By Wynne Parry
Staff Writer - Stamford Advocate

October 6 2007

STAMFORD —The next generation of environmental stewards eagerly poked and scrutinized an assortment of creatures dragged from the bottom of Long Island Sound yesterday morning aboard the schooner SoundWaters. About 30 fourth-graders from Roxbury Elementary School spent three hours on the water as part of SoundWaters' mission to increase understanding and appreciation for the Sound.

However, the next step - taking responsibility to protect the Sound and its inhabitants - is one the kids will have to make on their own.

"We try to put the idea in their heads," said Kara Gibbons, an educator and deckhand. "Rather than telling them, we want to show them the consequences."

She used an aquarium complete with grass and snails in saltwater to explain how salt marshes act as a habitat and a natural filtering system. These marshes once lined 70 percent of the state's coastline. Now 80 percent of them have been replaced by houses and other development, she said.

"That's not good," one boy said.

Adults living in the Sound's watershed are struggling to make the step from environmental awareness to responsibility, according to the results of a Stony Brook University survey released last year.

Eighty-four percent of respondents in Connecticut agreed at least somewhat that humans are severely abusing the environment.

Seventy percent of all watershed residents in Connecticut and New York believed they personally did not do anything that worsens water quality. However, members of this group were just as likely as anyone else to wash a car in the driveway, use quick-release fertilizer or do other things that pollute the Sound through runoff, according to the findings.

At the same time, residents said changes in other people's every-day behavior was more likely to improve water quality than a change in their own.

When asked whether she thought a hands-on program like SoundWaters might help create a more environmentally responsible generation, Diane Morelli, a retired science teacher on the SoundWaters education committee, said, "Gosh, I sure hope it makes a big difference."

The students' science classes are focusing on the Sound, and environmental awareness is a major theme of fourth grade, according to Diane Phanos, a fourth-grade teacher at Roxbury, who came with her class for the sail.

During the three-hour sail, the students touched the fish, shellfish and "living fossil" horseshoe crabs that were dragged from the Sound's floor in a trawling net.

They discovered that jellyfish are a type of plankton - a fact that surprised several adults as well. Students also learned about water and how it can become polluted.

"I feel bad for all the fish that are dying because of pollution," said Justin Astacio, 9. "I like fish."