The Island School Alumni Blog!

Flats Team Update

2010-04-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

Good morning everybody! A number of areas have been focused on in the last week with the constant loading and unloading of fish into the respirometry system. This looks at the metabolic rates of the fish in response to different climate change stressors. We have had the students heavily involved in the lab learning about the following aspects....

Fish husbandry – In order to maintain the large stock of bonefish in the wet laboratory the fish must be fed, tanks cleaned and monitored on a daily basis for any inconsistencies in water quality. Students learned that this ensures the fish stay in good health and therefore provide accurate and consistent data between treatments. Feed consisting of sardines, conch slop (the inedible parts of the conch obtained from local fisherman) and commercial feed keeps our puffer fish, schoolmaster snapper and bonefish in mint condition. Sean demonstrated a great appetite for feeding the fish.

Bonefish dissections – Flats ecology research group conducted a bonefish dissection in conjunction with a visiting program from Friends Seminary. The Island School Flats Research team presented on the importance of climate change and the potential effects on flats ecosystems to this visiting group. Students learned side by side to identify external and internal anatomy, common length measurements, and adaptations that these fish possess in order to survive in their environment. All students in the flats team had no problem getting their hands dirty and were excited to share their knowledge about bonefish with our visitors!!!

Our final piece of a fun filled week was the critical thermal maximum experiments (CT Max). This has been developed to investigate the thermal tolerances of fish before they lose equilibrium (i.e. roll over in their individual totes). Testing this over different seasons can provide us with an indication of the changes in tolerances of the fish to external ambient temperatures. This entailed the students observing different fish and counting their operculur movements as the temperature increased. After the bonefish lost equilibrium, they were slowly reacclimated to ambient water temperatures and placed into a holding tank.

Overall the Flats ecology research project has covered some very serious science and has done incredibly well in the first few weeks. We would like to congratulate our team.

We also managed to get the students involved with a field visit to page creek on friday which was awesome. they we involved with use collecting a number of species including mojarras and puffers.

This week will be focused on more respirometry including loading the first set of bonefish (for student data) and ct min experiments also.

If anybody would like any more information we are happy to help.

The flats team

Shark Team Update

2010-04-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Just wanted to update you all on what the shark team has been up to over the last few weeks. We are continuing with our lemon shark work in the creeks and have been out sampling our five creeks (Page, Kemps, Broad, Plum and Deep), catching, measuring and tagging juvenile lemon sharks, and collecting DNA samples for our site fidelity research. We've had both good days and bad ones - some days catching absolutely nothing and other days catching loads. We did have our best day last week when we caught 5 sharks, which is our new record!! We would like to thank Courtney and her friend Jeff for coming out with us to Page Creek helping us that day, and for being our good luck charms!!

We have also been taking the Island School shark research team out to the creeks for research classes, unfortunately we have caught zero sharks with them, however we did catch a stingray, so they can at least say they have caught some kind of elasmobranch! During research periods we have seen a lot of sharks, we just haven't been able to get them to take the bait, the kids could be bad luck, who knows?!

We have also finally finished our on-going stress physiology treatment with our last two female lemon sharks, Janis and Amanda. The treatment was a success and we were able to collect valuable data. Once the final treatment was finished, we began feeding them, so they could leave on full stomachs, as they would probably be stressed post-release. Prior to releasing them, we measured, weighed, took DNA samples and tagged them both. We were a bit worried before we released Janis as she was quite thin and wasn't eating,but in the end she ate and both sharks are back living free in the ocean.

All the members of our team are extremely excited for this week because we are starting long lining prep and hopefully by the end of the week we should get out and start setting lines off the wall and catching some reef sharks and finally start our research on seasonal migration and abundance which has been delayed a month due to permit issues. The team has also been working on presentation that we hope to give on Thursday on tagging and telemetry and other technology's used for tracking sharks after post release in hopes of finding and understanding better ways to study sharks and to inform you guys around campus about it.

Cheers, The shark team

A Week in the Life of an Aquaculturist...

2010-04-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,
The past few weeks were highlighted by the long awaited arrival of the gobies who arrived last Thursday and are now happily settled into a recirculating system in the wet lab. We received 24 Sharknose Gobies and 6 Neon Gobies all of which arrived alive and are healthy and feeding. This past Saturday, the Aquaculture Research Team added 3 Sharknose Gobies to the brood stock which were caught on Tunnel Rock. Catching gobies is a surprisingly difficult task, so we are quite pleased with this. These specific fish are not the ones which will be cleaners for our cobia, but will act as a broodstock for a larger population which will eventually be stocked in the cage and wet lab tanks. Students are getting better at the feeding and upkeep routines, including feeding artemia, siphoning tanks, observing gobies for pairing behaviour, and measuring various water parameters. The fish are quite pretty and anyone who wants to check them out is welcome to and can drop by the wet lab at any time.
The cobia brood stock is also healthy and feeding better than ever before. A shipment of Peruvian squid helped us wean them off of dry pellets and onto squid and sardines which are much richer in protein and fatty acids which are needed to produce gametes. Some fish are still showing signs of parasitism, but at a dramatically lower rate than before.
There are about 50 – 70 fish remaining in the cage. These are being harvested about 12 at a time whenever we get a chance. We are still using the hand-net and bag strategy, which is less efficient but our only option with few divers. As always, experienced divers are welcome to help us if they have some free time. This week we will be diving Tuesday and Thursday morning at 9:15.
In the aquarium, the Sharpnose Puffer, Notorious, has a bad case of Ich. He was treated with a fresh water bath, and formalin, and showed a significant improvement, but failed to fight off reinfestation once placed back into a tank filled with mobile stages of Ich. The juvenile Queen Angelfish has done her best to clean these parasites, and this behaviour is really cool to observe, but unfortunately the Ich is getting worse none the less. Notorious will be released in the next day or so where he will have a good chance at making a recovery, as he is still eating and health in all other regards. The students will be snorkeling and possibly Scuba diving for replacements in the upcoming weeks, and all are welcome to join.

Sincerely Team Aquaculture.

Alum In the Running for Pepsi Grant

2010-04-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

One of our alums, Logan Morris, had an idea accepted for the Pepsi Refresh Everything contest. She is currently ranked 26th for a $25,000 grant. Her project is called Reels for Hope---

The "Reels of Hope" project will help bring comfort and hope to the lives of chronically-ill and terminally-ill children that are spending an extended period of time in the hospital by creating personalized videos for the children to watch. By visiting the patients' home and school, the films will combine footage of their house, room, pets, family, friends, school, and classmates to create a sense of 'home' in a short film that the patients can watch in the hospital. By including interviews with loved ones, music, and clips of the comforts of home, these "Reels of Hope" will help boost patients' moral. The videos will help sick children who have had to leave their own bed, their friends, their family, and their school, to reconnect with their lives outside of the hospital. The "Reels of Hope" project's objective is to help patients find strength within despite physical weakness, knowing that throughout their fight that they are not alone.

If you want to read more about Logan and her project, click here!

Shark Update

2010-03-09T14:31:00.001-08:00

Hello all –

Over the past two weeks, the Shark Team has out in the field and in the lab working hard. We have gone to several different creeks around the Cape to collect data on juvenile lemon sharks. To capture these sharks, we have been setting, what we like to call a ‘shortline’ (a line set up with 15 hooks, held up with floats and 5 weights placed strategically down the line to hold the line down). The line is set for a total of 2 hours and we check the line every half hour to re-bait any clean hooks and to check for any sharks that have been caught. Once we have caught a shark we take length measurements (PCL-pre-caudal, FL-fork length, TL- total length, STL- stretched total length), a DNA fin sample, the sex of the shark, and the stage(neonate-open umbilical scar, young of the year-umbilical scar is still present, and juvenile-no umbilical scar is visible) . We then tag them on the lower first dorsal with a small spaghetti tag and then release them.

