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WATER

Justin Wedes – Teacher – The Island School

To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves a riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold. -Archibald MacLeish, ‘The Image of Victory,’

What a unique vantage point we have on the world! Plop a red pin down at random on any old place in the (known) universe, and where are you? By modern estimates, you are likely to find yourself in the cold, dark hinterlands between radiant stars and their companion planets. The thought of finding a familiar substance like water- wet as it slides through our fingertips- in a place like that is absurd, right? To borrow from Gertrude Stein: there is no there there.

Or is there? Astronomers talk excitedly now about water emission spectra, the tell-tale signs of water vapor or ice deep in Continue reading →

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Cacique Update-October 16, 2010

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“A Last Saturday Together”

October 16th, 2010

By Caciques Hammy Wallace and Pheobe Fitz

Today was the day we’d all been waiting for: PSATs. We got our blood flowing and our bodies moving with a long morning exercise. As usual, run track went their separate ways to prepare for our last morning exercise all together for three weeks. Swimming against the current in Current Cut was hard work, which was later met with more “buddy runs” as we raced back to campus for our final preparations for PSATs. After breakfast with calculators and plenty of number 2 pencils in hand, we all sat down for our 2-hour assessment. Although they weren’t the real PSATs, they were even better because not only did we get our real scores, we got to go back over all of the questions we missed to focus on our areas of improvement. During the generous amount of exploration time we were given, many people used it as their last Querencia, time spent alone, to reflect on our completed 5-week academic stretch Continue reading →

Cacique Update

Cacique Update-October 15, 2010

“Endings and Beginnings”

October 15, 2010

by Caciques Meaghan Kachadoorian and Chris Daniell

Today, our five-week academic rotation has officially ended. Already? It’s hard to believe that this phase of our Island School journey has been completed. As the weeks went on, pride developed for the various academic groups we’d been involved in. In research, common experience and challenge created support systems and research group pride. In the minutes after our five-hour research block getting ready for dinner circle, crazy stories buzzed through the air. “There were eleven Nassau grouper at just one reef!” from the patch reef team and “…so after pulling up the line for an hour and a half, the gulper shark came right up alongside the boat!” from deep water shark research. Continue reading →

Cape Eleuthera Institute, Deep Creek Middle School, News, Uncategorized

Blog Action Day 2010: WATER

Today, thousands of bloggers from over 125 different countries we are coming together to write about the same issue: WATER. And today, we give you insights, thoughts, facts, and feelings about how WATER affects our community, through blogs written by representatives of each area of The Cape Eleuthera Foundation.

To learn more about Blog Action Day or global issues surrounding WATER, or to connect to one of the thousands of blogs also considering this topic today, click on the following link:

http://blogactionday.change.org/

 

 

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WATER

Moesha Leary – Student – Deep Creek Middle School

I think water is a powerful substance.  It can relax a mind, help a thirst, and it helps things grow.  Living in an archipelago makes it even more important to me because it’s what surrounds me.  I can never escape it.  It makes me want to know what is in it and how I can protect it.  I am very afraid to lose it because if it is lost, my family may not make any money.  Both of my parents work for jobs that must include it.  If I lose the pure drinking water I will die and so will everyone else around me.  It makes me want to save it and find out ways to keep it forever.

Cape Eleuthera Institute, Deep Creek Middle School, News

WATER

Geoff Walton – Director of Facilities – The Cape Eleuthera Foundation

I would not exist without water.  All the water that I use to drink, wash, cook and flush my toilet with comes from the sky which is collected off of the roof of the building I live in and stored in a subterranean cistern (or more like an underground bunker for my water).  I take water storage seriously.

