Sandy Sheehy
Journalist and author of Imperiled Reef: The Fascinating, Fragile Life of a Caribbean Wonder
Friday, September 23rd, 2022 3:00 p.m.
Botts Hall, Albuquerque Special Collections Library
423 Central NE, Albuquerque, NM 87102 (Central & Edith)
The lecture will draw on what the author learned in researching her book Imperiled Reef: The Fascinating, Fragile Life of a Caribbean Wonder, about the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, which spans four international borders from just north of Cozumel to the Bay Islands of Honduras and is second only to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in length and its equal in the beauty of its ecosystem. Thanks in large part to the efforts of the communities that call it home, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef is faring far better than its Australian counterpart. The presentation will also explore the shift in recent years away from what had been a paternalistic and sometimes culturally-insensitive approach to environmental protection in places around the world. Organizations are now calling on the rich knowledge of local fishing cooperatives, public schools and community groups in their work to preserve marine and terrestrial environments for sustainable tourism.
Sandy Sheehy is a journalist whose articles have appeared in such national magazines as US, Town & Country, Forbes and Working Woman. She has been diving the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef for four decades. In addition to Imperiled Reef, she is the author of two other nonfiction book, Texas Big Rich: Exploits, Eccentricities, and Fabulous Fortunes Won and Lost, and Connecting: The Enduring Power of Female Friendship, and one novel, Deserts of the Heart, set in and near Spanish Colonial Santa Fe. She lives in Albuquerque with her husband, historian Charles McClelland.
Pay online or mail check made out to AIA by August 16 to: AIA, PO Box 92921, Albuquerque, NM 87199.