In the beginning, we had some difficulties with our sharking, such as getting the tag in and losing some equipment; however, our last few days of field work have been incredibly successful – we are working well together as a team, and have perfected our shark sampling procedure.

We have also been out with the Flats Team a few times helping them to seine at Starve and Plum Creeks for bone fish, puffers and mojarra. This has provided us with the opportunity to tag more sharks, as juvenile lemon sharks have also been captured with the seine net. We would definitely like to give a shout-out to Aaron for his assistance in tagging the shark we caught at Starved Creek.

In the past 2 weeks, we have been to 6 creeks and have caught 9 sharks; 8 of these sharks we tagged, while the ninth shark was a recapture.

In addition to our field work, we have also been continuing with the ongoing stress treatments on our last two female lemon sharks, Janice and Amanda. Last Tuesday we performed an exercise treatment on Janice, consisting of 3 minute exercise period, followed by 3 hours of TI (tonic immobility-a sleep like stage shark goes into when flipped upside-down). A blood sample was taken immediately following exercise, prior to TI, and additional blood samples were taken after half an hour, 1 ½ hours and 3 hours.
The treatment conducted on Amanda involved only taking blood at the beginning of the 3 hours, and again at a half an hour, 1 ½ hour and 3 hour intervals after TI was induced. The blood samples will be used to analyse the stress levels of the sharks.

We would like to thank Heather and Alejandro for all their help in the creeks and with the shark treatments and another big thank you to Heather for the constant love and care provided for Janice & Amanda.

Lots of love

The Shark Team

Flats Ecology Update

2010-03-09T12:54:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

The Flats team would like to start off our latest update to the Community by thanking Candice, Adam, Kristen and John of the Shark team, as well as Alejandro, Emma, and Melissa for assisting us in seining for bonefish and mojarra at Starved and Plumb Creeks. Thanks to their help we now have 40+ bonefish in the lab ready to run treatments on and be released in the coming weeks.

Despite the number of bonefish successfully collected, we have encountered some set backs in both field and lab work due to the cold and wet weather. Our most recent run to Starved yielded only one bonefish and a handful of Mojarra. We also managed to seine a juvenile lemon shark, which the Shark team promptly took lengths and weight, sampled DNA, and released. The ride home, however, made this one of the more memorable trips as the Mary Alices throttle wasn't cooperating, forcing us to putter home at a snails pace of 4 knots.Despite the rough seas and freezing cold salt spray, it was a nice moon-lit ride home from the Creek.

Our latest trip to Plumb Creek yielded the majority of our bonefish, as well as another shark for Edd's crew. Not only is Plumb one of the more beautiful Creeks we've seined, with water deep enough to swim, a flat clean beach, and plenty of mangroves, but it is also rich in diversity. There were plenty of sharks cruising the Creek below our nets, tons of mojarra, bonefish, and even a small school of barred jack. We had such a large haul that we were forced to leave over 100 mojarra and pufferfish in a flow-through cage to be picked up the next morning. The ride home form Plum was almost as fun as the previous nights ride back from starved. Aaron, kit, the Shark team, and our 30-something bonefish departed in the Kenny T as the sun was sinking behind the horizon while Adam and I stayed back to secure the flow through cage in the creek. By the time we left in the GPS-less Mako the sun had already set. After a short run at full throttle we glimpsed a small light which turned out to be the Kenny T, which we caught up too and followed in the rest of the way around the point. Thanks again to Kristen and Candice for their diligent water changes on the Kenny T- that's a long stressful trip for the fish (and us in the Mako!) and the water changes minimized any extra mortalities. Also thanks to Edd, Annabelle, Andy, all the students, and anyone else who helped trike the fish from the beach and load them in the holding tanks.

Unfortunately, when we returned to plum the following morning the tide, which rips through the creek, had dumped our holding cage over, releasing all the mojarra which were needed for blood sampling experiments ASAP. A few hours later Kit and I were setting nets at Page Creek with Alejandro and Sam in an attempt to collect just enough mojarra to run our next treatment. Our new method of seining which incorporated chasing schools of fish with a cast net turned out to be quite successful, and also pretty fun. However, in the spirit of our latest seining adventures, we were again forced to run the fish home at night. This time, however, we had to make two separate runs in the Mako because we caught more fish then expected, and there was no moon to drive by. In fact, besides for the CEI campus, the only light to see by was the lightning all around us. Luckily Aaron met us on the beach for the first trip, guiding us in with a couple of flashlights which he then lent to us for the trip back to the Creek to pick up Sam and Alejandro, but more importantly the rest of the fish. That made for quite an exciting trip, and I don't think any of us want to be in that situation on the Mako again.

The icing on the cake- we only had enough Mojarra survive to run two treatments, each of which need to acclimate overnight in the lab. However, we discovered this morning only one treatment survived the night. So- for those of you looking to get out to any of the creeks, we will be seining again real soon! The cold weather is not at all conducive for holding warm water-loving Mojarra in the lab. Temperatures have been dipping to 15 degrees C, also making it difficult to run our respirometry experiments on puffers. In water that cold, a fishes metabolic rate slows significantly, and the puffers are not consuming enough oxygen for us to get solid readings. Lets hope for some warm weather soon!

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

Flats Ecology Program

All The Ways We Can Be In Touch!

2010-03-05T07:31:00.000-08:00

1. The Island School blog (www.islandschool.wordpress.com )

The Island School blog will be updated daily by students, faculty, and staff. Each day, the Caciques (student leaders for the day) will post an update about their day. Faculty will post stories periodically about special experiences they have shared with your children. The blog also links up with our Twitter page and Flickr account.

2. Twitter (http://twitter.com/caciquemaxey)

The @caciquemaxey account serves to update friends of The Island School and Cape Eleuthera Institute about subjects of interest to us. You'll find links to interesting articles and research updates, as well as random 140-character thoughts about life on the Cape.

3. Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/caciquemaxey)

Send a friend request to Cacique Maxey and you'll be linked up to our official Island School Facebook page. We post pictures and updates here almost daily. In the past year, Facebook has become one of the best ways to communicate with alumni and families.

4. Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/islandschool/)

This semester will be the first time we will regularly post pictures to our Flickr account. You can connect to the photostream directly from the link above, or find it on the right side of our blog. Pictures will be posted at the end of each week to Flickr, and you can download pictures from this page to your computer at home.

Position At Boys Club of New York

2010-03-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

Environmental Educator Wanted!!

The Boys' Club of New York is looking for an environmental educator to teach a 6th grader environmental education course for 6th Grade Boys.

The class will be held over six Saturdays (April 10th – May 15th).

Class times: 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM.
Location: Gerry Clubhouse
321 East 111th Street
New York, NY 10029

Interested candidates should email a resume and cover letter to:

Rob Maitra
Director of Educational Advancement
rob.maitra@bcny.org.

The interested candidate should posses the following qualifications:

- An interest in working with inner city youth;
- Knowledge and passion about environmental science and conservation;
- Creative and highly motivated;
- High educational standards;
- Middle school teaching experience and certification is a plus, but not required.

