Thank you for taking the time to enter your photographs and vote for your favorites during our 2020 Photo Contest this summer. I am blown away by the entries and I hope you enjoyed seeing all the incredible submissions we received from around the world.
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From gentle manatees to jaw-dropping coral reefs, the images you’ve captured inspire us, especially during a time so many of us are missing our ocean right now. After weeks of deliberation, YOU and our expert panel of judges have spoken.
Without further delay, here are our 2020 Photo Contest winners …
Thank you to everyone who submitted photos and voted—you helped make this photo contest a success. And a mighty thanks to our expert judges: Amy Gulick, Camrin Dengel, Emily Penn, Amy Gulick and Kyle Soto. Enjoy the contest’s honorable mentions below and we’ll sea you next year!
This blog was written by Guy Forchion, the Executive Director of Historic Virginia Key Beach Park. Ocean Conservancy has held a number of Cleanups in partnership with the phenomenal team at Historic Virginia Key Beach Park in Miami, Florida. We are excited to share this guest blog.
In the past, August 1 was just another hot, sunny day in Miami where visitors and residents hit the beaches. This year, thanks to the leadership of Florida State Senator Oscar Braynon II and State Rep. Barbara Watson, the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust, Board of Trustees and staff and support of all of the Friends of Historic Virginia Key Beach Park (HVKBP) over the years, August 1 is now Historic Virginia Key Beach Park Day in the state of Florida.
This year, August 1 will also mark the day of the 75th Anniversary of the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park with a safe, socially distanced virtual celebration and cocktail party featuring oral history documentaries, musical performances and specialty do-it-yourself cocktails led by a South Florida mixologist. This is an exciting way for the Trust to share the rich cultural and historical story of the Historic Beach Park with the millions of residents and visitors who visited and enjoy the Park.
Those Miamians took to the water that day, knowing arrests, abuse and the potential of the Ku Klux Klan to appear were very real and likely outcomes of their act. Miami was a different place in 1945, more along the lines of the Old South versus the diverse, global city we all know and celebrate today. Undaunted, those protesters stayed in the water and left without any arrests made. They achieved their goal. One of the protesters, Lawson Thomas was also a lawyer and would later become the first black public office in the South since Reconstruction. Lawson and his legal acumen were critical in making the deal between Dade County and the protesters. He is quoted as saying that day, “We weren’t arrested, so as far as I know we will be going to the beach from now on.”
Once the park was established, Virginia Key Beach Park became the contrast to the other beaches in the area, ones with signs that said, “No Jews, No Dogs, and No Coloreds.” Those courageous protesters, through successful non-violent civic action, created a space where families could enjoy the beauty of South Florida’s ocean, where families could spend days in the sand and sun, hosting picnics and celebrating birthdays and weddings. Virginia Key Beach was frequently visited by giants like Muhammad Ali and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In later years, the Park set the Guinness World Record for the Tallest Sand Castle at 45.85’; it is the home to the closest antique carousel to the sea and a historic mini-train—all of which have been restored and in combination with a pristine, natural shoreline have put the “People’s Park” on the National Registry of Historic Places.
Dr. Greg Bush, a University of Miami Professor, community activist and author, informed members of Miami’s leadership when he got word that developers were planning the creation of a private, luxury, eco-tourism development on the Historic Beach Park location. One of those community leaders was Mr. Gene Tinnie, current Chair of the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust, he carried that urgent news to M. Athalie Range, (Mama Range) one of black Miami’s longtime political powerhouses.
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Range (80 at the time) put her skills as a civil rights activist and politician to work as she and Tinnie built a strong and diverse community coalition that won unanimous support from city officials to preserve the historic beach. Reviving the Historic Beach Park was a monumental task that included the creation of a Civil Rights Museum Task Force, a community charrette process and gathering funding, to the tune of $40 million. The efforts orchestrated by Range, Tinnie and others led to the creation of the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust in 2001. Range’s legacy of championing Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, South Florida’s black community and people, lives on at HVKBP through her grandson, N. Patrick Range, who is the Trust’s Treasurer.
“Generational care and stewardship of our park is not a surprise. When you look back at how we got here, you see the care for this beach and what it offers to the community. That’s worth protecting,” said Gene Tinnie.
