Conservation · Eco-Chick

Browsing all posts tagged with conservation

Saving the Great Bahama Banks

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to take an incredible trip to the Bahamas. I wasn’t there to relax and enjoy myself for a vacation, though I certainly did some relaxing and had a fabulous time. I was there to see the Grand Bahama Banks- and why they need to be protected.

There are over 700 islands in the extensive collection that together form the Bahamas, and they all have their different charms. New Providence Island is the center of the tourist industry, onto which quite a few resorts and bunches of hotels, bars and restaurants crowd. But if you never leave New Providence, and you take it to be the whole of the Bahamian experience, you’ve seen just 1/700th of this amazing ecosystem and met just a few of its people.

Andros Island (above, from the air), is the largest of the Bahamian islands, and lies just a 10-minute small plane ride from the cosmopolitan New Providence. The Nature Conservancy is working with the Bahamas National Trust and the Kerzner Marine Foundation to protect the Western waters of Andros, called the Great Bahama Banks.

Before I started my work, I explored the beach of Small Hope Bay Lodge (a 60′s-style eco hotel where I stayed) which was natural sand, covered in bits of seaweed, shells, and old coral. I snorkelled in the water below and spotted starfish, anenomes, about 10 different kinds of fish, and some brain and other corals holding on (for information on coral click here, for information on the devastation of coral in the Caribbean, click here.)

Looking out of one of the doors of Small Hope Bay Lodge and the Lodge itself.

The Lodge on the Eastern side of the island was one of the few places to stay, so it took us several hours by van and then on the boat below, to get to the Western side of the island. It is as deserted as it looks; there are no major towns or settlements on this side of the island.

Our guide, the extremely well-informed Shawn Leadon, said sometimes its hard to tell the difference between ocean and sky, and it’s easy to see why (below). This very shallow (about 2-4 feet deep) water is an unbelievable shade of aquamarine, and besides making for great photos, is an incubator and nursery for hundreds of species of fish including tarpin, bonefish, pufferfish, sharks, green turtles, and more that populate the Carribbean seas. Flamingoes, osprey, cranes, egrets, and other birds all like to nest here (due to the fantastic meals maybe?).

birds, car, conservation, Easter, fall, filter, fish, local, marine conservation, Plants, restaurant, style, Tea, teaching, water, wetlands

From the Left and the Right: Meeting in the Green

3 Comments

by Starre Vartan · 05/23/06

I may not agree with Greg on every issue, but I love the fact that his explanation for “Why I’m Green” is just a photo essay of him in beautiful surroundings like the above shot.

The Republican party was not always the go-to group when it came to environmental armageddon (not that the Democrats have given any great show on the issue either). Every day I hear of more and more Republicans and Conservatives decrying our current policies, from the Crunchy Con book to the Green GOP site (their tagline is: “Republicans Love the Environment Too: Reconciling Republican Policies with Environmental Conservation), which is run by Greg (above), a New York City-based Repub.

Greg put the GreenGOP blog together to bring us news and information that proves there’s still a green side to the Right, and I’ve gotta show some love to my fellow Earth Lovers, no matter which side of the aisle they find themselves on. After all, it was Republican President Teddy Roosevelt , who once said:

“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.”

Roosevelt backed up these words by protecting 150 national forests. In all, Roosevelt protected some 230 million acres of national land. (From Environmental Defense’s site.)

On the other side of the fence is the Truth and Progress blog, which is put together by Lori Ehrlich and her team of bloggers. They cover topics from why liberals shouldn’t patronize Starbucks to little-known information about rabbits to personal stories of making life greener.

Lori is an environmental activist (though she doesn’t like that designation) who got her start when her daughter was playing in soot, and tracked it all over her kitchen floor. It turned out the black stuff came from right in her own backyard from a local power plant, and ever since that day 10 years ago, Lori has worked for a cleaner environment for her and her children.

She helped launch two environmental organizations, and was pivotal in brokering the corporate cleanup of a decades- old, power-plant waste site. She led a grassroots delegation to Capitol Hill last year to protest President Bush’s energy plan, provided environmental policy advice to the fledgling administration of Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, and has been named an “outstanding activist” of the year by a statewide environmental group. (from this article on Lori.)

I’m proud to add both these thoughtful and well-written blogs to our blogroll here at Eco Chick.