Citizen Scientists: 8th Grade Participates in Citywide Study of Our Environment

It may have been a rainy and chilly fall morning, but our 8th graders were anything but gloomy as they spent the morning on Tuesday (10/22) in Brooklyn Bridge Park participating in the Day in the Life of Hudson and Harbor study as well as the Billion Oyster Project.

The Department of Environmental Conservation of the State of New York shares that “on one day each autumn, thousands of students from New York Harbor to Troy and beyond participate in the annual “Day in the Life of the Hudson and Harbor” event. Students collect scientific information to create snapshots of the river at dozens of locations, then share their data via the web so they can better understand how their piece of the river fits into the larger Hudson estuary ecosystem. “A Day in the Life” is sponsored by DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program and produced with assistance from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.” Brooklyn Friends students and teachers rolled up their sleeves and pulled out their water testing kits to record data on the river and environment including information about the aquatic life, water chemistry, tides and weather.

In a separate but just as vital effort, the Billion Oyster Project is a project co-ordinated by the New York Harbor School with the goal of restoring one billion live oysters to New York Harbor by 2035. On this same trip to Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn Friends 8th grade students counted and measured oysters in the river.

Enjoy some photos from the trip below!