Persistence, passion and community unity are the things that have gotten the Park to 75 years. South Florida’s communities continue to draw on the strength of those before us, like M. Athalie Range, like Lawson Thomas and everyone who joined in that very first Wade-In back in 1945 as we look ahead to the next 75 years.
In a city full of iconic places and people, Historic Virginia Key Beach Park will continue to thrive on the values upon which it was founded 75 years ago and be a place that welcomes and celebrates the diversity that makes Miami a one of-a-kind city.
Virginia Key Beach Park Trust relies heavily on private donors and corporate philanthropy plus public events to supplement limited municipal funding. Charitable contributions together with selected naming opportunity rights within the park are devoted to ongoing educational, environmental and historic preservation programs to benefit the general public. To support Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, please donatehere.
By visually capturing life underwater, photographers give individuals that may never experience journeying to the depths of our ocean, the opportunity to view the incredible lives and habits of marine wildlife.
Thanks to underwater photography and videography, millions of people are able to see how wonderful the world beneath the waves is and learn more about the wildlife that call it home—from barrel-rolling manta rays and waltzing humpback whales to tiny sea slugs and spawning corals.
Many of us are visual learners and photographs of wildlife play a huge role in environmental advocacy. By documenting and sharing the visible threats to our ocean such as marine debris, habitat loss and increased shipping, individuals are better able to understand these issues and develop a powerful, emotional connection with a world that once seemed so secretive.
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And just as we respect wildlife on land when photographing wildlife and environments, it’s important to understand our impact and responsibility as observers in our ocean, before we deep dive to document the wonders below. Below are some tips to responsibly document your favorite marine wildlife.
When we see baby sea turtles struggling through what appears to be mountains of sand compared to their small figures to reach the ocean, there’s the temptation to help these tiny turtles, especially when knowing their odds of survival are so grim, but we must let nature run its course. By interfering with this natural journey, hatchlings are unable to gain the information and skills needed to survive as adults. When photographing these creatures, clear the way and keep your distance—document and cheer them on from afar.
In the Philippines, whale sharks contribute to a booming tourism industry, bringing in thousands of visitors anxious to photograph the spotted giants. But the large gatherings of these endangered whale sharks seen in viral social posts are not naturally occurring—they are brought about by regular hand-feeding of the sharks. Although this may seem harmless, we don’t know what the long-term effects of this sort of feeding will cause. For example, poachers, eager to harvest their meat, fins and oils, can easily be mistaken as a friend by the sharks.
By letting others know how you photographed your subject, you’re contributing to the education of responsibly documenting wildlife. And if you did photograph wildlife in ways you’re not proud of, acknowledging and owning up to unethical practices still helps others understand the issues and encourages photographers to commit to practicing ethical photography.
We are all in a perpetual state of learning—it’s through reminding ourselves of the intention behind our imagery, respecting wildlife and doing our part to educate others, that we can work towards preserving the natural beauty of our ocean, together.
You might not feel particularly motivated to get to know the sea urchin. And I get it! Their spiny bodies, slow pace and generally muted colors don’t exactly make them the most charismatic critters in the sea. But I guarantee that the more you learn about sea urchins, the more you will love them. You’ll never look at urchins the same way again!
First things first: sea urchins are echinoderms, which is a phylum of marine invertebrates that includes sea stars, brittle stars and sea cucumbers. Echinoderms are known for their five-point radial symmetry and water vascular system. The water vascular system involves several small tube feet that become stiff when water is pushed into them, allowing the animals to move on a conveyor belt-like rotation of feet. They typically have a tough, spiny surface, which inspired their name (in Greek, echinos means “spiny” and derma means “skin”). Of course, sea urchins’ spiny exterior is a little more obvious than the others, but a close look at the skin of a sea cucumber or sea star will show distinctive bumps.
Sea urchins are further classified in the class Echinoidea, which includes the classic “sea urchins” you’re picturing now, as well as sand dollars and sea biscuits (of the non-equine variety).
There are more than 900 species of sea urchins around the world from the shallows to the deep sea. Urchins live at depths of more than 24,000 feet. Hidden beneath their spines they have a hard, outer skeleton called a test. If you’ve ever walked along the beach and seen a circular purple, white or green-ish shell with dots all over it, it might be a sea urchin test! Each raised dot represents where there used to be a spine when the urchin was alive.
