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  • Watch: Fletcher Lake Water Quality Sampling Instruction

    Urban Coast Institute Citizen Science Coordinator Erin Conlon and Endowed Associate Professor in Marine Science Jason Adolf recently trained local high school students to conduct water quality sampling at Fletcher Lake in Bradley Beach. The effort was part of the Coastal Lakes Observing Network (CLONet) project, which is focused on monitoring the health of seaside lakes in Monmouth County. For more information, including how to volunteer to monitor your community lake, visit the CLONet website or email Conlon at econlon@monmouth.edu.

  • Knowing the Flow: Testing Current Meter Technology

    Watch UCI Associate Director Tom Herrington and Monmouth University student Breana DiRenzi test new Nortek wireless current meter technology in the waters off Sandy Hook, New Jersey.

  • Herrington to Guide Journal of Marine Environmental Engineering

    Photo of UCI Associate Director Thomas HerringtonUrban Coast Institute (UCI) Associate Director Thomas Herrington has been named the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Marine Environmental Engineering.

    Herrington has served for four years as a member of the publication’s editorial board, which currently includes representatives of American universities and military agencies as well as research institutions in Canada, China, Denmark, Greece, India and the Netherlands. His term as editor will extend through 2024.

    The journal’s scope includes scientific and engineering disciplines addressing complex environmental problems in ocean and estuary waters and inland seas. Topics covered in past issues have included coastal and ocean processes, marine waste disposal, habitat enhancement and creation, fisheries management, dredging, beach erosion and management, and computer modeling, among many others. Herrington said he looks forward to expanding the publication’s range in upcoming issues.

    “The journal is unique in both its interdisciplinary nature and its focus on applied science and engineering,” he said. “It will continue to publish articles that articulate practical solutions to real-world environmental problems, but broaden the content to include emerging areas of marine environmental engineering required for future sustainability and resilience to climate change impacts, including natural carbon sequestration and the use of natural and nature-based features, living shorelines, and ecosystem adaptations for coastal restorations, adaption, and resilience.”

    The journal was launched in 1993 and is published by the Old City Publishing, based in Philadelphia.

  • WATCH: Climate & the Coast: Challenges for the New Administration

    The Monmouth University Office of Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving hosted a panel discussion Feb. 23 with experts from the UCI covering mounting issues facing the nation and Florida’s coast, including beach erosion, sea level rise, flooding and harmful algal blooms. The session included presentations and a Q&A with UCI Director Tony MacDonald, Associate Director Tom Herrington and Endowed Associate Professor of Marine Science Jason Adolf.

  • Abate Calls for Environmental, Animal Law Advocates to Partner in Fight Against Climate Change in Columbia Law Journal Article

    Photo of Randall S. AbateIn an article published by the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law in February, Professor Randall Abate argues that the animal and environmental law movements should join forces on legal action that would compel the fossil fuel and animal agriculture industries to cease practices that are accelerating climate change.

    According to Abate, the Rechnitz Family/UCI endowed chair in marine and environmental law and policy, the two industries are major greenhouse gas emitters that have been shielded from accountability through regulatory loopholes and are heavily subsidized by American taxpayers. He contrasted this to the auto industry, which has gradually improved its environmental track record in response to decades of bipartisan federal legislation such as the Clean Air Act of 1970.

    “A number of recent lawsuits seek to break through the federal government’s protective circle, which enables these destructive private sector entities,” Abate said. “Collaboration is essential to realize the threat of massive common law liability and incentivize cooperative federal regulation. This two-headed dragon of fossil fuel and industrial animal agriculture can be slayed only if the animal and environmental law movements work together.”

    Although both have common interests, including their concern for climate change, Abate contends there has been little coordination between these two movements on legal matters to date. He also observed that while animal law advocates have largely embraced environmental causes, environmental advocates have not always shown the same support for animal law movement issues like encouraging Americans to transition to plant-based diets.

    “Given that fossil fuel combustion and industrial animal agriculture are two of the largest contributors to climate change, addressing them as connected threats rather than independent problems to be addressed by different advocacy efforts is the proper way forward,” Abate said. “Operating in silos is counterproductive in this era of urgently necessary transformation of our economy and society.”

    Click here to read the full article, “Anthropocene Accountability Litigation: Confronting Common Enemies to Promote a Just Transition.”

    Abate has delivered several talks on the article, including an Oct. 2 McGill University Faculty of Law (Montreal) lecture; a Nov. 11 Osgoode Hall Law School (Toronto) lecture; a Jan. 18 kickoff lecture at the Meat the Law Series, hosted by the University of Amsterdam; a Feb. 3 Daksha Fellowship Lecture hosted by Sai University (Chennai, India); a Feb. 10 lecture at Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University; and a presentation at the March 9 Climate Change Symposium hosted by the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law.