Alum Making a Difference With Cans

2010-03-01T15:38:00.000-08:00

Liza (F09) found out about Kiva micro loans at TIS and brought back the idea to her church youth group. This past Sunday, with their CAN do spirit, they collected, sorted and returned over 3000 cans/bottles - enough to make 6 small Kiva loans!

Aquaculture Update: February 27, 2010

2010-03-01T07:32:00.000-08:00

To The Cape Eleuthera Community,

All is well in the world of aquaculture this week, as the broodstock are healthy, and the cage fish have been unharrassed by sharks. There is however lots of biodiversity living inside the offshore pen, including two large black grouper, tonnes of yellowtail snapper, midnight parrot fish, blueheaded wrasse, spiny lobster and banded cleaner shrimp. Since we did not harvest at all this past week due to hectic schedules and lack of hands, we still have between 120 to 150 Cobia in the cage. We will be diving the cage Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning (typically 9:15 to 11:00) for feeding and potentially harvesting, and whoever has time is welcome to join.

This past week, two shark bite samples were taken from the cage to be sent to a company who makes shark resistant netting, for their analysis. As mentioned in the last update, they are donating a new net for us to use, and to serve as a test site for them. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement which we are quite pleased with. The new net is expected to arrive around mid-may.

We also have arranged to have Sharknose gobies as well as another cleaner fish, the Neon Goby, brought to CEI for our breeding experiment. Thiago will bring these back with him from his expedition to the States. Both species have been successfully bred in captivity before, so we have high hopes that we can include them in our aquaculture system as parasite control, and create a stimulating research project for the Island School research program. Their breeding set-up is currently being set up in the wet lab (the CEI one), and will be running and stocked in the next week.

Thiago is participating in a major conference on aquaculture this coming week which should be very informative for us, as well as en excellent opportunity to showcase our systems and the research that is going on here. We will update you on the highlights from that next week.

For anyone who wants to know more about the aquaculture program or our research, you can contact an aquaculture team member (Thiago, Tyler or Heather), and we`ll be happy to answer your queries.

Team Aquaculture

Hits in the News!

2010-03-01T07:07:00.000-08:00

Check it out!!! We are in the news!

1. http://www.eleutheranews.com/local/808.html

2. http://www.thebahamasweekly.com/publish/community/New_Doors_Open_Opportunities_for_SEEP_s_EOC9836.shtml

3. http://www.tribune242.com/searchresults/02262010_EP-Eleuthera_news_pg7

4. http://www.eleutheranews.com/local/799.html

5. http://www.tribune242.com/searchresults/02262010_deep-creek_news_pg9

Summer on the Cape

2010-02-22T10:04:00.000-08:00

Are you interested in coming back down to the Cape this summer? There are a number opportunities available at both The Island School and CEI. To learn more about the summer opportunities, check out the links below.

1. Summer Term Mentor

2. Marine Research Training Program

3. Summer Internships

THis Week In Aquaponics: February 8-February 12

2010-02-22T06:12:00.000-08:00

On Monday, bed 6 of the hydroponic system was harvested, cleaned and the put back together again planting two different kinds of lettuce, red romaine, green romaine. The wastewater that is in the bed is collected in biodiesel jugs and used as fertilizer in the orchard. After this was complete, 2.5 sheets of Rockwool were seeded with Red Romaine, Green Romaine, and Little Caesar for when we clear more beds.

Tuesday morning the squash and pumpkin were transplanted into the fiberglass containers by the wind turbine. While I was working on this project, Josh was starting his vertical garden, which is located in the shade house. The vertical garden is being constructed from old gutters as well as PVC piping to hold the plants. In the afternoon, we worked on putting together information for the Aquaponics research group for the Spring 2010 semester. The students will be looking at alternative growing mediums for the hydroponics beds including: cotton, charcoal and crushed glass.

Wednesday morning we worked by the wind turbine setting up irrigation by the squash and pumpkins so that we will not have to water them by hand everyday. We did this by using irrigation pipes that we had and connecting small sprinklers to them, in order to get the pipes to stay in place, we connected them to pieces of scrap wood that Ash had in the wood shop and attached the wood to the fiberglass containers using tar twine. This method turned out to work really well!

On Thursday, Josh and I cleaned one side of the biofilter in the Aquaponics system. This required moving all of the mesh wire from the container and rinsing them off, removing the duckweed as well as fish that have managed to move farther along in the system. We then emptied all of the fish poop water into coolers and then transferred it to the compost pile. When the filter had its final rinse, we began placing the mesh back into the filter, however there was a problem with keeping the mesh upright, which hindered the filtering of the water through the system. To try and fix this problem we connected pieces of scrap wood and tied them together with tar twine around the mesh wire.

Friday, we spent the day cutting down Casuarina trees to use as posts for the extension of the hydroponics area. We were able to gather 11 pieces that would be effective as posts. With the help of Joseph, Emery, Adam, Aaron, Zach and Alejandro we were able to move the posts to CEI. Thanks to everyone who helped move posts as some of them weighed more than 500lbs!

This Week In Aquaponics: January 31-February 6

2010-02-22T06:11:00.000-08:00

On Monday, we decided to move six fiberglass containers from behind the bio diesel shed into the empty area in front of the wind turbine. Inside of the tanks we will be planting pumpkin and squash that had been planted two weeks before in the shade house. There were two main reasons as to why we chose to plant pumpkins and squash by the wind turbine; one, there was a vast amount of area there that wasn’t being used effectively, also, if the turbine needed to be lowered due to stormy weather, the pumpkin and squash would not interfere with that process. The fiberglass containers were used in order to keep the nutrients in a central location as the soil in that area is very poor. We have chosen these to plant because not only will they be nice to look at, but we will also be able to eat from them!

Tuesday, we filled, John, one of the grow tanks in the wet lab in order to transport tilapia fingerlings into them. We spent the morning and most of the afternoon weighing 731 tilapia fingerlings and moved them into John. After finishing this, we ventured to the dump in Deep Creek to collect plastic bottles of all kinds that we would be able to fill with fish poop fertilizer for the Agricultural Expo. We give out this fertilizer to show people an alternative to harmful fertilizers. After collecting a cooler full of bottles we went cotton picking in Deep Creek. This semester the students will be experimenting with using cotton instead of Rockwool as a growing medium in the hydroponic beds.

Thursday all of the tilapia was harvested out of Ringo as it was the tank with the largest fish. We used seine nets and hand nets in order to gather the tilapia and then placed them in coolers filled with ice. Ringo was the grow tank with the largest tilapia, some weighing as much as three pounds. A visiting programs group from Tabor Academy in Massachusetts dissected two of the tilapia for a project. With help from Heather, Alejandro, Tyler, Sam, Annabelle, Adam and others from CEI and The Island School we were able to scale, gut, as well as fillet the fish that were in the tank.

Friday was the first day of the Agricultural Expo that was set up by the Ministry of Agriculture. This is the first in a series of Expo’s that they have planned for various islands. We brought with us cobia, lionfish, fertilizer and posters that covered most of the research projects done at the Cape Eleuthera Institute. There were many groups at the Expo from primary and middle schools; there were generally crowds of students around the lionfish area where Krista was doing demonstrations, excited to see them and learn about lionfish.

Saturday was the final day of the Agricultural Expo, there were a lot less people and our guess is that was due to the rainy weather. We had about the same setup at the day before, however this time Hilary came to do the lionfish demonstrations and she had made Cobia Ceviche for samples to encourage locals to eat this fish that is native to the waters in The Bahamas, which turned out to be a huge hit with everyone who tried it.

