Climate Change Affecting More Than Just Humans on Long Island

LONG ISLAND, NY — Many of us have seen how global climate change has affected the environment, and some say the situation continues to get worse. That’s why Long Island teen Joanna Ziegler, a member of the Students for Climate Action, has been working to learn more about climate change and asking local legislators to take charge of this issue through the group – not only for the sake of humankind, but for the wellbeing of marine and wildlife.

“When I was in my sophomore year of high school, I started doing my independent research on climate change and I’ve noticed a lot of scary facts along the lines of ocean acidification and sea level rise affecting our ocean and our biodiversity especially on Long Island,” she said. “We have our Great South Bay and we also have the Atlantic Ocean right off of Fire Island and with climate change it affects every single kind of life form there is. It doesn’t just affect humans it affects a lot of different life forms and plenty are going extinct right now because of loss of habitat and different types of wildfires.”

A trend began in 2018 when marine biologist Christine Figgener’s video from three years prior went viral and caught the attention of Starbucks. The video showed Figgener and her team removing a plastic straw from a turtle’s nose. This started the “Save the Turtles” campaign, resulting in Starbucks pledging to ban plastic straws by 2020. Similarly, single-use plastic bags started being banned across the country. This came after several videos and images of garbage patches in the ocean and on land emerged, showing birds and whales with plastic in their stomachs. These visuals garnered the attention of elected officials and they started to take action. According to the website biodiversity.org, up to 80% of the plastic pollution found in the oceans enter from land. Plastic pollution affects a total of 267 different species, killing up to 100,000 marine animals each year. In addition, a third of all leatherback sea turtles were found with plastic in their stomachs.

The evidence of climate change has been obvious to some. Kevin McAllister, founder and president of Long Island-based environmental nonprofit Defend H2O, said he found through his studies, a four-inch rise in sea level in the area over the past 40 years. In addition, he said that projections showed that the levels could increase between 16 and 30 more inches over the next 40 years. The Long Island Sound Study provided sea level data for the area of Kings Point on Long Island (below).

“I see an incremental trend, it’s really alarming to me because I’ve been paying attention professionally to shorelines and basically the status of them on Long Island since returning back over 20 years,” he said. “I can tell you from the aerial photos to physical being out there in the water on the shorelines, the amount of bulkheads or sea walls is concerning.”

Kaitlyn O’Toole, a graduate student at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, studied seagrass in local bays and noted that the rising water temperatures are causing Long Island’s marine species to die off.

Graduate student Kaitlyn O’Toole conducted research on sea grass and other marine species in the Great South Bay and the Peconic Bay on Long Island while studying at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

Photo courtesy of Kaitlyn O’Toole

On Long Island, Suffolk County banned all plastic straws and Styrofoam containers in April 2019, becoming the first county in the state to do so. Just prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the ban on plastic bags went into effect across New York. This means that stores across the state would not be allowed to offer single-use plastic bags to shoppers.
But are these measures enough to save marine and wildlife?

Alison Branco, the coastal director for The Nature Conservancy on Long Island, believes the recent legislation is a step in the right direction to help raise awareness. She said that, in the past decade, she has noticed more people, particularly Long Island residents, becoming more conscious of issues pertaining to the environment.

"I’ve seen a lot of change in Long Island, just in the 10 or so years that I’ve been working here. I’ve seen a lot more people become a lot more aware of the value of our coastal ecosystems and starting to really step up and fight to protect it," she said. "On Long Island, we don’t have a lot of people denying climate change anymore because we see it every day. People are seeing flooding a lot more often, the water is higher than it used to be, the water is warmer than it used to be, we’re not seeing snow as much as we once did, so I think that conversation is now over and we’re starting to turn our attention to what to do about it."

Scott Mandia, a professor of Physical Sciences at Suffolk County Community College and co-author of the book titled “Rising Sea Levels: An Introduction to Cause and Impact,” cited a study by Yale and George Mason universities called “America’s Report” that revealed 75 percent of the American population acknowledged that the planet is warming. Despite this, he still sees a divide among political lines.

“Democrats had to be onboard with the science and want to take action while Republicans tend to be less on board with the science and even less willing to take action. So unfortunately, a scientific issue now has become a political one for a lot of people,” he said. “So, at least that’s a tiny majority, but that tiny majority has a very loud voice, unfortunately.”

While there are opposing views about climate change, experts have seen the impact on Long Island. According to Branco, a significant effect is flooding, caused by sea levels rising. However, she believes that the biggest threat is not actually coming from climate change itself, but the activities by humans in an attempt to protect themselves from the rising sea levels.

“Things like hardening the shoreline and building break waters is disrupting the natural dynamic sediment movement in our shores and it’s destroying beaches, it’s robbing sediment from our wetlands,” she said. “Wetlands are super important because they actually protect the people behind them from a lot of wave energy from coastal storms and things like that and then those beaches and natural shoreline are such important habitats for so many different marine species, when we destroy those habitats, in an effort to protect our homes that we built too close to the water, then those species suffer, too.”

