Environment
The Case for Citizen Science on Coastal Waters
Classroom initiatives in New York and Miami prepare students for a changing world—and they’re good for the environment, too.
On a rainy day in mid-September, a group of college kids in shiny yellow rainboots and ponchos crouch in the water of New York City’s East River. Others troop by with damp clipboards, plastic hand lenses dangling around their necks.
Over the course of 24 hours, nearly 500 sophomores from CUNY’s Macaulay Honors College canvass Brooklyn Bridge Park, tallying up the biodiversity along the shoreline. It’s a tricky task: Some critters, like bees and moths, have sought cover from the drizzle.