Global Citizen Year

2010-02-15T12:26:00.000-08:00

In recent years it has become more and more popular (and acceptable) for graduating seniors to take a year off after graduation and before their freshman year of college. This has been a common practice for a long time in Europe and it appears that students in the US are starting to follow suit and realize the benefits of taking time for alternative experiences before college.

A great program that we have recently connected with is Global Citizens Year. During a "bridge year" before college, Global Citizen Year (GCY) trains a corps of high school graduates and supports them through apprenticeships in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. GCY Fellows engage in communities around the world, learn a new language and use their skills to make a difference. They enter college with a sense of themselves and the world - empowered to think critically about our most pressing problems.

So check it out and see what opportunities are available at this program and others!

Aquaculture Update

2010-02-15T06:35:00.000-08:00

To Island School, CEI, DCMS, friends and families,

The Aquaculture project have been harvesting fish as frequently as possible, although this has been limited by weather and availability of helping hands. There are approximately 150 fish remaining in the cage, and whoever would like to help harvest them is more than welcome to come. Dates and times will be discussed at the weekly Monday morning meetings. There are also 12 cobia in the wet lab which will serve as the brood stock for the upcoming run. They will breed when the water warms up which we anticipate to happen in early summer time. Raising of rotifers will begin in March.

The focus of our research this semester will be exploring the potential of a cleaner fish, the Sharknose Goby, to be bred in captivity, and eventually stocked in the wet lab tanks and cage together with the cobia. The gobies would control the parasites on the cobia which has been a problem we've encounter during this past run. The primary ectoparasite is a monogenean called Neobenedenia sp., that often causes a clouding of the cornea leading to blindness, which negatively affects feeding. Treatments for this parasite include a fresh water dip, which would be impractical to do for each fish in the cage, as well as formalin treatment, which is done in the lab. Hence, the gobies could provide sustainable alternative to the traditional treatments, and would have the added benefit of cleaning ectoparasites and dead skin off the cobia for healthier, faster growing fish. If the gobies are successfully bread, future research would focus on setting up a cleaning station inside the cage. This week we began collecting gobies from the reefs around the cage, although it has proved more difficult than anticipated. We would appreciate helping hands for these dives as well, or reports of sharknose goby sitings. You can check out the field guides to see what they look like.

Sharks have been a major problem for the entirety of the project. Fish escapes through holes in the net were the number one cause of fish loss by a large margin, as almost 50% of the fish that were stocked originally escaped.Two more holes were patched this past week, but both were small enough that no cobia escaped. We are currently in discussions with a net production company to host a study to test shark resistant netting, as we make an ideal place to test the ability to resist shark bites.

That wraps up all the recent developments in aquaculture. If anyone is interested in learning more about anything, we now have a folder on the server containing lots of articles which can be accessed by anyone.

Sincerely, Team Aquaculture

Flats Ecology Update

2010-02-12T08:04:00.000-08:00

In our effort to keep everyone up to date and informed as to what is happening on the Cape, we are going to start posting research project updates. If you want to learn more about a project or have questions, please feel free to contact us!

Flats Ecology:
We started the week off with bonefish and mojarra collections on Monday at Page Creek, and Tuesday at Starved Creek. We had a very fun and interesting outing on both days, and Starved Creek was extra exciting since Edd joined us to collect some sharks. Seine nets were set across the mouth of the creek at high tide so fish would be trapped as water got skinny with the receding tide. Among the bonefish, mojarra, and various species of crab caught in the seine, we caught three juvenile lemon sharks, two of which are currently residing in tanks here at the wet lab (congrats Edd!). The male was tagged, its tissue collected for DNA analysis, and released. Soon after setting the seines, however, we were alerted by much splashing that we had an adult shark in the net, which (luckily for us) dislodged itself and was able to avoid the net for the rest of the day. On a much less dangerous note, we also caught a adolescent green sea turtle, which we removed from the net. Judging by the speed at which the turtle swam off, he was happy to have been released. Handling a sea turtle was quite a treat! We will be in the field collecting bonefish and puffers this Sunday, leaving CEI by boat around 10:30am. If anyone would like to join us, whether to gain some field experience or just enjoy this unique ecosystem, we could always use an extra hand. Contact Aaron or I if your interested.

This week has brought the close of one study, and the opening of another. The bonefish hook retention study culminated this weekend with the successful release of 40+ bonefish right off of boys dorm beach. Initiated by Jeff Stein last semester, the aim of the study was to determine affects on and mortality of bonefish which have suffered a hooking injury in the mouth or gullet. A fish hook was lodged in the corner of the mouth or esophagus of each fish, then placed in large tanks in the wetlab where behavior and hook loss were observed and recorded. Fortunately we had 0% mortality indicating negligible short term consequences of an angler releasing or breaking off a hooked fish, and all fish were released in good condition.

The two new raceways in the center of the lab contain 8 rubbermaid containers which at any given time will be containing either bonefish, puffers, or yellow fin mojarra collected from local mangrove creeks. Each raceway will be quickly treated with increased salinity, increased water temperature, or increased acidity according to climate change predictions for the Bahamas. We will then draw blood from each fish, and work through the process of separating plasma from red blood cells to determine several physical parameters of the blood. If anyone is interested in seeing how fish blood is drawn and worked up (or puffer fish puffing!), stop by the lab around 2:00 on most days for the next 2 weeks, as we will be sampling at least 16 fish/day. The blood samples will be shipped back to the University of Illinois where several analyses will determine the stress response of fish to the sudden increases in acidity, temp, and salinity as mentioned.

For those of you who frequent the wet lab, you will notice the respirometry equipment is still up and running, and will be for the coming months. Fish or inverts (school master snapper, puffers, mojarra, bonefish, conch, lobster, & crabs in our case) are placed into a tube overnight where oxygen consumption can be measured and recorded on a computer. Similar to the previously mentioned study, treatments consist of increases in salinity, temperature, and acidity according to climate change predictions. However, these fish are acclimated to the conditions for 7 days (instead of instant increases in the blood sampling project) before being placed into the respirometry tubes. The idea of measuring oxygen consumption is to determine whether a fish is stressed from the changes in water conditions (ie: higher oxygen consumption = greater stress), thereby determining whether a species could survive in water conditions affected by climate change.

**Note: People near the tanks cause extra stress to fish in both the blood and respirometry experiments which could affect any results. Please look from a distance, especially if accompanied with a tour group. Thanks!**

Thanks, and enjoy your weekend!
Flats Crew

Recycling...It keeps getting cooler

2009-10-21T12:14:00.001-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/science/earth/20trash.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=zero%20waste&st=cse

My, How You Have Changed

2009-10-09T05:10:00.001-07:00

Growth at Island School is exponential. Be it emotional, academic, physical or social, the people and the place are constantly growing and changing. The campus is no exception to the rule and, in fact, may be the fastest growing entity we have! Check out this video to see just how much we have changed and grown over the years as we embark on our second decade. Enjoy!

Sharks Need Shelter Too

2009-09-25T06:01:00.000-07:00

The tiny pacific nation of Palau is the first in the world to establish a Shark Sanctuary. It is a designated area that bans all commercial fishing in hopes of protecting over 130 shark and ray species that are fighting the upward battle of extinction. Read more about this groundbreaking move by clicking here!

