damage to our waterways.
Biologists and a veterinarian bring a stranded pygmy sperm whale onto the shore at Sullivan's Island late Monday. Photo by: Wayne McFee/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Earlier this week two pygmy sperm whales (a mother and a female calf) were found stranded in the surf off of Sullivan’s Island. Attempts were made to push the animals back to sea; however, these efforts failed, and the two whales were eventually brought to shore. A black plastic garbage bag was found inside the mother’s stomach. The marine debris caused the animal to fall ill, thus preventing it from caring for and feeding it’s calf. The two animals later died. Click here to read the full story from the Post and Courier.
Marine debris, especially plastics, are an obvious threat to the health and quality of our waterways and the safety and well-being of marine animals. This terrible incident is an exact example of the impact our litter has on the environment.
The solution is simple: DON’T LITTER and DON’T POLLUTE!
The paint has arrived! Yesterday afternoon 8 quarts of ePaint’s Ecominder was delivered to our office in preparation for Friday’s “Blue Boat Maintenance” workshop. The Lady C will be getting a bit of a makeover… a new coat of environmentally friendly, copper free bottom paint.
