It's very easy to become a bit isolated and narrow-minded (research, corals, snorkel, repeat) during this course, however the earthquake in Haiti that occurred this week has reminded all of us how fortunate we are to be able to visit and experience a place like Discovery Bay Marine Lab to learn and work during our winter break from school. Several of us were in the water replacing coral settlement plates when the quake occurred (we didn't hear/see/feel it at all) and we're only ~ 200 miles from the epicenter (i.e. about two lengths of Long Island away), so the nearness of the event is particularly striking.  In our lectures, we'd discussed the location of seismic events in and around the Caribbean plate and how that affects the formation of reefs (Darwin's subsidence theory), but we didn't realize there would be a dramatic demonstration of those geologic processes while we were here.

In conjunction with the staff and personnel here at Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory, we (the MAR 388 class) are putting together a donation of money and supplies to be sent to Haiti to help with the relief and recovery efforts. The faculty will be matching whatever money the students donate and we hope that our contribution can make a small positive difference in the recovery effort.

Stony Brook University has an informational site listing several ways that you can donate to help with the relief efforts and we encourage anyone reading this blog to make a donation to their preferred charity.

– Profs. Warren and Peterson