Shark Hunters

2009-09-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

A major sponsor of our Shark Program is the Save Our Seas Foundation. SOSF's chief photographer is Thomas P. Peschak. He keeps a rad blog (much like our one and only Edd Brooks, check out his blog here) and his latest entry is about Shark Hunting. Check it out, there are some great pics and stories.

Solar is Looking Good

2009-09-22T06:01:00.001-07:00

With solar panels and other renewable energy technologies becoming more affordable, the market to make the attractive is quickly catching up. An alum (Ted Griffith) recently sent me this article about how they are making solar panels that look like clay roofing tiles mimicking an old Spanish architectural design. Read more about the new product and see what you think about this new adaptation of an age old design. Click here to check out the article.

Carter Brown (S09) Races to the Finish

2009-09-21T08:33:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the Philadelphia Half Marathon and alum Carter Brown (S09) showed Philly what he was made of! Carter wasn't a part of Run Track during his semester and helped lead the charge on Swim Track as first male to cross the finish line last spring during the Super Swim. Now that Carter is back on dry land, he is running on Shipley's cross country team and showed his ability to run distance this past Sunday on the 13.1 mile race around Center City Philadelphia. Congrats Carter!!!!

Get Cleaning on September 19th

2009-09-18T09:40:00.001-07:00

September 19th is the official, international coastal clean up day! Check out this link to learn more and get cleaning!!!!

Urban Farms Doing Good Things

2009-09-17T06:04:00.000-07:00

As our society continues to grow and the need for fresh foods increases in urban areas, it is inspiring to see what a number of different groups and organizations are doing to make a difference. Bright Farm Systems has designed a new state of the art affordable housing complex planned for the South Bronx, NY, that will feature a 10,000 square feet (930 sq meters) fully integrated rooftop farm. You can read more about the design and its amazing features in their enews or on their website.

Amazing Manta Ray Pics from National Geographic

2009-09-10T07:42:00.000-07:00

These are some beautiful pics of Manta Rays in a feeding heaven of plankton

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/07/manta-rays/peschak-photography

Maxey to Speak at Susty Conference

2009-09-10T06:24:00.000-07:00

Chris Maxey is the keynote speaker for Lawrenceville's Aldo Leopold Symposium on Sustainability on Sept. 26, 2009. Come and listen to him talk about environmental education, The Island School and the global impact of teaching youth about the importance of conservation, preservation and sustainability.

New Turtle Regulations in The Bahamas

2009-09-08T07:59:00.001-07:00

The Department of Marine Resources just released a new set of Turtle Regulations for The Bahamas. If you want to learn more about what is being done to preserve this amazing animal check it out.

Places to Stay in NYC for IS10 Event!

2009-09-08T07:34:00.001-07:00

We are getting closer and closer to the big IS weekend in NYC for our 10 Year Celebration and I'm sure everyone is thinking, "where in the world am I going to stay?!?!!?"

Well, here are some suggestions on places to check out:

NOTE: Halloween Weekend is also NYC Marathon weekend so hotels are filling up fast. Here are some recommendations and prices found on August 30^th.*

Upper West Side

Hotel Belleclaire, $189

http://www.hotelbelleclaire.com/rooms.php

MidTown

Washington Jefferson Hotel, $300

http://www.wjhotel.com/index.php

New Yorker Hotel, $434

www.newyorkerhotel.com

Stay Hotel, $237-349

http://www.stayhotelny.com/

Tribeca

Hilton Gardens Tribeca, $255

http://www.hiltongardeninn.com/en/gi/hotels/index.jhtml?ctyhocn=NYCTRGI

The Cosmopolitan Hotel Tribeca, $227

www.cosmohotel.com

East Village

Hotel 17, $140+ (this hotel has shared bathrooms and is a great option for groups of friends wanting to share)

http://www.hotel17ny.com/

Financial District

Guild Hall, $279

http://www.wallstreetdistrict.com/index.php?page=gild

Chelsea

Chelsea Savoy Hotel, $99-425

www.chelseasavoynyc.com

* We have not contracted rates with any of the hotels listed. For best rates, we suggest using hotels.com or expedia.com.

Great Whites Head Out for the Holiday Weekend

2009-09-07T17:59:00.000-07:00

Shark Fanatics!
You may have been hearing about the Great White Shark sightings in Cape Cod over the weekend. Greg Skomal, the scientist who has successfully tagged two of the sharks, is a collaborator of ours and does some of the most cutting edge tracking of sharks in the world. For the shark world, the satellite tagging is a great opportunity to understand migration and territory patterns although I know for many of you on the east coast the appearance of these guys has prevented you from going in the ocean. Read more at:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/cnn-news/20756723/detail.html

Scholarship to College of the Atlantic for ISers!

2009-08-31T11:48:00.000-07:00

Many IS alums leave the island craving a new schooling experience and a number have gone on to the College of the Atlantic for just that. Our alums have done an amazing job representing IS and being leaders that effect change so COA is offering a scholarship opportunity only available to Island School alumni! Read more about it below...

College of the Atlantic is proud to offer scholarships to alumni of The Island School. Any student who has attended The Island School and is admitted to College of the Atlantic (COA) will receive a scholarship of $10,000 per year for up to four years. Apply for admission to COA and include a letter of recommendation from a teacher at The Island School. If admitted, you will automatically receive this scholarship for your first year at COA; an additional $10,000 scholarship is available for each of the next three years of enrollment if satisfactory academic progress is maintained. This scholarship is available to incoming first-year and transfer students. In addition, you may qualify for need-based financial aid. Visit www.coa.edu for more information on College of the Atlantic. Call 800-528-0025 or e-mail inquiry@coa.edu for more information about this scholarship.

September Mangrove Monthly

2009-08-28T05:31:00.001-07:00

Check out the latest edition of our alum enews, The Mangrove Monthly.

Enjoy!--M

Survey This!

2009-08-26T09:01:00.001-07:00

What has IS done for you? How do you want to stay connected? What do you want to get from IS? These are all great questions and we want to hear you answers. We are constantly looking for ways to improve and expand the Island School alumni program and what better way than hear from our alumni!

So, lend us a helping hand and fill out this SHORT alumni survey so we can help YOU have a better experience as an IS alum.

Thanks!!!! Hope you are enjoying the last weeks of summer!!!!

Eleuthera Kids Camp Video

2009-08-11T11:44:00.001-07:00

Every summer we run 2 sessions of an Eleuthera Kids Camp that gets primary school kids from all over the island to the Cape for education, adventure and fun. This summer, Maya Tepler (S06), came down and helped run the camp along with doing research. She made this great film about the students and their experience with water and swimming. Check it out here!

Shark Gear, Get Your Shark Gear

2009-07-31T12:05:00.001-07:00

Edd Brooks has become a legend among IS alums as the British guy with long, blonde hair who researches sharks. Edd's research is a very important addition to not only the field of shark research but research in general. He is breaking new grounds and is working hard to protect a dying species that does not deserve to leave this earth.

If you want to help the CEI Shark Research Program and look good doing it then click here and purchase some killer CEI Shark Gear (t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, etc.). They make great gifts and are an awesome way to stay connected to the Cape! All proceeds go to the CEI Shark Research Program, so get a new shirt and help Edd continue to save some shark lives!

