It’s not too easy pulling off an event after delaying it because of snow. It simply would not have been possible without the help of so many folks….esp Connie, Annette, and Angela! Without them, this party would not have happened! Then add Larry, John, Susan, Rebekah, Melissa, Lavonda, Emmy, Maria, Christine, Corinne, Nancy, Mary, and Tom…..who did amazing work and then Pam and Maureen were our auction ladies and Matthew helped set up. So many volunteers helped and so many folks were very generous in their donations and the Tennessee Aquarium, Leisure Time Dive, Pruetts on Signal Mountain, Contemporary Portraits, and Athens Distributing all sponsored our event. Nice. So thanks, one and all! You did it for the kids and the water, both in the Caribbean and home in the Tennessee Valley.

In Mabouya Valley, St Lucia, a wonderful cadre of teachers spent a week of their summer vacation learning interactive teaching methods from Al Stenstrup of Project Learning Tree (www.plt.org) , Dr. Padgett Kelly from Middle Tennessee State University and the National Marine Educators Association and me. They even began to implement what they had learned by hosting a River Guardians camp for kids in the valley! In early December, I had the chance to visit with one of the teachers, Flora Renee, at her house high on the side of the valley. Her son, Denzel and another energetic young man, Danic, are leading the youth effort to measure the water quality around one of the pig farms where we are installing a biogas digester. With the guidance Caribbean SEA youth leader, Pernill, from Dennery, these boys are doing great work! They are destined to become great scientists! I think we need Natalia to write an article for the paper about our up and coming scientists!

Caribbean SEA is celebrating our 5th anniversary this month! It is heartening to think of all the fabulous people and organizations that have made our success possible. It’s a tribute to all of us working together to protect the water environments of the Caribbean….from our first sponsors TVIG, Carilec, Cox Wood Products, Lucelec, and Project AWARE to everyone who works to keep the Caribbean clean…..congrats to everyone! We are all in this together.

After participating in Outdoor Chattanooga’s Outdoor Expo and going to the EcoExpo put on by Brewer Media, it is heartening to see such a diverse group of people who understand and are working to improve our environment. Look at the diversity of people involved in clean water…from our groups TenneSEA and Caribbean SEA where students and community volunteers work to raise awareness and improve the quality of our water to Tennessee American Water Company and the Hamilton County Stormwater Department. While speaking with Tim McDonald, the manager of the Stormwater Department (www.hamiltontn.gov/waterquality) , I was amazed that they only began work 5 years ago and received enforcement ability in the last year or so. The majority of polluted streams in Tennessee have either too much sewage (measured by E. coli concentrations) or too much sediment in the water. It is easy to understand why sewage is bad for our water….but dirt? Think of it this way….for creatures trying to survive in the lake or streams, too much dirt is like trying to breathe in a dust storm. They can’t do it. We have done an incredible job cleaning up Chattanooga’s air quality. Let’s now work together and clean up our water….we deserve it!