Sea urchins also have a hard mouthpiece called an Aristotle’s lantern. It’s named after the philosopher Aristotle, who described the urchin’s mouth as a “horn lantern” in his book The History of Animals. They have five calcium carbonate teeth that grind and scrape algae, plankton and kelp.
Sea urchins plan an important role in the ecosystem. They are grazers that help keep algae in check and are a favorite food source of many ocean species. We’ve seen what can happen if we don’t keep sea urchin populations in check. In the Caribbean, for example, there was a massive die-off of the black sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) in the 1980s. Algae began to take over without those urchins grazing on the reef, which made it harder for corals to get the light they needed to thrive.
Next time you’re in the ocean or at the aquarium, don’t overlook the prickly but precious sea urchin!
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Even more troubling, they found that current commitments by the private sector and world governments to reduce the amount of plastic entering our ocean and waterways are not nearly enough. If society implements all of these current commitments to reduce plastic pollution, we only stem the flow by 7%—which at our business-as-usual (BAU) rate would mean 29 million metric tons of plastic flowing into the ocean by 2040, and a cumulative plastic stock of 600 million metric tons in the marine environment.
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The researchers looked at various interventions available to bend the curve, including reducing plastic consumption, increasing rates of reuse, waste collection and recycling, expanding safe disposal systems, and accelerating innovation in a variety of areas. Compared to BAU, reducing and substituting plastic materials had the highest impact, leading to a 59% reduction by 2040 compared to business-as-usual. Improving collection and disposal reduced inputs by 57% by 2040, while the recycling scenario led to a 45% reduction. But ultimately, Lau et al. (2020) found that neither pre- nor post-consumption interventions alone are sufficient. Rather, we must deploy a “System Change” scenario whereby we implement all of these interventions to achieve a nearly 80% reduction in plastic pollution relative to BAU at 2040.
These findings signal that we are at a clear fork in the road. Our current path leads us to a fate that is not sustainable for the health of our ocean or the communities and wildlife that depend on it; the other takes us on a journey where we fundamentally rethink our relationship and approach to plastics and waste. The choice is obvious.
Protected parcels of lands and waters—often dubbed parks, reserves or sanctuaries—are critical conservation zones that not only sustain vibrant plant and animal communities but also inspire visitors to explore and steward some of the world’s most exceptional places. There are currently about 4,000 land-based National Parks worldwide, including 419 in the United States and; along our coasts and in our oceans, there are more than 17,000 protected ocean areas worldwide and around 1,700 in the United States. All of these exceptional areas face threats as global climate changes and human-caused influences become more pronounced. Plastic pollution in the environment is one of those threats.
Scientists recently discovered that tiny plastic shards and threads called microplastics can be transported thousands of kilometers around the globe by wind or flowing water. When airborne, those particles are carried on a breeze to the most remote corners of the earth like alpine glaciers or coral reef atolls, or even accidentally inhaled by beach-dwelling humans or land-dwelling animals. Last month, a research group investigating the presence of microplastics in 11 of the western United States’ National Parks revealed these pesky airborne plastics are deposited from the sky onto parklands at staggering rates. More than 1,000 metric tons—roughly the weight of 1,000 elephants—fall onto the 11 National Parks studied each year! While a large proportion of microplastics are generated on land (shed from clothing, disintegrated from littered plastic items), they travel to the sea where they become available for marine organisms to encounter and possibly eat. In fact, about 700 species are known to consume large or micro-sized plastics in the environment. The known number of species impacted by plastics grows daily with new scientific research; however, ocean animals found with microplastics in their guts and tissues include seafood items like fish and shellfish–important protein sources for marine mammals and people around the globe. As a scientist actively researching microplastics in bivalves, I find there is still much to learn about the prevalence of microplastics in marine organisms (such as those harvested in North American commercial fisheries), and their impacts on ecosystems, fisheries and human seafood consumers.
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While we don’t know the extent of microplastic fallout onto protected open coast or ocean areas, one recent study discovered the ocean spits out some microplastics in the form of sea spray, forcing once-waterborne plastic pieces back into the air. This transfer of microplastics from ocean to the atmosphere may account for more than 100,000 tons of plastic blowing ashore every year. This loop of microplastics becoming airborne, falling into water bodies or onto lands and being resuspended in the air is now part of what is dubbed the global plastic cycle.
