The world is in a state of environmental disarray and one way this can be fixed is through looking at past thriving ecosystems and using this information in order to inform future policies. I remember a time before hurricane Sandy, and everything, at least within my community had appeared environmentally sound. I remember the night when Sandy hit, wind incessantly pounded on my window, beckoning to come in, and the sound of torrential down-pour and emergency vehicles filled the night. The next morning, I looked out of my window, and all I could see was a world covered in branches and of fragments of homes. Everyone in our community had always believed ourselves immune to the wrath of the environment. However, being hit with one of the effects of global climate change had made up realize that we are not immune to climactic catastrophes. The New York Tri- State area was hit hard, with millions of dollars in damage. However, one thing saved us from further catastrophe: the marshes. The marshes had protected us from a further 625 million dollars in damage. It was when I discovered this, that I realized that I wanted to study the marshes to maximize their benefit. A few years later, I had begun doing some research at Alley Pond Environmental Center, where they had recently completed a remediation project …

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• Biology