Author: Andrew Pentaleri

These are pictures of Hurricane Sandy’s destruction of Seaside Park back in 2012. I have rented a beach house in Seaside Park for my entire life and this event hit pretty close to home. The picture on the left is the Seaside Heights boardwalk where I spent hours upon hours of my time riding the rollercoaster submerged in the water and many other games. It was very interesting to drive around and see many of the places I have gone to covered in sand and severely damaged from the storm surge of the hurricane. Climate change and rising water levels are becoming a major topic of discussion for places in danger. Seaside Park implemented higher dunes and increased the distance between the ocean and dunes to combat these changes in global warming.

This is an image of the massive flood that has been taking place in Venice, Italy in the past couple of weeks. Just like Jacob and Henry’s Story Map about the rising water level of the Hudson River, Venice is in danger of rising water levels. This flood is that the highest the water has been in Venice in over 50 years. This flood is a wake-up call for Venice saying that there is not much more time before climate change and rising water levels completely submerge the city underwater.

This picture of a tree’s roots coming out of the ground at Kamine Hall. It resembles a river with its multiple roots coming together to create a piece of art. The tree roots grow to places where it desires just like how a river makes its own path through the Earth.

The Northeast Ohio Four County Regional Planning and Development Organization (NEFCO) has recently received a grant of $800,000 to remove the Brecksville Dam on the Cuyahoga River. The main reason for the removal of the dam to bring back the free-flowing river to its original state and to create a better passage for fish migration. The dam that is standing today was created in 1952 for industrial use, but it is no longer in use. The dam removal is estimated to finish by the fall of 2020 and to cost around $1.5 million dollars.

My experience over the weekend while hiking at the Delaware Water Gap was amazing. It was a new environment and I was able to see a new part of a place right near my home. I can’t imagine what the river and its surroundings would look like if a dam were to be built right along the park. I will make sure to come back here another time with family and friends to show them these beautiful views.

This is a photo of the Rockaway River, just a minute walk from my house. I have always been around the river my entire life, but I never really took the time to research about it until now. I have always seen a sign saying that the river is a part of the Morris Canal, but I never knew what that meant. The Morris Canal was mainly used as a way to transport coal from Easton, PA and across the Delaware River to Phillipsburg and then over to Jersey City in the 1800s. The specific area of the river by my house was used as a mule bridge to haul the boats onto the canal. I never thought this little river could be used to transport such important materials that helped industrialize the state that I live in.