Help protect National Parks, marine protected areas and other incredible places around the world without even leaving your home! You can help reduce your contributions to microplastics in the environment by simply adjusting your household laundering habits. Did you know one load of synthetic laundry can create millions of microplastics? Washing clothing at colder temperatures and on gentle cycles, and using microfiber catchments in our washing machines such as guppy bags or machine filters can help prevent many of those microplastic fibers from being shed and carried in wastewater out into the environment to become airborne. Let’s not allow the microplastics we generate at home become “dust” in the wind!
The ocean is essential to the way we live—it gives us life, it feeds us and it is an infinite source of inspiration. Unfortunately, the ocean faces an unprecedented crisis. The plastics we use are leaking into the ocean, threatening the health of the ocean and the resources we depend on. During these difficult times, when current conditions keep us apart, we must remember that we are all connected through the ocean and that the ocean unites us.
Approximately 80% of marine debris comes from land-based sources, with the majority traced to a relatively small number of coastal and riverine urban areas where rapid growth and economic development has outpaced the development of waste management infrastructure. Studies by Ocean Conservancy and the Trash Free Seas Alliance have identified improving waste collection and management systems as the fastest way to prevent and reduce marine litter in the near-term.
Integrated, locally-appropriate waste management solutions are needed immediately, but it is unlikely that government funding alone will be sufficient to build the necessary systems. To fill that gap, private and philanthropic investments are necessary to reduce innovation barriers and make these systems more economically viable. At the same time, the public sector plays a central role in developing, managing and regulating these systems over the long term for multiple benefits, including public health and safety, reduced carbon emissions and economic development as well as stopping the leakage of litter into the ocean and environment.
The seminar series will identify funding opportunities for innovative policies and technologies geared towards the circular economy, pathways to integrate APEC economy companies (including SMEs) into existing support networks and technology incubators, and methods to enable those companies to deploy their innovations in the markets where they are needed most.
Solutions to the plastics in the ocean crisis will require commitments on a global scale and from stakeholders at all levels. As we move towards overcoming these difficult times, we must make sure that we emerge from this period with an ocean that is more resilient and sustainable. As countries reinvigorate their economies and rebuild societal infrastructure, especially in response to the pandemic, we must all keep our eyes towards the future to ensure that both our communities and natural environment (including the ocean) can prosper. We can only achieve this by working together and by collaborating across regions.
The challenges facing the ocean and coastal communities cannot wait. The ocean is critical to life and livelihoods, and Ocean Conservancy will continue to work during these difficult times by supporting efforts to protect the ocean and its resources, and support coastal communities.
A study from Kiel reveals potential and mechanismsIn five years, will the winter be mild, and will the following summer be rainy? Unfortunately, reliable answers to such questions are not possible, despite the progress in climate science. Nevertheless, there are quantities like the sea surface temperature of the North Atlantic, that are known to promote trends in the weather over Europe. To that, North Atlantic sea surface temperatures are predictable several years into the future – as suggested by a new study carried out under the lead of GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and published in Geophysical Research Letters.
from "Future Ocean" – News https://ift.tt/3f2LzFS https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
Our Chief Scientist, George Leonard, spoke with the Former Notre Dame Captain about his interests in the ocean and his dream to free dive with great white sharks.
“I would love to free dive with great whites off the coast of South Africa one day.” That’s the kind of leisure activity you’d expect to hear from an NFL defensive lineman, who also happens to be passionate about the ocean. Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Khalid Kareem’s passion for the water started as a child growing up in the Great Lakes in Detroit.
With the largest fresh water system in the world in his backyard, and with family vacations to the Bahamas, Khalid has spent a lot of time on the water.
He joined our Chief Scientist George Leonard for a welcome to #TeamOcean along with a conversation on some of his favorite ocean topics, football and when he started the face paint. Below are some of the excerpts.
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Growing up Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem and are made up of five lakes: Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario. They contain 20% of all surface freshwater on the planet and provide drinking water for 35 million people in eight U.S. states and Canada. They were also where Khalid, a Detroit native, first discovered his joy of the water.
Diver in the Making
Khalid’s interest in doing more with the ocean drove him to pursue his diving certification. While training for the NFL Draft in Pensacola, Florida, Khalid came close to achieving that until an injury delayed the process. Determination is one of Khalid’s strengths and he says he will get that certification soon enough.
