This week's guest is Rik van Hemmen of the Navesink Maritime Heritage Association. A U.S. resident for nearly 50 years, and a maritime engineer since shipbuilding with his father in the Netherlands, Rik sees our entire region - the Hudson, the Adirondacks, the Navesink, the Hudson Canyon, and everything in between—as a huge park, enjoying the journey as well as the destination. Having seen the drastic improvement from 1976 to today, Rik sees the potential for clean-energy maritime transportation, recreation on the waterways, and productive coexistence of human and natural system too often seen as competing.

River systems are an important part of any ecosystem, whether for wildlife, commercial use, recreational use, industrial use. Indigenous folks treated rivers as living things and the critters within as relatives, so the waste was treated with more thought. In contrast, European colonizers treated the Hudson River as an open sewer. It took hundreds of years to reverse that way of thinking.

At one time, the Hudson River was so polluted it smelled foul before it was even in sight. Environmental groups such as Clearwater and Riverkeeper have changed that, but recent court cases may make that more difficult in the future - and it was hard enough!

Today, fish are returning, commerce is returning, invasive species (for better or worse–some of both, actually!) are increasing, Bald Eagles are returning year-round. Luxury housing is being put up. Recreational boating - from jet skis to kayaks to yachts - is thriving

Our environmental stories today cover our visit to Summer of Heat and the importance of conservation funding for farmers.

This week's environmental song is "The Hudson" by Dar Williams.

And...
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Ken Gale, Donna Stein & Sally Gellert

When the air or water are clean, thank an environmentalist. If not, become one. 'Nuff Said!

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