News
Our New Year’s resolution: Looking after our own backyards
Posted by Bill Dennison.
The recently released Chesapeake Bay Foundation report provided a Bay-wide assessment of the status of Chesapeake Bay as a whole. While this high altitude view of Chesapeake Bay gauged against the John Smith Chesapeake Bay of the early 1600s is useful as a benchmark, it does not readily translate into local action. This is because of the immense scale of Chesapeake Bay, especially considering the scale of the Chesapeake watershed.
Read MoreOur Natural Heritage Sqaundered
Posted by Gerald Winegrad.
As we celebrate the Christmas season and anticipate the coming New Year with family and friends, my thoughts have turned inward. Now in my mid-60’s, I think deep thoughts of the way things used to be and how radically things have changed. Sadly, as I reflect on the Chesapeake Bay and its mighty rivers and its many streams, I see the results of the slow but ongoing degradation and poisoning of this natural legacy.
Read MoreUnited We Stand?
Posted by Fred Tutman.
In our Bay preservation movement there some among us are deeply committed to compatible ideals and to the environment but lack the momentum or body politic to communicate their views clearly or beyond the narrow subset of environmentalism they represent. We are often divided within—as much by interest group as by our vision of what winning actually looks like. Such of our subsets are just not mainstream enough by orientation to communicate comfortably with those outside their own choir, but we include them by reference in order to swell our ranks. Truthfully, these are folks who have a smaller (but important) vision not always shared by all.
Read MoreEnvironmental Coalitions That Get Results
As environmentalists who care about our planet and our society we operate in an increasingly slippery environment in terms of gaining traction for our vision for clean water and strong communities. In tough economic times we are often seen not as champions of the public interest, but as adversaries of the economic system. I think we need a makeover of our tactics if we hope to make a real difference.
Read MoreWhy We Lose (Part IV)
(Posted by Howard Ernst.)
The Chesapeake Bay Commission describes itself as a tri-state legislative commission created in 1980 “to advise the members of the General Assemblies of Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania on matters of Bay-wide concern.” Yet the majority of its elected members have poor environmental voting records…
Read MoreWhy is Chesapeake Bay so vulnerable (and productive)?
(Posted by Bill Dennison.) Chesapeake Bay is particularly vulnerable to human impacts and incredibly productive for three basic reasons. 1) The first of these reasons is that Chesapeake Bay is an estuary, a place where fresh and salt water mix. 2) The second of these reasons is due to the geographic setting; geomorphology and hydrography…
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