The "Angler's Example," Modeling Great Stewardship

Good morning Gina

Hope you had as good a time as I did at your/our 40th reunion. More on that for another day.

A pristine, spectacular "good to be alive" sunrise along the Upper Hudson. Truly a "wow!" 

Yesterday Beth and I ventured out along the Old Champlain Canal where a few miles have been maintained for use by walkers, bikers, joggers, and fishing.

(We met a "dad and lad" who Very Proudly shared a smart phone photo of a fish "lad" caught a few days ago. I couldn't believe it: this fish was about 1/3 the height/length of the kid, and had a huge mouth! We shared awe and Dad explained how much he loves the canal and river, and is passing that on to his son. Told a story of how many -- alas -- leave trash behind, so he brought a trash bag and they cleaned up cans and fishing line, etc. A very good example, not just for his son, but for us all. HEY, LET'S FOLLOW HIS EXAMPLE AND CLEAN THE PCBs SO PEOPLE CAN ACTUALLY EAT THE FISH THEY CATCH?!)

We continued along on our walk and, right near where we saw two parent ducks, on Mothers Day, with offspring...and we saw what looked like the same family with ducklings 3 weeks older: adorable!
Must dash: last day to renew car inspection! But, in the rush of daily work, let's NOT FORGET to follow the "angler's example" and take care of Mother Nature...for ducks, fish, AND our own kids!

Cheers,

Dan

“...lived out a special determination to make every day Earth Day.”

Hi Gina
It is both of our 40th college reunions this weekend.  Wow.

Beth and I are heading to Amherst for mine.  I guess it is a big one. I mean the 50th is a milestone but I think the attendee “drop off rate” will increase from here going forward.

How did we get so old?

I love the quote in your speech last year at UMass Boston: “you don’t have to be rich to have a big impact.”  Very true.  This year you can return to enjoy YOUR 40th without being in the spotlight.

Here is a cool session my class is sponsoring:

Follow the Water: the Ocean Worlds of Our Solar System



Surf's NOT up on Enceladus

You’ve heard about the discovery of liquid water on Mars. But did you know that Enceladus, a small moon of Saturn, has geysers that spout liquid water into space, contributing to the formation of one of Saturn’s rings? That the condensation and freezing of water powers major storms on Saturn and Jupiter that thrust vertically over 100 miles in altitude and cover a surface area the size of our own planet Earth? That Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, has hydrocarbon lakes and maybe even an ocean of water deep below the surface? That NASA’s forthcoming Europa mission will probe that icy moon’s subsurface oceans for signs of primitive life? In this talk, Kevin Baines ’76, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “follows the water” to describe what planetary scientists are learning about the ocean worlds of our solar system. Presented by the Class of 1976.

Hope you can get to and have fun at your reunion.  These events are great equalizers, where we aren’t retired college VPs or EPA heads, we are wiser and better-developed versions of our teenaged selves.
PS: great John Kerry quote about how you: “lived out a special determination to make every day Earth Day.” Let’s do it on Earth – how about in the Upper Hudson River even – instead of outer space.  Leave that to “Gizmo” Baines!

A "Beacon" of Hope, or Hoping in Beacon

Good Morning Gina,

New York’s Town of Beacon, so-named to commemorate the historic beacon fires that blazed forth from the summit of the Fishkill Mountains to alert the Continental Army about British troop movements, is at the Down River heart of the PCB “quiet catastrophe.”  Although yesterday they were not so quiet about their concerns.

"Nous Sommes Fort Edward"

Citizens of Beacon love their Hudson!

• Riverfront Park: The City's riverfront park, which is located on a peninsula jutting out into the Hudson River. A very active park that hosts numerous events.
• River Pool at Beacon: a project for cleaning up the Hudson River and allowing a safe place to swim. 
• Beacon Sloop Club: started in 1978 to promote recreation, sound ecological practices, and environmental awareness of the Hudson River. The BSC offers free rides to the public on the Sloop Woody Guthrie, teaches seamanship to its volunteers, and maintains the harbor.
  
  
  And they have one, simple question: “what will it take to get a cleaner Hudson, free of PCBs?”

And we know the answer: while 100% removal is not practical, we can do a lot better than the current state of affairs, Upriver, where in some cases more than 50% of PCB contaminant still remains.

The Value of Priceless: much more than "just water"

Good Morning Gina,

After a day of needed rain, a beautiful sunrise when I went to get the paper from the mailbox:

Speaking of rain -- more than "just water," necessary for life itself -- I heard a fascinating story on @EarthWiseRadio yesterday.  You can listen here.

The thrust of the piece is that "It seldom rains in the United Arab Emirates.  Some areas of the UAE receive less than five inches of rain annually, and often none at all during the summer months when temperatures can climb above 110 degrees.  These conditions have led to water security concerns particularly in Dubai, a blossoming international destination, as well as in rural, farming communities."

