Little known to many Brooklyn and Queens residents, Newtown Creek, a tributary of the East river that splits the two boroughs, is the site of one of the world’s largest oil spills. In addition to sewage, chemical and toxic waste dumping and runoff, the 3.8 mile creek is the site of an underground oil seepage that has left an estimated 17 to 30 million gallons of oil in the water and surrounding soil. While Newtown Creek has finally gained media recognition in the last year, being designated a federal Superfund site in September 2010, a group of students and faculty at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens have been monitoring the contaminated water for over two years. Under the direction of Dr. Sarah Durand, professor in the College’s Natural Sciences department, they are now working to begin natural remediation of toxins from the creek long before the Environmental Protection Agency begins its clean up.

by Ashley Balavender

There is no doubt it’s spring with all the planting going on in the College community. For the first time, LaGuardia students are contributing their bright ideas and wielding green thumbs in the campus courtyard.

 
It all started with Dean for Academic Affairs Paul Arcario’s “Garden of the World” contest, in which students were asked to submit a research presentation on plant suggestions for the Cobblestone Courtyard.