We are thrilled to share the Fall-Winter 2024-25 issue of Wrack Lines with you! In this edition there are six youth writers who received the Wrack Lines Voices of Diverse Youth Scholarship shared their reflections and insights about nature and climate change in the Fall-Winter 2024-2025 issue of our biannual magazine. Three of the students are seniors at the […]
climate change
FREE Climate Mitigation Workshop
This UConn Extension workshop, in partnership with USDA RMA, will assist producers in understanding the seasonal risks, challenges and opportunities associated with our changing climate. Click the flyer above for more info!
New Sea Grant Staff to Work on Climate Initiatives
If experience really is the best teacher, Deborah Abibou and Alicia Tyson have been to some of the prime places to learn about community resilience work. Those include locations facing some of the biggest challenges from sea level rise, intensifying storms and other climate change effects: Puerto Rico, Louisiana, Peru and Costa Rica. Now, they’re […]
New Haven artist chosen for 2021 CTSG Arts Support Award
Beachcombing with his wife and two children led New Haven artist Joseph Smolinski to the source of inspiration and raw materials for works he will create for Connecticut Sea Grant’s 2021 Arts Support Award Program that reflect on the human impacts of climate change. His project, titled “Carbon Adrift: Sea Coal in the Long Island […]
1st marine economics fellow to focus on natural coastal resources
By Judy Benson Oversimplified, shoreline beaches are where the sand meets the sea. Too often, this two-dimensional view has become the foundation of efforts to restore storm and erosion-battered beaches on Long Island Sound and other coastal areas. These projects mainly seek to widen the flat open sand swathe to maintain maximum recreational worth and […]
‘Born Out of Crises’ Issue Looks at Responses to Pandemic, Disasters
The Spring-Summer 2021 issue of Wrack Lines examines actions that grew from different crises, from the pandemic to sea level rise to the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. The issue leads off with an article by Robert Klee, former commissioner of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, reflecting on the valuable lessons we can take from the […]
Earth Day to feature audiovisual exhibit, puppet show
Several special events are planned for Earth Day (April 22) at the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point campus, including audiovisual artwork projected on campus buildings and an original puppet show. Events will begin at 6:30 p.m. with music recorded by the five-person Connecticut-based group Hitch and Giddyup sponsored by the Avery Point EcoHusky club. At 7 p.m., […]
‘Right Trees for the Right Time’ series begins March 10
Connecticut Sea Grant is joining with the Avalonia Land Conservancy and UConn CLEAR in presenting, “Finding the Right Trees for the Right Time,” a series of four talks about planning and planting for a resilient coastal forest in southeastern Connecticut. The series begins March 10, culminating in a June 9 presentation by Juliana Barrett, coastal […]
CTSG, Avalonia project looks to prepare forest for the future
By Judy Benson Stonington – Battered by coastal storms and infestations of wooly adelgids, gypsy moth, winter moth and emerald ash borer, sections of the 200-acre Hoffman Evergreen Preserve will now serve as a living lab and demonstration site for how land managers can help forests adapt to climate change. “We want to increase the resilience […]
As seas rise, communities can turn retreat into opportunity
Kristin Walker, project engineer for the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service, explains on Oct. 22 how the former home site is now being planted with native species to create a flood plain habitat. Story and photos by Judy Benson Retreat isn’t defeat. It’s deliberately stepping back to make a better future. “Retreat is very difficult, […]
Virtual Managed Retreat in the Age of Climate Change Workshop
When talking about community response to climate change issues, retreat is the “R” word. But it is already happening in coastal states throughout the country, including here in Connecticut. Is it a good or bad idea? Will we be forced to retreat due to sea level rise in 30 years or 50 years? What does […]
Lesson on climate change and marshes created for high schools
UConn Professor Beth Lawrence collaborated with two high school teachers to create a salt marsh-climate change teaching module for high school students. In the “Impacts of Climate Change on Long Island Sound Salt Marshes” module, students learn about the natural and anthropogenic impacts of climate change on salt marshes, delve into how scientists are studying […]
Another Summer Chapter for a Climate Corps Student
By Sarah Schechter, UConn Class of 2021 In the fall of my sophomore year at UConn, I enrolled in EVST 3100 – “Climate Resilience and Adaptation: Municipal Policy and Planning.” This is a course about climate change that allows students to look at real world problems and learn how to solve them in a classroom […]
Climate Change and Aquaculture in Connecticut’s Long Island Sound
Tessa Getchis, one of our Connecticut Sea Grant Extension educators, and David Carey of the Connecticut Department of Agriculture look at the challenges that climate change is creating for Connecticut aquaculture producers in this new report available from the USDA Climate Hubs. https://www.climatehubs.usda.gov/index.php/hubs/northeast/topic/climate-change-and-aquaculture-connecticuts-long-island-sound
Marsh migration research paved way for new NOAA fellow
Most visitors to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, Conn., probably drive by the small stand of cedar trees along the main road without noticing the stark differences. One group presents healthy deep green funnels pointing skyward. Adjacent is another group partially bare of needles. A few feet away is a clump of standing dead […]
Meet Sydney Collins: NRCA Intern
Hello all! My name is Sydney Collins, and I am excited to announce my partnership with UConn Extension as a NRCA Intern for the Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA) in Summer 2020. More about me, I am a rising sophomore at the University of Connecticut studying Environmental Science with a keen interest in Urban and Community Development. […]