Their "answer?"  Build an artificial mountain.  Such a project, it is estimated, would use one-quarter of all available cement, globally.

What's the value of water? Priceless. How much will you invest to get rain? Almost anything.

It is still an iffy project, relying on cloud seeding -- developed, interestingly, by our friends at GE in nearby Schenectady in the 1940s (when PCBs were still A-ok) -- that has a coin-toss success rate.  But when you need water 50% is better than 0%, right?

We take our great good fortune to be "water rich" for granted.  Easy to do -- forgivable -- but important to remember our access to this vital resource and to not only protect it but invest in restoring it.

Flint, MI; nearby Hoosick Falls, NY...and the United Arab Emirates serve as a reminder of our responsibility: enjoy and invest!

Our driveway, yesterday: lucky us!

Some Mornings You Just Wanna Enjoy It

Good Morning Gina,


For this cloudy Tuesday, simply a "good morning" and a beautiful image from out in Western NY, along the Erie Canal, the "big sister" of our Champlain Canal which I've been writing about.



Beth and I feel summer right around the corner, reminder to savor our days.

"Hydro Therapy": H2O & U

Good Morning Gina,


What a weekend.  Mother Nature and Beth combined forces to throw a little bit of everything at us here Upriver:

• War on Weeds
• Preakness
• Canalling at Lock 5
• Mow, mow, mow
• MC Ride
• Hamburger Hut
• Porching
• Turkey dinner
• Backgammon

Wow.  ("Porching" means sitting on one of many at the farm.)  It was a great Spring weekend.  Let me share a piece of mutual interest, the Champlain Canal AKA The Hudson River.

Did you know that the flow of the river is what keeps the lock gates closed?  It really is amazing to see what today we call "technology" -- from centuries ago -- still work so wonderfully well.


Human and H2O, working together

Anyway, as boats come upriver and enter the lock, we marvel at the variety.


First, a little boat with a family



Then a rear-wheeler tour boat followed by a yacht


When all the boats are in the lock master closes the down-river gates:

And, with gates closed, the century-old massive gears grind open -- tons of cement shudder and groan -- and gravity fills the lock, lifting all boats higher...in this case 19 feet higher:

Beth was amazed how quickly it filled.

The family in the little boat spoke with the lock master as they neared the fill point.  The lock master mentioned they were in Lock 5," and suddenly we heard a cute squeaky little voice say "I'M FIVE TOO!" The boat family's little girl made a quick numerical connection: fast mind.  We have a job for brains like that!

In about 15 minutes the three boats got their lift and were on their way.



And my favorite -- the little family's boat:



HYDRO THERAPY INDEED!

Water is so many things -- no need to enumerate -- we use and enjoy it... let's protect it better as well.

The River Wakes Up

Good Morning Gina

A beautiful Friday up-river: enough warmth to create a sheen of fog over the chill of the water and cool enough for the grass to hold beads of moisture that glisten in the rising sun at 6:30.

 Turning and looking west -- away from the river -- you can just make out the brood mare stables through the mist, on top and to the slight right of the statue.

In this secluded bubble -- before getting paper or going online -- there's a strong sense of All's Right with the World. It is annoyingly adult to remember that -- recalling Twain's "Life on the Mississippi" -- the experienced eye knows trouble can lurk right beneath the placid river surface.


So, in celebration of and to begin to complete the beauty of a day like today, shall we pledge to significant forward steps on the PCB clean-up and return of Champlain Canal to full use? I hope so.


Many thanks,


Dan

HOORAY EPA -- thank you!

"So much more than 'just water'": Celebrating Earth Day Everyday

Good Morning Gina,

As a new river-dweller I find my messages revolve around the Hudson River.  So today I am going to use the Upper Hudson River -- in the Glens Falls area, just north of us -- as a launching pad to grab Big Water...actually and metaphorically.

Here we take water for granted.  No matter what we read in the news, there's no escaping our great good fortune to sit atop (and along side) of tremendous water resources.  Human nature being what it is, we usually default to a reasonably happy sense of, what, false security? or assumption of endless essential resource?

Over 70 percent of the surface of the Earth is covered by water, but only 2.5 percent is fresh water. The rest is salt water contained in the oceans. And of the already small proportion of freshwater, only 1 percent -- less than 0.007 percent of all the water in the world -- is easily accessible.

If I went down to Jody's Bar in Easton -- I have raved about the chicken quesadilla there -- and shared that information I bet no one would believe me.  I mean, they might look out Jody's window and see the Hudson and, whether they knew it or not, it cranks a mean 53,859.74 gallons per minute! 

