The issue of water quality plagues communities globally and hits close to home here on Eastern Long Island.
The Nature Conservancy calls Long Island's bays and harbors one of New York's most crucial habitats. Yet nitrogen pollution flowing into local bays has caused fast-growing plants to kill slower-growing beneficial plants by using up oxygen, killing fish and other marine life. Algae blooms like brown tide, rust tide and the macro-algae called ulva, otherwise known as sea lettuce, can now be seen throughout Long Island and the Hamptons in particular.
This can seem rather daunting, but Guild Hall in East Hampton is holding an event in East Hampton to openly discuss these issues by highlighting the beauty of nature in the form of its Garden As Art Tour: Water Vistas" on Saturday, August 27, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In addition to a tour of four gardens with water views, the day will include a panel discussion by local and international experts about the causes and effects of threats to our waterways as well as potential solutions to improve water quality.
Event chair Edwina von Gal is the founder and director of the Perfect Earth Project, an East Hampton nonprofit organization promoting toxin-free land management.
Carl Safina, a renowned scientist and scholar, as well as a prize-winning author, will moderate a panel of experts beginning at 10 a.m. at Guild Hall.
The panelists include a professor from the New York Institute of Technology, Sarah Meyland; the director and founder of the Global Water Policy Project, Sandra Postel; and senior marine scientist of the Nature Conservancy on Long Island, Carl LoBue.
"They are major speakers," Ms. von Gal noted at a preview of the garden tour to be held in conjunction with the discussion. "Carl is an amazing moderator," she said. "It will not be … 'dry.'"
Before and after the panel discussion, representatives of community environmental groups, including Friends of Georgica Pond, Concerned Citizens of Montauk and the Nature Conservancy, as well as East Hampton Town Environmental Protection Director Kim Shaw, will be available to discuss the issues.
The self-guided garden tour will then run from noon to 5 p.m.
Tickets start at $100 for Guild Hall members and $125 for non-members, which includes admission to a breakfast, the panel discussion and the garden tour. More details, including ones about a Friday-night cocktail party and a Saturday luncheon, can be found at guildhall.org.
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on Aug 19, 2016