Cameron Peters

Visual Curator, Editor, and Documentary Storyteller

The Guardian: Saved by seaweed: nuns and Native women heal polluted New York waters using kelp

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The Guardian: Saved by seaweed: nuns and Native women heal polluted New York waters using kelp

During the year’s fir...otograph: Cameron Judith Peters

2 of 8 © 2024 Cameron Peters

During the year’s first harvest, Donna Collins-Smith pulls sugar kelp off a line in Shinnecock Bay. The kelp is then brought to shore to be washed and weighed. Photograph: Cameron Judith Peters

Left: Rebecca Genia stands in f...st drying times before harvest.

3 of 8 © 2024 Cameron Peters

Left: Rebecca Genia stands in front of a tent at Women Against Violence Everyday, a community gathering space she founded on the Shinnecock Reservation. Right: Seaweed collected from Shinnecock Bay dries on mesh screens to test drying times before harvest.

Donna Collins-Smith and Daniell... in Shinnecock Bay in May 2022.

4 of 8 © 2024 Cameron Peters

Donna Collins-Smith and Danielle Hopson-Begun check on a kelp line in Shinnecock Bay in May 2022.

Danielle Hopson-Begun looks out...s a challenge facing the beach.

5 of 8 © 2024 Cameron Peters

Danielle Hopson-Begun looks out at the Atlantic on Shinnecock territory off Meadow Lane in Southampton. Coastal erosion due to sea level rise is a challenge facing the beach.

Waban Tarrant and Donna Collins... recently harvested sugar kelp.

6 of 8 © 2024 Cameron Peters

Waban Tarrant and Donna Collins-Smith dry recently harvested sugar kelp.

Left: Waban Tarrant stands at t...eservation over Shinnecock Bay.

7 of 8 © 2024 Cameron Peters

Left: Waban Tarrant stands at the beach on the Shinnecock Reservation. The beach has undergone wide-ranging restoration efforts, including planting marshland grasses, constructing oyster reefs, and placing boulders along the water’s edge to break the waves. Right: Sunset on the Reservation over Shinnecock Bay.

Left to right: Shinnecock kelp ...their first sugar kelp harvest.

8 of 8 © 2024 Cameron Peters

Left to right: Shinnecock kelp farmers Donna Collins-Smith, Waban Tarrant, Rebecca Genia, Darlene Troge, Tele Troge, Benjamin Robin Ballard, and Danielle Hopson-Begun look out Shinnecock Bay during their first sugar kelp harvest.

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The Guardian: Saved by seaweed: nuns and Native women heal polluted New York waters using kelp

cameron peters

Jun 28, 2023

Location: Shinnecock Bay, Long Island

Summary

Long-term project on the Shinnecock Kelp Farmers in The Guardian.

Environmental degradation and the climate crisis are a lived reality for Donna Collins-Smith, Rebecca Genia, Danielle Hopson-Begun, Darlene Troge, Tela Troge, and Waban Tarrant, founding members of the Shinnecock Kelp Farmers. In Shinnecock Bay, Long Island, these women are working to restore the Bay's water quality through sugar kelp farming, creating the first women-owned and operated kelp hatchery and farm on the East Coast.

Thank you to the Shinnecock Kelp Farmers for opening up your lives and trust in this continued work, and Gail Fletcher for your beautiful photo edit.

Saved by seaweed: nuns and Native women heal polluted New York waters using kelp
The sisters and a group of women from a local Indigenous tribe started a kelp farm in the hopes of cleaning up the pollution in their shared backyard
Theguardian.com

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