But, RIGHT, even that water cannot be included in the .007% of available potable water.  It still has too high a concentration of PCBs. :o

But just upriver, in Glens Falls, upstream from Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, at the base of the Adirondacks a fascinating new company is multi-tasking: supporting urban renewal, infrastructure improvements, workforce development, and YES "bottling" water!

more than just water (click please)

I met the COO of Just Water the other day.  Jim Siplon is the veritable Don Quixote of bottled water, with an impressive resume touching on 360º of H2O, including and going beyond drinking.  To Jim, why do one thing to accomplish a goal when you can do one thing to accomplish 2 or 3 or more goals.  He rightly believes creative, collaborative thinking can work that way. 

Here is a great example, from the CEO of Just:

At JUST, we are advocates of tap water whenever possible, frankly. But when bottled water is necessary, we know it can and should be better. The paper for the JUST water bottles is sourced from Forest Stewardship Council® certified forests, and we recently increased the amount of renewable resources in the bottle from 53% to 82% by adding plant-based PE, which in total reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 74% compared to traditional plastic bottles.

WHAT?  A different approach you ask? How many auto CEOs would say "whenever possible or practical we hope you will walk or bike but when absolutely necessary to drive we hope you will use our brand?"

No answer required.  In fact as a Not Too Much For-Profit for profit venture, besides spending extra on doing the right environment things, Just tried to pay Glens Falls eight times more than the next-highest consuming customer in its water system and Glens Falls turned them down.  (This IS New York and political good deals are starting to get punctuated with prison time.)  But Just persisted, made investments in the community -- "recycling" a closed parochial school as its operating plant -- and the City Fathers became believers.  So Just now, actually, pays 6.2% more than the next highest-consuming customer.  WHY?  To optimize profit? (Most water bottlers get their H2O so cheaply it does not appear as a cost on their balance sheets.)  No, the team at Just calculated than any rate lower than 6.2% would not generate sufficient funds to allow Glens Falls to invest in water infrastructure improvements.


So Just Water is about a lot more than just water.  Here is the Uncola of Uncolas behaving positively disruptively!


Let's drink to that!

CLICK TO READ MORE

Canals: "New York's Maritime Highway"

Good Morning Gina,


Wow, WOW, what a spectacular morning it is!


this morning

last night

As you can see, evening-to-daybreak along the Upper Hudson is pretty sweet in Springtime.


As you know we live on River Section Two -- more later -- the only portion of the Hudson River boats cannot "through navigate" due to the Thompson Island and Fort Miller dams (though it is hard to call 4-5 foot tall structures "dams").  So travelling boats must use the Champlain Canal, which circumvents our section of the river on the eastern, Washington County, side.


Whether driving or biking along West River Road above the Thompson Island dam, I almost always do a double-take when I see a large pleasure boat cruising along.  Seems incongruous and, despite all we hear about the silting-in of the upper Champlain Canal, some craft still do get through.  It's amazing to read the home ports of some of the boats: along with New York and Connecticut we see Illinois, South Carolina, Florida.  No Cayman Islands yet!


For local communities the river and canals add richness.  We revel in the activity, fun, and history.  As I have learned in my two years along the river, one takes nothing for granted.  Even when absorbed and distracted, the water and environs demand your attention.

"Canal Fest, 2016"

A few miles downriver is the village of Waterford, where the river begins to get seriously wide.  (Topic for another day: "how wide does a river have to be to become awe-inspiring?")


Throngs cluster around the canal and river, Waterfordians, river lovers, and Good Time Charlies alike.  Who cares?  It's a clean-fun party.  (Well... careful with the PCBs and VOCs that is!)


Closer to home -- sharing land around Lock 5 on the Champlain -- is Mohawk Maiden Cruises.  REALLY: Mohawk?  Must be someone trademarked "Hudson?" (A sure bet.)  Anyway, this compellingly cute operation offers a variety of tours and I encourage everyone to check it out.  You may enjoy a short video of a "Caldwell Belle" cruise!


m/v Caldwell Belle at Northumberland Dam

It is a sweet morning along the river.  We are very fortunate.  Nature does demand our attention, especially in such a grand environment. Besides enthralling, distracting, and entertaining us, Nature also deserves our attention.


In the case of the Hudson, all that inspires and provides us joy and pleasure requires effort to get it healthy and keep it that way.  The EPA has lots of partners ready and willing to do this.  Your lead example and commitment will pay many multiples of dividends: hey, let's get going!  :)






Who is Polly Bennett?

Good Morning Gina,


Today something new.  Yesterday it was kids and Riverkeeper.  Today I am thinking about the world -- or worlds -- that surround the "moving pieces" of the processes that affect our lives.


So how about taking a look at how a lobbyist for a corporation -- think "Michael Clayton," a classic film rendition -- might function.


Let's take a stab:

Meet "Polly Bennett"

My wife and I had moved to Hudson Falls a couple of years before the water crisis became public knowledge.  Since I’m retired I became active in a so-called citizens’ action group called Healthy Hudson Water. Polly Bennett was a mystery to us.