Defense All the Way
At six years old, Khalid got a taste of chasing down quarterbacks and has kept the same position of defensive end throughout his career. While he did dabble in quarterback and tight end for a bit, his prowess as a defender is welcome as the ocean is in need of a strong defense.
Sharks Have a New Ally
Sharks have been around for around 450 million years—predating dinosaurs! In addition, sharks are what scientists call “keystone species” (keeping other species lower in the trophic food web in check) and can be found all over the globe. Did you know that 25% of sharks are threatened with extinction, with about 100 million killed each year for fins and meat? George and Khalid spoke about Ocean Conservancy’s 2018 trip to St. Helena where George and our Senior Director, Trash Free Seas® Program Nick Mallos took part in a research trip and were able to swim with whale sharks. Khalid expressed his desire to help protect these vital creatures any way he can and looks forward to a day where he can free dive with great whites off the coast of South Africa.
Get Him More Face Paint
Athletes have all kinds of pregame and gameday rituals, from what they eat, to what music they warm up to, to what they wear. Inspired by Minnesota Vikings Hall of Famer John Randle, Khalid started his face paint ritual in high school. It has developed over the years to its current form.
See Pollution, Tackle Pollution
In the ocean and in the Great Lakes, plastic pollution is a massive problem. With the equivalent of a garbage truck full of plastic into the ocean every minute, we need to take action. The increase in plastic bottles, bags and other materials piling up in the Great Lakes, has Khalid’s attention.
Bringing the Ocean to Inner Cities
Access – to education and exposure to ocean and climate issues are key to reaching inner city students and making the ocean and all of its wonder available to everybody.
As you can see, we covered a lot of ground with Khalid and appreciate him making the time as he prepares for training camp. However football looks this year, we are thrilled to have Khalid as a champion for these issues and welcome him to #TeamOcean!
It was a privilege to work with seven Indigenous friends and colleagues on a paper in which they describe what it’s like to live alongside one of the three international borders dividing the traditional lands of the Chukchi and Inuit in the Arctic.
These boundaries are now so familiar to us that we often take them for granted, as if they are a natural and inevitable outcome of history and geography. Each was the result of a decision made far away, with little thought to the Indigenous peoples along the new borders or to ecosystem connections near and far.
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Modern boundaries
On the shore of the Beaufort Sea, where the 141st Meridian crosses from land to water above the Arctic Circle, a small monument stands on the boundary between Canada and the United States. Innocuous in itself, the marker is nonetheless a symbol of colonial and national powers exerting their control regardless of local rights and customs.
In 1825, Great Britain and Russia signed a treaty delineating the divide between their empires in North America. In 1867, the United States paid Russia $7.2 million for Alaska, creating a new border bisecting the Bering Strait. Far to the east, Canada and Denmark (as the colonial power ruling Greenland) drew their own line between Greenland and Ellesmere Island and continuing down through Baffin Bay.
Community impacts
The implications of a new line on a map took time to manifest in a series of changes that hardened the control exerted by national governments. Trade was restricted or blocked, travel was limited or even prohibited, and land use patterns were forced to change regardless of ecology or culture. Cold War politics, concerns about sovereignty and fears of national security led to even tighter restrictions.
The waters that had previously connected people are now a barrier dividing families, trading partners and cultures. The Indigenous peoples of the region, however, have not simply accepted this state of affairs. Instead, they have maintained or re-established ties across the borders, celebrating their shared cultures and working to sustain their shared ecosystems.
Here are some highlights—in their own voice—emphasizing what has been accomplished and also how much farther there is to go.
The Bering Strait: Russia-United States
Eduard Zdor, Chukchi, wrote: “The Bering Strait is not a water border separating the two countries, but a water world that provided a life for peoples. … the Bering Strait does more than provide traditional food, it sets the rhythm of life, supporting our traditions and spirituality. … The Bering Strait is not a border, but a unique habitat of the Chukchi, Inuit and Siberian Yupik, which provides a chance to preserve their cultures, languages, and identity.”
Vera Metcalf, St. Lawrence Island Yupik, emphasized the same theme: “We share the Bering Strait, which is a migration route for vast numbers of marine mammals—bowhead and other whales, walrus, all types of seals—and millions of seabirds and fish, too. This is an immense migration that follows the sea ice retreat in spring and its expansion in the fall. Our natural resources are theirs, their natural environment is ours; and we both depend on these for our well-being, nutritionally, economically and culturally. The strength of our connection to each other, even during times when governments separate us, will hopefully always remain.”
