Today’s blog post is shared by Guest Author Kohana Henson. It is the first in a limited series of her observations and insights into the dynamics of the local environment in New York City, as she discovers meaningful forms of climate action.
While attending Columbia University’s Climate School in the Green Mountains Pre-College program this past summer, I was tasked with creating a final project that required students to solve a climate-related issue in our community. For me, NYC is home, and one of the major issues it faces is the pollution in its waterways. With the guidance of one of my teachers, I learned about an incredible non-profit organization, the Billion Oyster Project (BOP). The Billion Oyster Project is a unique organization based in NYC with a mission to restore oysters to the New York Harbor.
Oysters once held an iconic place in New York City’s history. Long before hot dogs and pretzels, oysters were sold on the streets, earning the city the nickname “Oyster Capital of the World.” Unfortunately, overharvesting and unchecked urban development led to the decimation of oyster populations. As New York expanded, industrial waste and untreated sewage poured into the harbor, polluting the water and creating an environment too toxic for oysters to survive.
The Billion Oyster Project has set an ambitious goal: to restore one billion oysters to the New York Harbor by 2035. But this effort isn’t just about replenishing the oyster population. It’s a critical step in cleaning and revitalizing the city’s waterways.
Oysters act as natural filters, straining pollutants and excess toxins from the water through a process called “filter-feeding”. Each oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day, making them essential to improving water quality and strengthening the ecosystem. Oyster reefs also act as natural barriers, helping to mitigate storm surge and erosion, two increasingly pressing concerns as climate change intensifies.
In particular, BOP has made an oyster reef site at Coney Island Creek to serve under-represented residents in Southern Brooklyn who were impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
On my first volunteer day with BOP, I was tasked to help pick up trash around Coney Island Creek. I spent the day cleaning up shoreline areas, picking up everything from plastic bottles and finished Kool-Aid pouches to dental floss and cigarettes. The worst part was that five seconds after I cleaned one section of the beach, trash would start flooding back in. I was working for around 3 hours, but the activity was more than just labor; it made me think about the human impact on our coastal environments. And although my efforts felt trivial, it was rewarding to help restore a space that would later be home to new oyster reefs.
On the first of September, I was recruited to work with oysters being restored to the harbor. My main task was to clean endless, massive piles of oysters left over by local restaurants to prepare them to be relocated back into the water. Provided with gloves, buckets, and headphones (to prevent ear damage from the loud cleaning machines), we spent 5 hours going through buckets of oysters. Despite the reeking ocean smell left behind on my hands, there was a clear sense of purpose. That day, a group of people and I worked to clean thousands of oyster shells, contributing to the one billion oyster goal.
Overall, the experience was eye-opening and rewarding. The best part was, of course, picking up the trash and cleaning oyster shells, but talking with the other volunteers made me feel like I was in a community full of people who cared. Many were local residents with a big age range, but some were students like me. Exchanging the ways we found out about this organization and our backstory was exciting, and I plan to volunteer again.
