NY/NJ Baykeeper and Hackensack Riverkeeper successfully sued NJDEP in 2016 to enforce better statewide protections of the public’s right to access their waterways. Much needed legislation, which will codify and strengthen state obligations to the Public Trust doctrine, was agreed upon by the League of Municipalities, the business community and environmentalists. It sailed through the Senate Environment and Energy Committee unanimously and was referred to the Assembly after a nearly unanimous floor vote. The Public Access Bill ensures through state law that the public has meaningful and practical access to, and use of, the shoreline and tidal waters that Read more →
1. Plastic Paradise: the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Did you know that nearly all receipts are coated with BPA (a chemical used to make many plastics) and that BPA can quickly contaminate your blood when you handle your receipts? This is just one startling fact I learned from Plastic Paradise: the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a 2013 documentary directed by Angela Sun. Sun digs deeper into our reliance on convenient, single-use plastics and the startling threats they pose to ecosystem health, as well as humans. Sun offers ways you can take action now by simply voting with our wallets, buying in bulk, using reusable materials, and getting involved in our communities. You can watch Plastic Paradise here or on Netflix.
At lot of folks have a common misconception that the garbage patches around the world are tangible islands of trash. In actuality, the situation is more accurately described as plastic smog. Rather than an island, tiny bits of microplastics are floating within our ocean gyres. The Smog of the Sea clears the air about this myth and offers ways we can all do our part to refuse plastic in our everyday lives. The documentary features our friends at 5 Gyres and Jack Johnson! You can watch The Smog of the Sea by clicking here.
– Sandra Meola, Communications and Outreach Associate
Recent News
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Public Access Is a Right, Not a Privilege!
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Bill Introduced by Mukherji and Cunningham Seeks to Protect Liberty State Park
A bill recently introduced in the New Jersey State Legislature will seek to protect Jersey City’s Liberty State Park from inappropriate privatization and commercial development plans. “The Liberty State Park Protection Act,” introduced by New Jersey Assemblyman Raj Mukherji (D-Hudson) and Sen. Sandra Cunningham (D-Hudson), seeks to preserve open space at Liberty State Park (LSP) in perpetuity and to protect it against the relentless assaults of inappropriate privatization and commercial development schemes that have plagued this great, free American public commons since it opened in 1976. The park encompasses more than 1,200 acres–approximately 600 acres of land and 600 acres of Read more →
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Make It a Baykeeper Valentine’s Day! Send a Dozen Oysters!
Visit http://nynjbaykeeper.org/adoptanoyster/ for more information and to order your one dozen oysters! Read more →
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NY/NJ Baykeeper is Celebrating its 30th Year!
Since 1989, NY/NJ Baykeeper has been championing clean water and healthy habitats. We are on a mission is to protect, preserve and restore the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary! Join us for a year-round schedule of special events, programming and initiatives! Stay tuned for more details! Read more →
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NY/NJ Baykeeper Receives Planning Merit Award for Living Shoreline in Raritan Bay
Matawan, NJ—Matawan-based environmental organization NY/NJ Baykeeper has received the Monmouth County Planning Board 2018 Merit Award for its Living Shoreline in the Raritan Bay. The award, presented at the December 17 Monmouth County Planning Board meeting in Freehold, recognized the project as making a significant contribution to the advancement of planning in Monmouth County. NY/NJ Baykeeper was the pioneer of oyster restoration in New Jersey’s portion of the Raritan Bay, creating the Bayshore area’s very first living shoreline. In 2016, NY/NJ Baykeeper and the Rutgers University Center for Urban Environmental Sustainability installed a 0.91-acre Living Shoreline adjacent to Ware Creek Read more →
