Oyster Farmer Reviving Barnegat Bay's Rich Shellfish Bounty
www.nj.com, 2/13/2015
Today, Gregg is the owner of Forty North Oyster Farms. And even though it took him five years to get all
the necessary permits (his work is regulated by 11 governmental agencies), and even though his entire
business was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy (just four days after his first sale), he'll tell you that now,
finally, he has the best job in the world... Gregg also has a symbiotic relationship with Rutgers, which is
responsible for the modern oyster industry in the first place. In the 1980s, Rutgers developed a diseaseresistant strain of oysters, to fight against parasites, a breed line that is used throughout the industry.
"Rutgers is world class when it comes to oysters," says Gregg... Gef Flimlin is considered one of the
guardians of Barnegat Bay and enthusiastically promotes Jersey shellfish. Flimlin, a marine extension
agent with Rutgers Cooperative Extension, was a guest speaker at an oyster symposium last year at
the Montclair Food & Wine festival, talking oysters, sharing clams.
Forget About That Snowball - Here's What Climate Change Could Actually Do to Our Winters
www.washingtonpost.com, 3/3/2015
A dynamic change to winter, due to global warming, would occur if the warming of the planet overall alters
patterns of atmospheric circulation in some way. And this is precisely what some researchers have
proposed as the reason why we're getting these crazy winters... Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at
Rutgers University who focuses on changes to the Arctic, is the best known researcher to make this
argument. She believes that the decline of Arctic sea ice is weakening the northern hemisphere jet
stream, which brings us our weather. A weaker jet stream, she continues, is more likely to get "stuck" in
persistent weather patterns, leading to weather extremes of varying types (whether snow, rain, or lack of
rain)... Last week, Francis said that when it comes to this winter and also the last one for the East Coast,
"Mother Nature certainly has been giving us lots to talk about." She noted that while her views are
certainly not accepted by all researchers, "there's been so much new work that's come out, just in the last
six months even, that, it's getting harder for people to say, 'oh there's nothing to this hypothesis.'"
More Snow Heading This Way; Find Out How Much
www.app.com, 3/3/2015
Up to 8 inches of snow may fall in Monmouth and Ocean counties tonight into Thursday, following a
wintry mix of snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain that began Tuesday, according to the National Weather
Service... The late Wednesday- Thursday snowstorm could become the biggest in New Jersey this cold
season, according to David A. Robinson, the New Jersey state climatologist, especially in areas south
of Route 78 or perhaps south of Route 195 if the storm takes a slightly more southern track... Snowfall
averaged 24.6 inches statewide so far this cold season, or 0.7 inches above the norm for an entire
season, according to Robinson.
An Equine Intervention: Rutgers Students Team up With Horses in Need of New Homes
www.nj.com, 3/4/2015
Horses in need of re-homing and animal science students -- perfect together. That's the idea behind the
new Rutgers University Teaching Herd (RUTH): Fostering horses for teaching and outreach program.
These horses, fostered at Rutgers for the spring semester, will be trained and shown by students at Ag
Field Day on April 25. Representatives from their parent equine rescue/placement organizations will be
on hand to accept adoption applications after the horse show... Rutgers professor, Dr. Sarah Ralston
stressed that this was not a continuation of the Young Horse Teaching and Research Program, which
went on hiatus two years ago after a decade of success. This new herd is strictly for teaching and
outreach purposes... Dr. Wendie Cohick, chair of the Department of Animal Sciences, came up with
the idea for the teaching herd. "As any horse owner knows, it is very expensive to have horses -- and a
primary reason why many horse lovers don't own horses," said Cohick... Rutgers Associate Professor
and Extension Specialist, Dr. Carey Williams noted that students will be using the teaching horses in a
variety of ways.
Stinkbug Challenges Organic Growers
www.goodfruit.com, 3/5/2015
Mid-Atlantic area fruit and vegetable growers who have the full range of control options at their disposal
are having trouble containing the brown marmorated stinkbug. So imagine how hard it must be for organic
growers, with their limited arsenal of insecticides... Organic management of BMSB was one of the
"current issues in organic fruit production" that were addressed during the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable,
and Farm Market Expo in Michigan... Dr. Anne Nielsen, one of the first to study BMSB when it was found
in the East, said organic growers would have to rely on integrating multiple methods such as natural
enemies, cultural management, and/or habitat manipulation for control... Nielsen was a graduate student
at Rutgers University in New Jersey when the stinkbug was first found. She did postdoctorate work at
Michigan State University and is now back at Rutgers, still working with the stinky insect that smells, she
says, like a combination of cilantro and dirty socks.