Morning Exercise Makes It's Way To Philly

2009-07-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

Morning exercise isn't always every one's favorite part of the day but for some it is inspiring and is one of the many pieces of the IS experience they bring back to "the real world." For one alum, Lee Taylor (F99), he accepted the challenge of competing in The Philadelphia Triathlon and was a total rock star! We all knew Lee was going to do well after he came to visit the school this past spring and helped Mary's advisor group kick butt in the advisor group monster mash relay. We are proud of Lee and wanted to send him a BIG CONGRATS on showing Philly what IS is all about!

One great aspect of our program is that not everyone takes the same thing from each semester...it is a unique experience for each individual. Some connect with Harkness-style teaching, others with Community Outreach, some with Research, a number with exercise and much more. There are countless avenues for success and Lee's triathlon is a great example!

Reel Adventures

2009-07-27T06:12:00.001-07:00

With the Cape Eleuthera Resort just a mile down the road from IS, we often get a lot of people coming for tours and that are staying at the Cape. Many of those guests are doing PR work and are shooting TV shows and want to do a feature on the school because they love what we are are doing! Check our a recent clip that was filmed by Reel Adventures. To see the film click here!

In Honor of Maxey

2009-07-27T05:57:00.001-07:00

As our alumni depart the Cape every year, they leave inspired to effect positive change on all different levels. One of our recent alums, Cooper, set his sights on making a composting system at his home back in Maine. He successfully built the bins and the project is up and running--the best part is the Ode To Maxey inside the first bin...check the photos!

Dive the Cage From Your Computer

2009-07-17T06:53:00.000-07:00

Aquaculture has long been a venture of The Island School and Cape Eleuthera Institute. Countless alums have gone through the trials and tribulations of the Aquaculture Research Group and have been pivotal to helping us get the project to where it is today.

I think the hardest part about research is that you don't always get to see the final result...well that is changing today for our past aquaculture groups!!! All of those hours in the wetlab have paid off because the cage is dropped and we are actively harvesting cobia!

If you want to check out the underwater cage and go on a dive with some IS alums, check out this link and see for yourself all your hard work.

What About These On Campus?

2009-07-14T08:33:00.001-07:00

Check out these Solar Sunflowers! What if we had these on campus? What do you think about making our sustainable efforts have an art element? Should we stay a purely functional campus or should we start to model some fashion-forward efforts while still maintaining our mission/vision?

Any thoughts?

CEI Videos

2009-07-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

Island School, CEI and DCMS grow at exponential rates so it amazing how much can change from month to month, year to year.

If you haven't been back to the Cape in a while, check out these videos made by Carleton University about CEI, the facilities and our Aquaculture research.

Enjoy!

CEI Facilities, SCUBA Research and Cobia Aquaculture

Dartmouth's Big Green Bus

2009-06-26T05:59:00.000-07:00

I am happy to say that all of our alumni leave The Island School and go do amazing things that span many different countries, industries, passions and much more. One of our alums, Kate Parizeau, is off touring for the second summer in a row with Dartmouth's Big Green Bus.

If you are interested in learning more about the program check out the website, www.thebiggreenbus.org, and find out about where they are going and what they do--its pretty cool!

What are you willing to pay for an oyster?

2009-06-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

Graham Siener just forwarded me this article about the declining oyster population along the pacific coast and its potential link to the increase of carbon in the atmosphere. It is an interesting article (not just because its about the West Coast and my preferred coast) but it helps draw a clear link to the ripple effect associated to the degradation of the environment. Just some food for thought!--Mary

Oysters in Deep Trouble: Is Pacific Ocean's Chemistry Killing Sea Life?

NY Waterpod

2009-06-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

Art, environment, sustainabilty, inspiration, social commentary, etc. are all embodied in The Waterpod installation piece in New York City. It is a completely self-sufficient barge that houses artists and a magnificent art studio facility. It is just getting under way and if you are interested in learning more you can check out the sneak preview video.

The Waterpod Sneak Preview Link

SCUBA Reaches New Worlds

2009-06-13T09:12:00.001-07:00

I was recently forwarded the below link to a news story--I don't want to give too much away, so click the link and find out!

hint: it involves SCUBA

Click Here For Link!

Alumni Advisory Board Unite!

2009-05-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

Keeping along with the theme of May being Alumni Month, the second annual Alumni Advisory Board on-island meeting began today. We gathered in the Octagon and started out with program overviews and eventually transitioned into discussions about "what it means to be an IS alum?" We are really focusing on developing our alumni program so that it provides the best possible resources for our alums as they leave the Cape.

If you are interested in learning more about the AAB, how to get involved or what we discussed please contact Mary Assini at maryassini@islandschool.org

Community Outreach CFL Project in the News!

2009-05-29T12:24:00.000-07:00

This semester the 9th Grade Community Outreach group has been working to develop a CFL light bulb exchange program in South Eleuthera. We have already hosted one exchange event in Rock Sound and our second event is today in Deep Creek during the DCMS Basketball Jamboree. Check out this article in the Bahamas Weekly about the program!

Island School in DC

2009-05-26T04:16:00.001-07:00

On May 21st we had a great alumni gathering in Washington DC at Fratelli la Bufala organized by Matt Cohen. It was an awesome event and a number of older alumni came together to reminisce a about IS and talk about what they are up to these days. If you are keen to organize a similar event in your town, let us know and we can help!

Luxury Resorts In These Tough Times

2009-05-25T15:48:00.000-07:00

As I left the Conservation & Development final presentations about the potential development of Lighthouse Beach, it almost seemed too coincidental that I went to the NYTimes to read a headline article on The Four Seasons in San Diego and its fledgling existence in these tough economic times. As the developers of Lighthouse are proposing building a large, luxury resort there are numerous similar resorts failing as each day passes and you can't help but question why.

Check out this link and read more about it!

Senior Project Blog 5: Parents Weekend

2009-05-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was Parent’s Weekend, and we all had a good time meeting families and watching exciting reunions. The weekend was spent exploring the places the familiar treasures along the loop- High Rock, Fourth Hole etc. It was really nice to reacquaint ourselves with the places we loved so much during our semesters. Sunday was Ned and Addie’s eighteenth birthday, and we all had a good time going out to A and T’s for some yummy fried conch and fish. After our relaxing weekend we’re excited to start in on our research proposal which will address how the Marina could start using renewable energy onsite.

--The Fantastic Four

Washing Your Face = Filling Your Toilet Water

2009-05-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

An alumni Ted Griffith just sent me this link that talks about a new bathroom design that allows you to reuse your waste water. It's pretty cool and click this link to check it out!

Senior Projects Blog 4

2009-05-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. I awoke often throughout the night in what felt like a tempest of heat-induced insanity and sunburn-induced torture. Tossing over the rippling ocean of my discarded sheets I longed for the orange-kissed Eleutheran sun to climb over the horizon and bring me into a new day. Even still, I relished the notion that the morning offered me an opportunity to sleep beyond the normal hour—a “sleep in” loomed ahead, as the layman referred to it. I saw in the contradiction of these emotions the contradiction of the human experience: we want desperately what we cannot own, we find the most imperfect of times to experience what we know to be wrong. What is, then, the condition of man? Must this condition be defined as struggling to reconcile our painfully opposing views of the world—views that exist simultaneously within us? Out of many we are supposed to be one, but, alas, we are not!

The starry-eyed Sunnye, a great prophet of CEI, meandered towards this understanding of the world in her seminar with the four confused thinkers of the Senior Project Program. In her “blog”—the bible of the modern man—Sunnye exposed the challenge of humanity as it related to plastic consumption. For, we use a material (plastic) each day that we know to be harmful, wasteful, and devastating to our environment. We see the folly of our actions with respect to plastic yet we continue on based on false justifications and tired dogmas. Even at the Island School, a place that prides itself on its environmental consciousness, plastic adorns the hallways and the labs.

