[dropcap]J[/dropcap]amaica Bay. It’s a place you’ve probably never heard of. For more than a century, it’s where New Yorkers put the things they didn’t want. Garbage. Sewage. Factories you could smell for miles. Towering housing projects for the poor. One of America’s busiest airports is here. So are the secluded marshes favored by the mob.
But make no mistake: Jamaica Bay is alive.
[youtube id=”SNFBWKdM5s8″ width=”620″ height=”360″]It’s the largest open space in New York – and home to the only wildlife refuge in the country (and maybe the world) that is accessible by subway. After a long fight, Jamaica Bay is cleaner now than it has been in generations. Yet there is still a long way to go.
In this era of rapidly growing cities and rising seas, urban nature is more important than ever. What can we learn from Jamaica Bay as we prepare for this uncertain future? And what role can all of us play in protecting it?
‘Saving Jamaica Bay’ tells the untold story of this unique place and of the local residents transformed into urban environmentalists now struggling to preserve this priceless resource…and their way of life.