Graduate student Kaitlyn O’Toole conducted research on sea grass and other marine species in the Great South Bay and the Peconic Bay on Long Island while studying at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.
Photo courtesy of Kaitlyn O’Toole

According to Branco, these efforts to harden the shoreline, which involves creating an artificial border of concrete, boulders, or rocks between the land and the sea can impact the population of fish, shellfish and bay scallops on Long Island.

Source: Long Island Sound Study

Mandia said that he believes humans should work to save “any creature in the ocean” from the effects of climate change. According to Mandia, carbon emissions being emitted by human activity, such as driving cars, is being absorbed by the oceans which is acidifying the water or causing the Ph balance to lower. As a result, the acidic water can eat away at the shells of species like lobsters and crabs.

Graduate student Kaitlyn O’Toole conducted research on sea grass and other marine species in the Great South Bay and the Peconic Bay on Long Island while studying at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

Photo courtesy of Kaitlyn O’Toole

“The metaphor I use in my class is imagine you sit down as a plate of food in front of you and while someone’s taking food off their plate, they’re pouring acid on your head, that’s basically what we’re doing to shelf creatures and coral reefs,” he said.

It’s difficult for human beings to see the true picture of what’s going on under the surface. Mandia said that people should care about this issue, since it impacts almost everybody.

“But one fifth of the world’s population, so that’s probably about 1.2 to 1.5 billion people get most of their protein from fish and other sea creatures. So, you’re denying protein, which humans need to survive to a significant number of people,” he said. “A lot of those people are poor. So, you don’t want them to starve and starving people get desperate. And that’s how you get people crossing borders and causing wars.”

In addition, Mandia said that a decline in the marine and wildlife will have an effect on ocean tourism and recreational fishing, which is a trillion-dollar industry in the United States. O’Toole said that she did not see the gravity of the situation until she went underwater for her research in the Great South Bay.

“I don’t think enough people stick their face in the water in the bays,” she said.

Graduate student Kaitlyn O’Toole conducted research on sea grass and other marine species in the Great South Bay and the Peconic Bay on Long Island while studying at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

Photo courtesy of Kaitlyn O’Toole

O’Toole found that many species of seagrass in the area have been dying due to the higher temperatures recorded in the waters. She said that most seagrass die off if temperatures go above 25 degrees Celsius, which she has been recorded in the bay. Branco also noticed that climate change has affected seagrass, which is used as a habitat for fish and shellfish. This means fish which are used commercially and recreationally can die off, making it difficult for Long Island fisheries to stay in business.

Kim McKown, a unit leader for the Division of Marine Resources at the Department of Environmental Conservation, studies marine invertebrates such as lobsters, shellfish and more. She works specifically to manage lobsters and, in her assessment over the last five years, found that the southern New England lobster population has decreased.

“Their population numbers are depressed, and we think they might even be in recoupment failure, which means they’re not producing enough young to take the place of the older lobsters that are dying,” she said. “When there was a crash, the lobster population in the late 1990s found that water temperatures seemed to be a key component, that it stressed out the lobsters at temperatures greater than 18 degrees. Lobsters tend to move out of the area and temperatures greater than 20 degrees Celsius.”

Graduate student Kaitlyn O’Toole conducted research on sea grass and other marine species in the Great South Bay and the Peconic Bay on Long Island while studying at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

Photo courtesy of Kaitlyn O’Toole

So, what can Long Islanders do to help solve this issue?

Ziegler says the bulk of the responsibility falls on local politicians, to pass legislation as they did with the plastic bag and straw bans, in order to help the environment.

“The most important thing to do is to vote pro-climate. If somebody has a plan for our climate you should really support it,” she said. “And anything else along the lines of voting for your environment.”

In addition, she said that people can do their part by buying a green vehicle or installing solar panels. While Mandia echoed this sentiment, he said that his suggestions often surprise people. He recommended that people work on switching to more environmentally friendly cars or light bulbs, but not until the old, non-environmentally friendly products “die out” first.

Graduate student Kaitlyn O’Toole conducted research on sea grass and other marine species in the Great South Bay and the Peconic Bay on Long Island while studying at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

Photo courtesy of Kaitlyn O’Toole

“When you’re thinking about buying a car or try to buy a more fuel efficient car, but if you have an existing car that’s functional, don’t chuck it to get an electric car, because that electric car has to be built,” he said. “There’s a lot of energy used to build a car. So, for example, my wife has a Prius because her old car years ago died. My car’s 17 years old, but it’s still working. When it dies, I’m going to get a fully electric car, but I’m not going to throw away a car that’s extra work into getting an electric car.”

Climate change is not a new issue and since Long Island is surrounded by water, it affects us and our local marine and wildlife more than some other areas. While there is still disagreement across political lines, many elected officials continue their work to help combat the issue. With the right steps and legislation, the hope is that marine and wildlife can soon begin to thrive again.