The Beaufort Sea: United States-Canada
Carla SimsKayotuk, Iñupiaq, described her family’s struggles with the paperwork needed to establish citizenship and rights: “So many people in the area have parents who were born on one side while they themselves were born on the other. … Some were born in Canada, so they have a Canadian passport, but live in Alaska. … Oddly enough, many people in this situation are recognized as tribal members in the U.S., even if they are not citizens. … Those with ambiguous status will have to find a way to clear things up. Otherwise, families will be divided, including brothers and sisters, parents and children, and husbands and wives. Our blood, our songs, our language, our coasts, our waters and our animals all connect us. But paperwork divides us.”
Richard Binder, Inuvialuq, extended this point to the marine environment: “The animals, too, go back and forth each year. But now there is a border dividing us. … In the 1980s, we Inuvialuit from Canada got together with our Iñupiaq cousins from Alaska’s North Slope to create a shared, Indigenous-to-Indigenous system for managing the polar bear population that spans our lands and waters on both sides of the border. … We have expanded that cooperation to other species, too. It is good … that the governments on both sides have come to recognize the importance of our work. But it is also frustrating because the international boundary makes it harder than it should be, with extra rules and complications all because of a line on a map. We are one people and this is one ecosystem, which we should be taking care of together as our ancestors did.”
Baffin Bay: Canada-Greenland
Toku Oshima, Inughuaq, also wrote of her frustration: “I used to go hunting on Umimmattooq (the Greenlandic name for Ellesmere Island) but now I cannot because the border has been closed by the Canadian government. … Today, we need passports to go to Canada, which many of us do not have, because we cannot get them in Qaanaaq [her hometown in the far north of Greenland]. …The discussions about creating Pikialasorsuaq (an Inuit-designated protected area in the northern part of Baffin Bay, between Canada and Greenland) may create an opportunity for us to travel freely again to Umimmattooq. … I just know that I want to be able to do what we used to do, without restrictions.”
Robert Comeau, Inuk, found hope in traveling across Baffin Bay: “The tides do not care about boundaries on a map. Nor do the prevailing currents or dominant winds. The animals we rely on consistently cross national lines through the ocean. Most importantly, we as people created our own spaces based around the ocean. Every summer I get to travel across Baffin Bay on an expedition cruise ship. …What an experience to see hunters, seamstresses, business folks that are so similar to us! … The new efforts put in by Inuit to manage our waters are just another example of our relationship not only to the water but to each other.”
The lived experiences from Indigenous peoples shared here are perhaps the first attempt to present voices from across the region and three international borders. These are stories that we must continue to record as Indigenous leadership strengthens traditional connections and interactions that have been disrupted and harmed by government restrictions.
Much remains to be done but the people of the Arctic are once again finding ways for the water to connect us.
Daniel S. Padilla Ochoa, Florida Partnerships Manager for Ocean Conservancy, sea-level rise specialist and urban planning graduate from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design (GSD), talked to Gary Hilderbrand, founding Principal and Partner of design firm Reed Hilderbrand. A committed practitioner, teacher, critic and writer, Gary is the Peter Louis Hornbeck Professor-in-Practice at Harvard GSD, where he has taught since 1990.
Over the course of an hour-long interview, Daniel and Gary discussed the National Mall Tidal Basin IDEAS LAB in Washington, D.C., Cambridge, Massachusetts’ urban forest master plan, three projects by Reed Hilderbrand where design was forced to meet the challenges of climate change and Professor Hilderbrand’s recent Harvard GSD landscape studio in Virginia’s coastal counties. The interview wraps up with a discussion around the balance between preventing climate change, preparing for sea-level rise and adapting to new habitable areas in neighborhoods along the Little River in Miami, Florida including El Portal, Littler River, Hialeah, Miami Shores and others.
During the discussion, a difficult question arose: What do we do when our national treasures, protected by the National Historic Preservation Act, are under threat from climate change?
The professor noted that a tidal basin could be maintained in place by raising flood walls by at least six feet, with an initial cost of $300 million. However, now is the time to explore outside-the-box options, and that’s exactly what the Trust for National Law and the National Trust for Historic Preservation did when partnering with American Express to create the National Mall Tidal Basin IDEAS LAB. A public-private partnership had already been created to improve and save national monuments in D.C. from flooding, and both the Lincoln Reflecting Pool and Monumental Mall were products of public-private funding.