The cistern where my water is stored consists of a concrete box, 2 feet thick on all side to make sure it does not crack and resides underneath my apartment building to keep the light out and to help it stay  at a stable temperature to make sure algae does not grow in it.  It is fed by four downspouts that are connected to the roof on my building and has an overflow pipe should it ever rain enough to completely fill the cistern so that water does not overflow into the living room.  The living room (or more accurately  my downstairs neighbors living room as I live in the upstairs apartment) has an inspection hatch that I can open to check the level of the water, or more often is the case, the of lack of water.  I try to use a maximum of 10 gallons of water every day.  There are nine of us living in our apartment building in four different units, collectively we use about 90 gallons of water used each day for the whole building.  The average American uses between 75-100 gallons of water per person per day!  Continue reading →

Cape Eleuthera Institute, Deep Creek Middle School, News

WATER

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Brady Wheatley – Teacher – The Island School

“Si claro gringita quiero ir a la escuela, pero mi trabajo en la casa es traer el agua.” Of course gringita I want to go to school, but it is my job in the house to bring the water.  My world stood still in this second as I saw the expression of confusion on the five-year-old boy’s face.  I had grown up in a world of plenty. There was always water when I turned on the tap, and on top of that- clean water. Researching the water wars in Bolivia I expected to encounter personally challenging moments in which my interviews didn’t go as planned, or maybe the roads would be blockaded and I couldn’t get through. What I never realized was that in my work examining the “culture of protest” related to the water wars I would have my world flipped upside down. Every day people told me their stories of water struggles- walking 2 hours to get dirty water, filling up buckets on the days the city turned on the water, or worse stories of burying their children for lack of access to clean water. I was naïve, I was spoiled and I was enraged. Continue reading →

Cape Eleuthera Institute, Deep Creek Middle School, News

WATER

Sarah Sasek – Student – The Island School

Water—most of us take it for granted on a daily basis, while others cannot find any to drink or bathe in. It goes unnoticed when we leave the water running while brushing our teeth, wash our cars, and run the washing machine and dishwasher. Our busy lives do not have time to appreciate the nature around us; the elements that make the circle of life continue. We do not cherish the cooling sensation as water runs down our throats. Although we immerse ourselves in water in showers, and on hot days in the swimming pool, we ironically run for shelter whenever water rains from the sky.  

Living the last month at The Island School, I have become conscious of the water surrounding me. Its value has increased as my perspective has changed towards recognizing it and appreciating it. Free diving in the Atlantic has awakened me to reconsider my perspective on water Continue reading →

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Calling all our WFR/WFA Certified Friends!

The Bronx Lab School is looking for some short-term help…
POSITION: WFR/WFA Trip Assistants, Bronx Lab School, Bronx, NY
EMPLOYER:  Bronx Lab SchoolBronx Lab School is a small public high school in the Williams Bridge area of the North Bronx.  We serve students from diverse ethic, social and economic backgrounds.
POSITION DESCRIPTION:We will be taking two groups of our 10th graders on a 3 day 2 night trip to the Mohican Outdoor Center in the Delaware Water Gap in New Jersey.  We are currently looking for WFR/WFA certified people to support these trips.  Applicants must be prepared to be fully integrated into the leadership of the trip.
RESPONSIBILITES:

  • Provide on site first aid treatment (med kit not supplied)
  • Lead low ropes activites for 4 groups of 10 – 15 students for about an hour
  • Lead a two mile round trip hike (route provided)
  • Model and teach leadership skills
  • Assist in debrief of daily activities

DATES:   Wednesday 10/27/10 – Friday 10/29/10   There will be 4 groups attending Wednesday – Thursday and 4 other groups attending on Thursday – Friday
RENUMERATION:   Payment for this trip is $250.  You will camp on site at Mohican.  Breakfasts and lunches will be provided from Wed lunch to Fri breakfast.  Dinner is a potluck by the students, you should plan on bringing a dish to share for the two nights.  You will need to meet the group at Mohican by 11:00 on Wednesday and will be done at 12:00 on Friday.  If you are local to NYC you are welcome to ride the bus to and from (we’ll leave from the school 800 E Gun Hill Road 9:30ish on Wednesday and return by 2:00 on Friday).
CONTACT:    John McCrann at john.mccrann@bronxlabschool.org <http://john.mccrann@bronxlabschool.org>  <http://john.mccrann@bronxlabschool.org>  or  (919) 564-6235