Just as Sunnye displayed the conflict of plastic, so spoke Remo—the great yogi—of the tragedy of consumerism. We saw in a documentary entitled “The Merchants of Cool” and in the glorious rhetoric of our Teacher that corporate sponsored consumption has diluted culture and engendered a zombie-fication of society. Despite this understanding, the four confused souls of the Senior Project continued to sport their designer labels and drink and eat mass manufactured products predicated on our manipulation. In this, again, we witnessed the conflicted struggle of our species, perpetually pulled in two directions. That this is a flawed way to proceed is not a new understanding—for, even in the archaic age of slavery, Abraham Lincoln observed that “a house divided on itself cannot stand.” Ah, Remo, ah Humanity!

--The Fantastic Four

Senior Projects Blog 3

2009-05-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

And so another day on the island begins with the rising sunlight streaming through the bay windows of our CEI dorms. All was at peace on the idyllic I.S. campus but a long journey loomed in the distance: extended exercise. Fortunately, us four senior interns, George, Addie, Bo, and Ned, are no longer the pale, plush forms we arrived as. Each of us rose to the occasion and each conquered the 8 mile run or 2 mile swim heroically. As physically capable as we may be, problems take many forms in this sometimes cruel world and the issues of Global Warming, Carbon Offsets, and the availability of life-giving water each weighed heavily on our minds. The wise wizard Graham imparted his wisdom to us in the form of a magical power point presentation on the movement of carbon as it is released and reabsorbed in the earth’s biosphere. We look at the distribution of carbon emissions between countries, consumers, and the per capita individuals. All is not right in our kingdom, as we learned that some damage is unavoidable and as global temperatures rise, sea levels will follow with a decline in species diversity. One way the market is starting to fight back is through carbon offsetting. Renewable and environmentally friendly developments funded in one location can be exported to more advantageous environments. This system benefits local economies that cannot support costly developments and allows the same impact to take place in a more suitable location. Though this can be an efficient and cheaper way to effectuate change it can stifle development regionally. Next our gallant Graham and the ever-enchanting Mary Assini screened the film Flow: For the Love of Water. The film emphasized the scarcity of clean drinking water in poor and developing countries and the threat posed by the privatization of this precious resource. The poorest of these people cannot afford to pay for the water their governments have handed our to the industry and are forced to drink the very dirty water that could kill them. Many thousands of people die every year without this water and yet companies are taking this resource for free in places like the Nestle plant in Michigan and selling it back to us at high profit. Never have we cherished the rainfall we fill our Nalgenes with more than after watching this film. As always here was more work to be done on campus and the CEI staff put us to work shining up the Institute for parents weekend. Our extra help really took the place to the next level and the Star Wars dorms are all in tip top shape. Onward!

-The Fantastic Four

Lets Talk Numbers

2009-05-18T08:21:00.000-07:00

What would it take to half the US's energy consumption? What would that look like? How much infrastructure would be necessary for this idea to become a reality?

These are all great questions that bring to light that we need to know the numbers. David MacKay takes a serious look at what this means in his commentary Let's Get Real About Alternative Energy. Check it out and see what he has to say.

Monday, Monday

2009-05-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to write that another successful Parents Weekend has come and gone, and with 20 under our belt they are all still equally exciting and inspirational. The parents of S09 descended upon the Cape on Thursday and jumped in head first to a fast-paced, action-packed weekend of activities. Our first set of rain in a LONG time was ushered in with the parents on Thursday afternoon and reappeared sporadically throughout the weekend. The joy of rain paired with long-awaited parents was palpable.

Thank you to all the parents, students, faculty, staff and (most importantly) Anne Maxey for making the 20th Parents Weekend a great Parents Weekend.

Senior Projects Blog 2

2009-05-13T06:36:00.000-07:00

Today was our second official day at the Island School. The day started out with Team Sports, we all headed in different areas of the Cape to participate in Softball, Ultimate Frisbee and Soccer. After a delicious breakfast of oatmeal and Mooch’s homemade granola, we helped out with this semester’s Seminar class. The students of S09 are starting to plan their transference projects to tackle an environmental or social issue at home. Each of us shared our experiences of starting a project at home to help give them ideas. Addie talked about the environmental club she helped start at her school, Ned talked about bringing environmentalists to his school, Bo talked the statistical survey he conducted on recycling at his school and the difficulties he faced with apathy relating to environmentalism, and George talked about the composting program he started at his school. After that, Graham lead a class on Renewable Energy, in which we learned more about the renewable systems on campus on a global scale. We struggled to grapple with the many problems the planet faces with regards to energy but also felt optimistic given all the new technology that is out there.

--Ned, Addie, Bo and George

Boston Alumni Group Makes it to "Earth"

2009-05-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

The Boston Alumni Group (BAG) hosted their second official event on May 9, 2009 to go see the movie "Earth". The group is headed up by Derek Shooster (S06) and Carina Fish (F07) is VP. They gathered on Saturday afternoon with Ashleigh Baldwin (S01) and Sarah Maynard (Parent of Nate S09) to watch the newly released documentary.

BAG is a newer group that is starting to take off! Our hope is to have at least 2 events each year that are heavily attended by IS alumni and families from around the Boston area. If you are keen to start up a group similar to BAG in your area, please let us know and email Mary Assini at maryassini@islandschool.org.

Senior Projects Blog 1

2009-05-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

Ned, Addie, Bo, and George have all been on the Cape for three days now, and we can report whole-heartedly that it is good to be back! While it has been difficult adjusting to our new roles without all the familiar faces from our respective semesters, we have enjoyed reliving memories and rediscovering the beauty of this island.

Getting reacquainted with the Island School and Eleuthera has been made much easier by the beautiful weather, warm water, and awesome new developments going on all around campus—from the new kitchen to the boathouse. Of course, Mooch’s cooking has made us feel right at home, and all the friendly hellos as we drive through the settlements have reminded us of how special it is to live here and work for this institution and this place.

So far, us interns have spent our time exploring our favorite places, running and swimming with the students, and engaging in seminars with Graham and Mary concerning sustainable development. Now, we eagerly await the Island School’s characteristic new experiences that lie in our future!

Our senior project so far has consisted of basic environmental studies. We went over how we affect the environment, and what larger implications those effects have. We talked about multiple topics like what personal effect one has on the environment (water, food, etc.) and the bigger picture, such companies and other large organizations affects on the environment. These topics directly related to our readings on Natural Capitalism and the condition of human society, a book called The Long Emergency. Natural Capitalism was an extensive article on how major organizations can take sustainable and environmentally friendly actions and apply them to turn a profit. One example given was that most building designs lay the piping after the appliances are laid down, if they worked in the reverse order laying pipes in efficient designs with as little bends as possible they would save money and energy. The Long Emergency reading was a much more critical to new energies. The author laid out the current condition of human society as dire and that even in the face of solar, wind, and hydrogen energies, the human race is in for a disaster. After this we discussed goals and the layout of our project. Ultimately we are going to give current Island School students some of our advice after having acclimated to life at home and our experiences dealing with trying to apply sustainability at home and school.

Keep Checking In!--Bo, Ned, Addie and George

Coming Back Home!

