Rechnitz Family/UCI Endowed Chair in Marine and Environmental Law and Policy Randall Abate delivered two talks on his forthcoming book, Climate Change and the Voiceless: Protecting Future Generations, Wildlife, and Natural Resources, on Oct. 8.
Monmouth University President Emeritus and UCI Ocean Policy Fellow Paul G. Gaffney II will moderate the panel discussion, which will present perspectives from the government, ports/maritime, offshore wind, ocean sciences and marine conservation communities. Rear Admiral Timothy Gallaudet, deputy administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will deliver plenary remarks.
Randall S. Abate, professor in the Department of Political Science and Sociology and Rechnitz Family/Urban Coast Institute Endowed Chair in Marine and Environmental Law and Policy, delivered the first of this year’s endowed chairs lecture series entitled, “Climate Change and the Voiceless: Protecting Future Generations, Wildlife, and Natural Resources.”
The lecture, sponsored by the Monmouth University Council of Endowed Chairs, gets its name directly from Abate’s new book set to be published next month by Cambridge University Press, and explores how the law, through the context of climate change, can evolve to protect the interests of three seemingly unrelated groups, which Abate refers to collectively as “the voiceless.”
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Dr. Jason Adolf, endowed professor of marine science, stressed that “hands-on science is absolutely crucial for emerging scientists,” such as the students from the university and local schools who are now researching the rivers. Throughout the evening, the panelists detailed some of Monmouth’s student and faculty efforts to study the intricacies of the area’s waterways.
Most New Jerseyans initially support a single-use plastic bag ban, but many back away from that support when considering the impact on consumer shopping habits, according to a Monmouth University Poll conducted in partnership with the Urban Coast Institute (UCI). The vast majority of Garden State residents say that ocean pollution caused by plastics is a serious problem, but few have heard much about the issue of microplastics in the environment.
Rechnitz Family UCI Endowed Chair in Marine and Environmental Law and Policy Randall S. Abate drafted an article in the summer 2019 issue of the 
Monmouth University students can apply for a number of paid positions conducting door-to-door surveys for select coastal towns in the Raritan Bay area and Monmouth County through the Institute for Sustainable Cities (ISC) at Hunter College and Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN). The surveys will pertain to community and household coastal adaptation to sea-level rise, coastal storms, and nuisance flooding along with local development trends. The survey aims to determine how the perception of future sea level rise is influencing coastal homeowners’ decision-making and gauge their needs for further information pertaining to flood mitigation, including what local and state municipalities can do to propagate and assist local resiliency efforts. The desired outcome is to figure out the decision frames that households are using to address questions of increasing climate risk along with their risk tolerance to differing levels of flooding and what metrics they use to measure risk.
“Just Beachy/After Sandy,” featuring the work of Monmouth University Department of Art and Design Professor Karen Bright and Assistant Professor of Communication Amanda Stojanov, can be viewed through Dec. 9 at the DiMattio Gallery, located in Rechnitz Hall. Some of the exhibition’s highlights include:
Two complementary exhibitions led by Bright will also debut on Sept. 20. “Karen Bright―Throughline,” also at the DiMattio Gallery, features four decades of the artist’s works centered on the environment as well as prevalent social and cultural issues such as the #MeToo movement and politics. ”A Sense of Place in Contemporary Encaustic,” at the neighboring Ice House Gallery, features 24 artists’ works that provide interpretations of space, ranging from serene landscapes to the abstract.
The Monmouth University School of Science and the Borough of Rumson will host a Two River Seminar Series centered on the environment and wildlife of the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers beginning in September. Members of the public of all ages are invited to participate in these educational discussions led by experts from the university’s Marine and Environmental Biology and Policy Program and Urban Coast Institute.
Students in Associate Professor Jing Zhou’s Digital Illustration course recently designed a series of posters promoting real and fictitious events about the ocean and coastal ecosystems. With the support of a UCI mini-grant, Zhou purchased calligraphy tools and supplies and coached the students to incorporate calligraphical elements into their work. Zhou believes the project provided a valuable design lesson and contribution to the course.
Over three dozen student projects were on display at the Monmouth University School of Science’s 2019 Summer Research Program Symposium, held Aug. 8 at the University’s Erlanger Gardens. The poster session has become an annual tradition, providing students an opportunity to share the work they completed over the preceding 12 weeks with friends, family, faculty members and the public.
What turns a less-toxic HAB into a highly toxic HAB? A few highlights from contemporary research conclude that excess nitrogen loading (even in the face of phosphorus controls) appears to favor toxic strains over non-toxic strains of Microcystis. Other experiments in North American lakes found that elevated water temperature, in combination with elevated nutrients, favors accumulation of toxic Microcystis strains over non-toxic strains. Elevated temperature and CO2 levels are likely to favor accumulations of cyanobacteria in lakes over other types of algae. This area of research is continuing and needs investment in New Jersey because understanding the specific conditions that turn our HABs into highly toxic events will inform management and predictive modelling of these events. This research, along with informed citizens anxious to play a role in the science associated with monitoring and prediction, will help us get ahead of this problem instead of repeatedly reacting to events after they occur ”out of nowhere.”