N.J. Man Keeps Bone-chilling Streak Alive
www.philly.com, 3/6/2015
Thursday's heavy snowfall did not deter Doug Maday, the South Jersey used-car dealer who has been
plunging into the ocean at Seaside Heights every day since Labor Day, 187 days ago... With the air a
brisk 23 degrees, and the water a bone-chilling 32.5, Maday took the latest plunge of his yearlong quest
shortly before 4 p.m. Thursday... While he finds the icy water bracing, "it got a lot colder last month than I
thought it would be," he said... His perception was confirmed by David Robinson, the state
climatologist at Rutgers University. Last month was the third-coldest February in New Jersey since
record-keeping began in 1895, according to Robinson, with an average air temperature across the state
of 21.9 degrees.
Green Thumbs: Get a Jumpstart on Spring with Forced Blooms Indoors
www.pressofatlanticcity.com, 3/7/2015
If this winter has not gotten you down, you are among the few and a touch of spring would definitely be a
boost to most gardeners. There are several flowering shrubs and trees that can be pruned and forced to
bloom earlier indoors... Place your branches in a bucket and add 3 inches of water. The branches should
be kept in a cool area, 60 to 65 degrees, to develop. Warmer temperatures can cause the blooms to
develop improperly. To help prevent bud loss, mist the buds regularly or keep the branches close to a
humidifier... This article was written by Mona Bawgus, a certified master gardener and consumer
horticulturist with Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Atlantic County.
Princeton Environmental Film Festival Offers Free Movies and an Emphasis on the Word
'Enough'
www.nj.com, 3/8/2015
For the past eight years, every time its Princeton Public Library organizers brainstormed an annual goal
to provoke exploration of their Princeton Environmental Film Festival, they focused on a word or phrase.
One year it was "a sense of place." Another time it was "risk."... Bracketed by a March 13 Climate Change
Cabaret at the library beginning at 7 p.m. and ending with an April 25 "Let It Go" community yard sale, the
film festival includes the world premiere "Antarctic Edge: 70 Degrees South" at The Garden on March
24 at 7 p.m... The documentary is the result of a partnership between the Rutgers University Film
Bureau and the Rutgers Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences that explores the National Science
Foundation's long-term ecological research in the West Antarctic Peninsula. The film follows a team of
scientists who are in a race against time to understand the fastest winter-warming place in the world, a
location whose ice sheet was declared unstoppable just last year.
Winter Was a Near Record Breaker, But Relief Is In Sight
www.northjersey.com, 3/8/2015
Ready to pack Old Man Winter's bags and toss him out the door, no doubt with a crowd of neighbors
cheering you on? If you've had enough of the winter of 2014-15, New Jersey Climatologist Dr. David
Robinson says it is with good reason, and also that relief is on the way... Blame it all on the pattern of the
jet stream, which for the second winter in a row, dipped to the south allowing polar air to infiltrate the
Northeast, but "February will go down as one of the more intense wintery months on record, not only for
the cold but for the persistent snow cover and the frequent snow events," Robinson said... But putting the
winter talk aside, area residents can take comfort in Robinson's words "For those who have had enough
of winter, it's safe to say things will be looking up."
Geoengineering Schemes Come Under Fire
www.deccanherald.com, 3/10/2015
A high-profile study of the nascent field of geoengineering says that no amount of climate tinkering will
solve the problem of too much atmospheric carbon dioxide. And schemes for spraying planet-cooling
particles into the atmosphere are so technologically immature that researchers should not even try them...
Proposals to study geoengineering have tended to languish because there was no obvious way for
federal agencies to fund them within existing research programmes, she says. But now, the US
government has a clear path forward to start thinking about doing such tests... "Hopefully this will get us
an American research program," says Alan Robock, an atmospheric scientist at Rutgers University
in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
This Climate Plan Should Appeal to Liberals and Conservatives
www.post-gazette.com, 3/10/2015
People are confused by the presence of Arctic cold when the scientific consensus is that global average
temperatures are increasing. Research professor Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University has
theorized that the loss of Arctic ice is causing the jet stream to lock into meandering patterns like the one
we are seeing, with the West dry and warm and the East cold and wet. Though still in peer-review, the
theory fits what we are seeing... Any way you look at it, the effects of our carbon pollution are becoming
clearer, and it is time we took steps to address the threats. High on our to-do list is putting a price on
carbon pollution.
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