Green Farms Academy At UConn Environmental Action Day
Climate Change Challenge Winner Spotlight: Greens Farms Academy We were fortunate enough to have Greens Farms Academy’s Middle School Green Team attend our Environmental Action day event. Here is a short video about their experience at the summit: Find more at: https://www.gfacademy.org/about/gfa-blog/single-post-gfa-blog/~board/sustainability-2019/post/cross-divisional-climate-action-planning
Summer Environmental Education Academy
Connecticut educators are invited to participate in FE3: Facilitating Excellence in Environmental Education, Climate Simulation Workshop and Resources professional development program from July 14 to 16. To meet changing health directives this workshop will be offered electronically from a.m. to 3 p.m. A flier for the Summer Environmental Education Academy can be found here. This series […]
Grant Will Fund Creation of Climate Impacts Video
Adapt CT, an outreach partnership of Connecticut Sea Grant and the Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR), has been awarded a $2,978 grant to fund a student intern to work on a video about climate change in Connecticut. The video is intended primarily for municipal commission members. The grant is one of 14 […]
‘Birds and Bees’ landscaping symposium offered in March
Connecticut Sea Grant and the Rockfall Foundation are co-sponsoring the 2020 Symposium titled “The Birds and The Bees: What Your Mother Didn’t Tell You,” from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 26. The workshop, at the deKoven House at 27 Washington St., Middletown, will focus on landscaping practices for a sustainable future. Landscape choices, whether […]
Journey of A Climate Corps Student
Posted on January 24, 2020 by Juliana Barrett By Sarah Schechter Major Choices I entered UConn as a Natural Resources Major, knowing I wanted to focus on the environment, but unsure of the exact path I wanted to follow. When choosing classes during my orientation session in Summer 2017, it was recommended that I take […]
CT Sea Grant: Re-Thinking Relationships with the Places We Love
The Fall-Winter 2019-20 issue of Wrack Lines, a publication of Connecticut Sea Grant is now posted at: https://seagrant.uconn.edu/?p=5770. In this issue we’re re-thinking relationships with the places we love.
‘New normal’ of flooded roads presents complex challenges
Story and photos by Judy Benson With frequent downpours flooding many of the state’s coastal roads throughout the fall and into January – including the previous day – the workshop could hardly have had more relevance and timeliness. “I spent yesterday dealing with countless calls to my office from people saying they couldn’t get to […]
Tackling the climate change challenge, one place at a time
Climate change is perhaps the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced, and just thinking about it can make someone feel exhausted and overwhelmed. How can the next generation of environmental professionals be prepared to deal a problem that big? One answer could be found this fall in the Climate Corps class taught at the University […]
An Opportunity to Explore Outside the Box with UConn Extension
By Tom Martella UConn Extension Summer Intern Often times students at my age find themselves concerned that the subject matter they have been studying for the past two, three, or even four years is not what they see themselves doing for the rest of their lives. Numerous questions begin to arise: Is it too […]
UConn Climate Corps
UConn Extension’s Chet Arnold, Juliana Barrett and Bruce Hyde are part of a team that received funding from the University as part of the Academic Plan Proposal Awards. Other team members include: Mark Boyer (Geography), Maria Chrysochoou (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Sylvain DeGuise (Pathobiology), and John Volin (Natural Resources and the Environment). This project will […]
Did You Know: Climate Adaptation
One Size Fits All Won’t Work When the subject of climate change comes up, the first thing that comes to mind for many people is the impact of sea level rise on coastal communities. While the impacts of Tropical Storm Irene and Superstorm Sandy grab the headlines, with dramatic pictures of flooding, collapsed houses and […]
National Adaptation Forum
By Juliana Barrett Connecticut Sea Grant and UConn Extension In early May, over 700 people gathered in St Louis, MO for the second National Adaptation Forum (NAF). The purpose of the NAF is to promote and share climate adaptation research, issues, tools and strategies. Participants gathered from across the United States and Canada including federal, […]
Climate Adaption Academy Looking for Input
The Climate Adaptation Academy (CAA) is developing a list of challenges that municipalities and residents are facing as a result of climate change and we need your help. CAA is a partnership between Connecticut Sea Grant and UConn’s Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR) and was developed after talking to a variety of […]
A Climate Adaptation Academy for Connecticut
Modeled after CLEAR’s highly successful Land Use Academy, we are embarking on a new forum for land use officials and other interested professionals, a Climate Adaptation Academy (CAA). The CAA, sponsored by Connecticut Sea Grant and CLEAR, will serve as an outreach arm of the recently announced Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation. We […]
When It Comes To Climate Change – Money Talks
By Bruce Hyde It is generally accepted by climate scientists that New England will experience a trend of increasing intensity and frequency of storms resulting in an increase in flooding and coastal erosion. Recent storms have raised our collective awareness of the damage, both fiscal and physical, that these storms can cause. Consider that Sandy […]
Do “We” Believe in Climate Change
By David Dickson Over the last year and a half here in Connecticut, we have certainly seen our fair share of extreme weather events – Irene, the Halloween nor’easter of 2011, Sandy, Winter Storm NEMO (no relation to our NEMO), etc. These events have certainly had a big physical and financial impact on our state, […]