Heartbeats in the Muck : The History, Sea Life, and Environment of New York Harbor, Revised Edition / John Waldman.
2012
QH105.N7 W35 2013
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Title
Heartbeats in the Muck : The History, Sea Life, and Environment of New York Harbor, Revised Edition / John Waldman.
Author
ISBN
9780823249879
Published
New York, NY : Fordham University Press, [2012]
Copyright
©2012
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (160 p.)
Item Number
10.1515/9780823249879 doi
Call Number
QH105.N7 W35 2013
Dewey Decimal Classification
577.7/86346
Summary
Heartbeats in the Muck traces the incredible arc of New York Harbor's environmental history. Once a pristine estuary bristling with oysters and striped bass and visited by sharks, porpoises, and seals, the harbor has been marked by centuries of rampant industrialization and degradation of its natural environment. Garbage dumping, oil spills, sewage sludge, pesticides, heavy metals, poisonous PCBs, landfills, and dredging greatly diminished life in the harbor, in some places to nil. Now, forty years after the Clean Water Act began to resurrect New York Harbor, John Waldman delivers a new edition of his New York Society Library Award-winning book. Heartbeats in the Muck is a lively, accessible narrative of the animals, water quality, and habitats of the harbor. It includes captivating personal accounts of the author's explorations of its farthest and most noteworthy reaches, treating readers to an intimate environmental tour of a shad camp near the George Washington Bridge, the Arthur Kill (home of the resurgent heron colonies), the Hackensack Meadowlands, the darkness under a giant Manhattan pier, and the famously polluted Gowanus Canal. A new epilogue details some of the remarkable changes that have come upon New York Harbor in recent years. Waldman's prognosis is a good one: Ultimately, environmental awareness and action has allowed the harbor to begin cleaning itself. Although it will never regain its native biological glory, the return of oysters, herons, and a host of other creatures is an indication of New York Harbor's rebirth.This excellent, engaging introduction to the ecological issues surrounding New York Harbor will appeal to students and general readers alike. Heartbeats in the Muck is a must-read for anyone who likes probing the wilds, whether country or city, and natural history books such as Beautiful Swimmers and Mannahatta.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 03. Jan 2023)
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 The Essential Harbor
2 Vita Marinae
3 The Medium: Sewers, Sludge, and Other Forms of Water Torture
4 The Vessel: Bank and Bottom, Bulldozers and Blasts
5 How Is the Harbor Doing?
Epilogue: 2000-2012
Annotated Bibliography
Index
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 The Essential Harbor
2 Vita Marinae
3 The Medium: Sewers, Sludge, and Other Forms of Water Torture
4 The Vessel: Bank and Bottom, Bulldozers and Blasts
5 How Is the Harbor Doing?
Epilogue: 2000-2012
Annotated Bibliography
Index