Climate Change Impacts and Solutions: Ocean Acidification in New York City
When atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves in ocean water, it creates carbonic acid. This process, known as ocean acidification, is the result of increasing carbon emissions and the impact of man-made climate change. While ocean acidification is a major environmental concern all over the world, carbon dioxide is most soluble in colder water temperatures, posing an even greater risk to our local northeast coast. According to NOAA, the ocean absorbs roughly 30% of all atmospheric carbon dioxide, which is slowly decreasing ocean pH. The current average surface water pH is 8.1, but is projected to fall to 7.8 by the end…
My Climate Story: Snow Angels
I spent most of my childhood in a wondrous place — a mostly desolate, and largely untouched, part of Northern Vermont. I remember trudging through snow that reached as high as my rib cage, trying to maintain my balance as I sported a puffy 90s neon snowsuit. Each attempt to catch my breath resulted in a deep, chesty cough. Some days the temperatures were 20 degrees below zero. The frigid air burned my throat and lungs, but I had an intense and amorous appreciation for Mother Nature and her limitless power and strength. Winter was my dad’s favorite season. It…
Trash Talking The Gowanus Canal, One Of America’s Most Polluted Waterways
Every morning before I unlock the door to the office, I walk a few extra steps onto the Union Street Bridge just to stop and smell the coal tar. Okay, so maybe it’s to take in the view, but water coming from the Gowanus Canal — one of the most polluted waterways in America — offers a stench most couldn’t imagine. People often find the canal to be nothing short of repugnant, but I disagree. There’s something so marvelous and mysterious about those murky waters and I’m eager to tell you more about them. I started at the Gowanus Canal…
100 Concerts And Counting: The Shows & Songs That Shaped Me
I’ve been working hard to beat the winter blues with loads of indie, rock, and EDM shows. My calendar is a true testament to the many late nights and pulled muscles I’ve endured these past few weeks. I haven’t gotten much sleep, but all of this got me thinking, how many shows have I actually seen and heard in this lifetime? (And dang, how much money have I spent?) Music is special to just about everyone, but I never quite realized how much it meant to me until I sat down and reflected on the past 11 years. As the…
Fish Are Friends. And Yes, Sharks Count.
Summer wouldn’t be the same without those quintessential blockbuster hits that we all know and love. Jaws, one of the most prominent and successful blockbuster films of all time, reeled in $14 million in its first weekend back in 1975. Though the film came out more than 40 years ago, its impact has been everlasting—in a very negative way. A preview for the upcoming film The Meg, —a term short for Megalodon, the largest prehistoric shark in the world—reminded me of the messaging behind Jaws. If you haven’t seen the preview yet, think Jaws, but with a submarine instead of a boat.…
Cracking the Quarter-Life Crisis
I had never quite understood the term “turbulent twenties” until I was painstakingly trudging through them. I thought college would be the tough part and that it would be nothing but smooth sailing from there on out, reaping the benefits of all of my efforts. Well, after surviving a year in the “real” world, I’m here to tell you how embarrassingly wrong I was. After months of loathsomely tossing back many gallons of dairy-free ice cream on the couch and crying into any and all surrounding pillows, I accepted that I was having a quarter-life crisis. I didn’t know what…
Ditching Meat? Here’s What You Can Expect.
Has your love affair with Meatless Monday finally escalated to a recurring week-long commitment? Whether you’re going vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, flexitarian, or something in-between, the process of adjusting to a brand new diet can be a huge challenge. Adopting vegan values absolutely changed my life, but I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve had to jump a few hurdles to make my diet work. There are plenty of pros for going plant-based, but a simple Google search can tell you that. Today I want to share my 5 biggest vegan venture obstacles to give you a better idea of what…
Diving Into National Geographic’s Encounter: Ocean Odyssey
It’s not every day that you can hop on the subway, head to Times Square, and submerge yourself hundreds of feet below sea level. Thanks to National Geographic’s Encounter: Ocean Odyssey, an interactive and immersive underwater adventure, swimming with sea life has never been easier. From the moment you step through the aqua-colored mist, it’s clear you’ve left Manhattan and embarked on a journey like no other. Nat Geo’s Encounter guides you from the South Pacific to the West Coast of North America, bringing a better understanding of the magnificent life we’ve discovered and the excitement and mystery of all…
Beef Up Your Diet With The New Plant-Based Beyond Burger
For many meat lovers, the thought of giving up that juicy steak is daunting. Unfortunately, with its high carbon emission production rate, meat consumption is a leading cause of climate change. If more people transitioned to plant-based diets, or even reduced meat intake to some small degree, the effects of climate change would decrease exponentially. The fact is, transitioning to a vegan, vegetarian, or reduced-meat diet is really, really challenging. And for those who love meat, the transition seems near impossible. But what if carnivores could have their meat and eat it too? The Beyond Burger is the answer. The Beyond…
A Scientific Guide to Shrinking Your Carbon Footprint
Whether you lean left, right, or somewhere in between, environmental issues are, and deserve to be, nonpartisan. Sadly, evidence backed up by science often evolves into heated political arguments, leaving everyone far too angry to focus on what truly matters: our planet. I’m not here to preach my position to anyone. If you’d like to me to share my thoughts on topics like hydraulic fracturing, coral bleaching, the agricultural industry, and climate change as a whole, I’m more than happy to engage in conversation, but for now, I’d like to use this platform to offer some simple solutions to a…
A Witchy Woman’s History With Halloween
People often look at me with puzzled eyes when I start dusting off the Halloween house decor on the first of September, but I wasn’t always this way. In fact, Halloween was never really on my radar and scary things did what they should — they scared me. I didn’t enjoy them. That all changed when I turned the ripe, awkward age of 16. I needed to find myself a job and saw that Six Flags New England was hiring plenty of new employees for Fright Fest. I didn’t know exactly what this job would entail, but the additional funds…
Starting a new side hustle? Avoid these four productivity pitfalls.
Both a blessing and a curse, I’ve never been able to relax. I’ve always hated naps, even as an infant and growing child, and I’d always joke that “sleep is for the weak.” It’s funny, because you often hear so many people say, “There are just not enough hours in the day!” I can tell you that simply isn’t true. We have plenty of time, we just don’t (usually) use it wisely. When I started as a freshman in college, I was overwhelmed and anxious with the number of tasks I had to complete on a daily basis. There…