Under the National Mall Tidal Basin IDEAS LAB, the design firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) was tasked with selecting five design firms to collaboratively approach the preservation of cultural assets and conjure up innovative solutions. New York-based firms DLANDstudio and James Corner Field Operations, Seattle-based GGN, Oakland-based Hood Design Studio and Cambridge-based Reed Hilderbrand got together in the fall of 2019 to begin the process. Reconvening in February for a conference to share ideas, the intention was to have a large in-person event in Washington, D.C. but instead culminated in a large Zoom call to discuss and share the design proposals from each firm. What sets the National Mall Tidal Basin IDEAS LAB apart from a Rebuild by Design-style approach is the collaborative nature and lack of a winning proposal. As a result of the more collaborative environment, firms produced more imaginative and speculative solutions.
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The questions and solutions explored many facets of saving D.C.’s most valuable memorials. Even the cherry trees (the focus of the world-famous National Cherry Blossom Festival) are a memorial landscape, which are under threat due to saltwater intrusion from high tides causing their roots to suffer. How do you migrate or protect a living landscape memorial so it survives under new conditions?
The resulting designs and ideas were originally slated to be exhibited over the course of six months at D.C.’s National Building Museum, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, parts of the designs will be exhibited online. Whatever happens with the resulting drawings and designs that came from the National Mall Tidal Basin IDEAS LAB, it’s in all parties’ interest that they inform future plans to protect and adapt to rising sea levels. Perhaps surprisingly, a main takeaway from Gary, a landscape architect, included a policy dimension: how do you interpret the Secretary of Interior’s standard for preservation under rehabilitation, so that you can actually move the location of a cultural asset? This is a challenge that many cities and regions will face across the globe, understanding the policy frameworks that prevent radical approaches to cultural preservation is key to producing functional and implementable yet imaginative design solutions.
Harvard GSD invites distinguished practitioners to host studios in their respective fields and expose students to thought-provoking design challenges. In the Fall of 2019, Professor Hilderbrand led a landscape studio focusing on the possibilities for two Virginia counties that are already mostly submerged in the rising Atlantic Ocean- Northampton and Accomack counties. Professor Hilderbrand walked us through the sites and proposals that came out of the studio last year. The juxtaposition of thrive-in-place and managed retreat approaches to sea level rise was ever-present and is reflective of the national and global conversations around the topics of adaptation and resiliency in the face of climate change.
We then asked Gary how he would approach working in South Florida, on the frontlines of sea level rise and climate change in the United States. Most often seen as a getaway destination, Miami-Dade County is home to more than 2.7 million residents and is part of the seventh most populous metropolitan area in the country.
Throughout Ocean Conservancy’s work in Florida, we’re always asking: what does a healthy future look like in areas vulnerable to storm surge flooding, sea level rise and land subsidence?
Using Little River as an area of focus, Gary talks us through what his approach would be when it comes to dealing with the threats faced by Little River. The threats are many, ranging from high levels of salinity downstream to alarming flood risks for homes near the river’s banks. Gary breaks down his approach, based on a multi-year phased plan. Social inequalities tied to historic racial barriers are part of the equation that needs to be worked out as part of responsible community planning and design. Through his time-based framework, Gary described the prevent, prepare, and adapt stages for areas in danger from sea level rise.
Maps via Daniel Sebastian Padilla Ochoa.
For a breakdown of the full video, use these timestamps as a quick reference guide:
2:00: Learn more about Ocean Conservancy and our Shores Forward initiative
4:45: Learn more about Reed Hilderbrand and Gary Hilderbrand
7:00: National Mall Tidal Basin in Washington D.C.
7:45: Urban Forest Master Plan in Cambridge, MA
10:00: National Mall Tidal Basin IDEAS LAB in Washington D.C
20:25: Selected Projects by Reed Hilderbrand: Scenic Hudson’s Long Dock Park in Beacon, NY, Buffalo Bayou Gardens & Arboretum in Houston, TX.
45:57: Harvard GSD Landscape Studio in Virginia’s Northampton and Accomack Counties
1:05:29: What about Miami, FL?
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