In January, a day before a standing-room-only meeting at the Hudson Falls library that was organized by Healthy Hudson Water and included officials from the EPA and state Health Department, Martin received an email from Patricia Bennett, a vice president with Communication Solutions, who normally advises corporate clients on environmental matters.

"Hi Dave," Bennett wrote. "What do you think about me attending tomorrow's meeting, anonymously if possible? I'd really like to see events for myself, and listen to the EPA rep. I'd hope to blend in, as if I'm a resident or uninvolved person interested in the issue. But if you think my attendance would become a focus and you'd get questions about my involvement, then I don't think it's worth it. My team thinks it would be OK, as long as we were prepared for me being 'outed.' What do you think?"                                                                        – Albany Gazette

When I read that this person had apparently infiltrated one of our public comment meetings, I was oddly curious.  They were… public.  Who was she?

Who is this woman?

I tried to imagine what she was like.  At first I pictured a slick Catherine Zeta-Jones type operative: corporate and poised.  But then I thought “wait, this is Hudson Falls” any PR agent would probably come from Albany so I ruled out glamour.

So who might think she could blend in at our CAG meeting?  I pictured an unremarkable 50-something.  Tweed and gabardine, maybe even a whiff of "Thrift Shop?"  Hand sanitizer in her purse… no, maybe not Catherine Zeta-Jones but highly unlikely an OCD.


I needed to know, Who IS "Polly Bennett?"

 

"Kids Will Be Kids"

Hi Gina

"Your faithful correspondent" sending that morning message that, by now, I hope you receive with eager anticipation and a smile. I mean, an Update on Upriver PLUS folksy wisdom, could it get better than that?  (No answer required!😜)


Beth and I drove into Schuylerville for lunch yesterday. There's a spot just over the river in Easton, Washington County, called Jody's. It's hidden on a side road, nestled into scrub brush and trees near the Hudson. But, boy, the food is good!  I mean almost anyone can pull off a chicken quesadilla but -- to get Beth oooo-ing and ahhhh-ing and finishing the whole thing -- well it is a place worth visiting


On the ride home we passed Fort Hardy Park, which was central in the final days of the Battle of Saratoga and now hosts most of the village's outdoor events, from food fairs to concerts to Little League, boating, bathing, and fishing. (I was sad to learn that the cap-and-cover, even with special matting, was compromised by ice flow last year and, with warning signs down, locals will be splashing around on the "beach" again. 🚣 🎣 ☠)


Anyway. Spring is in the air -- along with those darn VOCs -- and the smack of baseballs (and the occasional curse word) resound along the river.  Families bring picnics and, whether watching the game or not, try to have a fun Sunday afternoon of it. Cue Norman Rockwell!

More river news is our friends at Riverkeeper are celebrating Spring with clean ups (39 TONS) and getting that classic monitoring boat out. I could tease them as a "little sloop that could...?" What do you think? 

Always good checking in, Gina. Lots to do. As you know our tractor has been in the shop and the grass is growing through the slats of the Adirondack chairs. Big Orange Thing coming home today so I better get ready. 


For the sake of....today, let's say Little Leaguers in Schuylerville: let's get River Section Two from "failing" to at least "low pass?"


You can do it! 


Many thanks,
Dan

Migratory Birds

Good morning Gina

I wrote yesterday expressing my (fervent) hope that you will exercise your prerogative -- legal obligation -- and require a more complete PCB cleanup in the Hudson, which is my front yard.

The attached photo reminds us of the bittersweet sobriquet "most beautiful Superfund site."

The Hudson is like the I-95 of avian migration. We enjoy the birds' passage but realize they will take intergenerational PCB "souvenirs" with them across continents and hemispheres.

Not as visually-arresting as the BP debacle with oil-soaked sea birds in the Gulf of Mexico but no less lethal.

Please fulfill your mandate.

Respectfully,

Dan Lundquist

Please take a moment to learn more about the issue of PCBs in the Hudson.
This short video is well worth watching! click here

It All Began Here....

Dear Gina McCarthy

I live along the Upper Hudson River, just east of Saratoga Springs... and just south of Ft Edward.

A pretty spot along America's Most Beautiful Superfund Site

This weekend we had a large family reunion at our farm. People from around the country attended and (just as it was in DC) marveled at the beauty of the day and the location.

We have a dock on the river and kids enjoyed canoeing and fishing while we watched.

We watched the heavy-lifting of the dredging, much right about where the big tree in the photo above is. 

SO MUCH HAS BEEN DONE. Let's NOT leave the job undone when we are so close!

100% may never be possible but 50-80% just isn't good enough.

You have the legal authority. Please activate your leadership role.

Respectfully,

Dan Lundquist

Northumberland  NY