2009-05-12T10:14:00.001-07:00

Starting this week we have a number of alumni flooding campus and coming back "home"! It is great to see all the old faces and have them jumping back in the swing of things.

As part of the Senior Project Program, the group is doing a daily blog that we are going to post. The authors are Addie Johnson (F07), George Post (S07), Bo Cramer (S08) and Ned Adriance (S08).

Enjoy!--Mary

"Earth" A Huge Success!

2009-05-12T05:56:00.001-07:00

On May 9, 2009

Island School community members from all around the globe flooded local movie theatres to collectively watch the movie "Earth." It was our first (of hopefully many) global events that will help tie us together inspite of the physical boundaries of distance and space.

I cannot thank you all enough for helping make this a success and please keep the pictures coming! Check out some of the viewers above--Mary

Boston, Watch Out!

2009-05-08T07:31:00.000-07:00

For all you "Earth" goers in the Boston area there is a BIG alumni group that is getting together to view the show! Here are the details below and it is being organized by our one and only Derek Shooster!

I.S. alumni in the Boston area looking to see "earth" this weekend are encouraged to join the Boston Alumni Group on Saturday, May 9th.

Where: AMC Boston Common (175 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02111)
When: 2:30PM (movie starts at 3:10PM), Saturday
Contact: Derek Shooster - 561-289-3575, shoosterd@gmail.com

If you're unfamiliar with the "earth" documentary, please check out this youtube link for a trailer to the film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qicARYcTe6w

We really look forward to seeing you there. Thank you, and have an excellent day.

One Movie, Thousands of People

2009-04-24T14:04:00.000-07:00

On May 9, 2009 we are calling all IS alums, friends and families to head to their local movie theatre to check out the new movie "Earth".

It's our first attempt at this new idea of connecting everyone from IS with a common thread. I got the idea from the city of Philadelphia where they have the this thing call the Philadelphia Book Club. What they do is pick one book that the whole city reads over the course of the year. It provides a common ground for everyone in the city so strangers, friends, colleagues, etc. have something to talk about and who knows where the conversations can lead!

This is what we are trying to do with Island School. The more folks that go the movie, the more people that can connect, the more we stay together as we progress into the second decade of IS as a unified group of agents of positive change.

So mark your calendar and go to the movies on May 9th! Any ideas on what we should do next...

Live Green Without Even Trying

2009-04-23T18:06:00.001-07:00

One of the hardest things about leaving IS is figuring out how to continue living the IS-way while not on the island. There is one guy out there who is working hard to help you figure out how to live green and not have to work hard at it.

Josh Dorfman is author of The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget: Save Money. Save Time. Save The Planet. (March ’09) and The Lazy Environmentalist: Your Guide to Easy, Stylish, Green Living (May ’07). This spring Josh will host The Lazy Environmentalist television series on the Sundance Channel. Josh is also the founder and CEO of Vivavi, a retailer of modern design, green furniture and furnishings. Discover more about green living at Josh’s website www.lazyenvironmentalist.com.

Josh keeps a weekly column that you can check out by clicking here...enjoy!

Green Building

2009-04-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder if "green building" is financially sustainable? In the long run, does it really pay off to build "green"? Check out this article and find out what some people are saying: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/405135_green15.html

Lady Bull Shark

2009-03-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend was bittersweet. A 500lbs bull shark was found dead in the marina with a hook in its mouth...some fishermen decided to make sport out of the animal’s life and made her fight until she died and they left her corpse at the bottom and continued partying the night away. Having stumbled upon the dead shark, we hauled her back to campus and decided to make the best out of the situation and do a dissection on Girls Dorm Beach--Edd made it look like art and showed us all the amazing pieces that made this lady tick. The most striking part was how huge her liver was--it easily occupied 70% of her inside and was two large pieces that spanned tip to tale and were about 4 or 5cm thick. Edd also showed us the heart (the size of his hand) and it was a beautiful. Although the fair lady was put to rest far too early for her days, at least she wasn’t carrying any pups and her death was turned into an invaluable teachable moment.

Water, Water Everywhere...

2009-03-24T06:46:00.001-07:00

...but not a drop to drink!

If you are keen to learn more about water and some interesting facts about consumption and power, you are in luck!

http://www.waterinv.com/usfun.html

Components and drivers of U.S. demand for water:
Power the largest user from, 22% in 1950 to 48% in 2000
Irrigation usage flat last 40 years at ~33%
Industrial usage in decline, from 20% in 1950 to 7% in 2000

Sustainability, Oh My!

2009-03-20T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hey Alums,

Are you ever bored and looking for some good reading? Well, have no fear! Check out the links below for some wicked articles focused on renewable energy and sustainabilty.

Here's a really good read, complex and long but very great
conversation starter:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/130/the-mortal-messiah.html?page=0%2C0

Here's a new article from Nat. Geographic on Energy Conservation:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/energy-conservation/miller-text

One more:
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2008/11/diet-warm-planet

All the best!--Mary

Run for the Right for Clean Water, March 21st

2009-03-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

This Sunday is World Water Day and this week in Seminar our topic is The Global Water Crisis.

On March 21st at 7a.m., students, faculty, and alumni will run for the right to clean and accessible water for all. We will run 6K and carry one jug of 5 gallons of water around this distance. 6K is the average distance a person in Africa has to walk to obtain clean water. 5 gallons is the average amount of water that person uses. This is in comparison to 160 gallons that a person in the United States uses.

Unsafe drinking water is the world’s leading cause of sickness and death. Yet it is a simple problem for us to solve. Just $30 provides one person with a lifetime of safe drinking water.

Please donate to the Blue Planet Run Water Fund in support of our fund raiser and educational activity. This will provide a model for our seminar class of how students can make a difference in their home community about an issue they are passionate about. Our process of determining an appropriate organization to donate to will provide a case study for our course.

We will be asking each person who participates in the run to donate $1 for every kilometer ($6 total) the day of the event. You can also make an additional donation at my fund raising website below:

https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5505/my/donate.jsp?supporter_my_donate_page_KEY=545

Thank you very much,

Spread the word and hope to see you on the run!

To learn more about the event and organization, click below.

http://blueplanetrun.org/wwd

IS Seminar Class: Week 1 Overview

2009-03-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

This week in seminar we are talking about the history of sustainabilty as a
global movement, looking at its roots from the environmental movement of
the 60's along with the fight against global poverty to significant events
such as the Earth Summit of Rio De Janeiro, 1992 and the World Summit of
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, SA, 2002. We explore the idea of
sustainable development today and look at what The Island School is doing
along with analyzing the role of each student through looking at their
ecological footprint.

Some point before the class this week I will be talking to students about
the power of artistic expression in environmentalism. Specifically we will
be exploring the work of Chris Jordan who creates images to represent mass
consumption in the US. He identifies his work as providing "portals to a
kind of self inquiry" as his photos put into images the imensity of
consumption statistics.

I encourage you to check out his work!

Below is a link to the work of Chris Jordan as well as a link to his TED
talk.

http://www.chrisjordan.com/
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/chris_jordan_pictures_some_shocking_stats.html

Sincerely--Remo Velardo

Welcome!

2009-03-10T07:43:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Welcome to The Island School Alumni Advisory Board Blog! We are using this site as a resource for IS alums to stay connected, share their adventures and continue to find inspiration from their Island School experience. Look for alum profiles, interesting articles, alum stories of projects and programs they have worked on post-IS, current readings from the IS Seminar Class and class overviews, and much more.

We hope you enjoy!