Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, America’s flagship environmental organization, announces the sloop Clearwater’s spring 2012 sailing schedule, which can be found as an interactive calendar on Clearwater’s website at http://www.clearwater.org/come-sailing/sail-schedule/. Clearwater is currently accepting applications [...]]]> Now Accepting Group Applications for Spring and Summer Sails

Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, America’s flagship environmental organization, announces the sloop Clearwater’s spring 2012 sailing schedule, which can be found as an interactive calendar on Clearwater’s website at http://www.clearwater.org/come-sailing/sail-schedule/. Clearwater is currently accepting applications to sail onboard the sloop during the spring and summer season, with Clearwater’s summer 2012 sail schedule to be posted on February 15.

Offering a variety of sails, including educational group sails, private charters, and public sailing adventures, every Clearwater sail is an ecological adventure and a voyage of discovery on an historic tall ship. Passengers have an opportunity to learn about the Hudson River, participate in the sailing of the ship, and join in maritime sing-a-longs and folk songs about the environment. The sloop returns to the Hudson River this April with her first sail out of Yonkers, NY.

Clearwater’s educational group sails bring history, biology, physics, and environmental science to life for schools, summer camps, and educational groups. Since the launch of Clearwater in 1969, more than half a million people have experienced the Hudson River’s estuary ecosystem first hand aboard the sloop. Clearwater’s pioneering ship-based education programs are suitable for groups from fourth grade through college and include dockside orientation before departure, otter trawl to gather specimens for the fish tank, a call for “all hands to the halyards” to help hoist the sails, a presentation on Clearwater’s history and mission, music by the crew with sing-a-longs, and an opportunity to take the tiller.

Private parties, weddings, team-building sessions, and gatherings onboard Clearwater can be customized to meet each group’s needs, accommodating catered events and hired musicians. Our professional captains and crew have experience facilitating a wide variety of special events and will work to ensure that the details of each sail are arranged to perfection.

Clearwater’s public sail adventures are suitable for all ages, and engage participants with special themes, guest speakers, and musicians.

Clearwater’s sailing season runs from early April through the end of October, casting off from, and returning to numerous sites along the Hudson River from Albany to New York City, New York Harbor and western Long Island Sound. Most sails are three hours long, with 5-hour sails and extended programs also available.  Clearwater members receive a special discount when booking sails.

The schooner Mystic Whaler joins the sloop again this season from April through June, to complement Clearwater’s educational and public sail programs. Both vessels will also offer public sails at Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival, taking place on Saturday and Sunday, June 16 and 17 at Croton Point Park, in Westchester County, NY.

The sloop Clearwater is a nationally-recognized symbol of environmental awareness and provides regionally- based high quality experiential education opportunities. Those sailing onboard enjoy the Hudson Valley’s beautiful vistas and historic landmarks from the deck of a majestic 106-foot long replica tall ship, while learning about the Hudson River, its place in American history, and how a grassroots group of volunteers fought to save it.

To book your group sail or for more information,  please contact Catherine Stankowski, Sail Program Manager, at (845) 265-8080 x7107 or SailCoord@Clearwater.org

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has awarded a $400,000 grant to help cover the cost of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater and Hudson River Maritime Museum’s joint project for the Kingston Home Port and Education Center to be [...]]]> Awarded Grant for an Education and Boatbuilding Center at the Hudson River Maritime Museum

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has awarded a $400,000 grant to help cover the cost of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater and Hudson River Maritime Museum’s joint project for the Kingston Home Port and Education Center to be built on the Rondout Creek. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the grants in December as part of a new economic development initiative that adds up to $67 million for 61 Mid-Hudson Valley projects.

The grant will be matched with money through a joint fundraising effort of the two organizations, through private donations, and a $125,000 grant secured by state Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston. Architectural services and $200,000 worth of timber are being donated by Allan Shope, Clearwater board president.

The 4,500-square-foot, two story timber frame boatbuilding barn will be constructed on the west end of the Hudson River Maritime Museum property.  The facility will offer environmental education programming, public green infrastructure trainings, community boat building, maritime history lectures, and exhibitions. The new Home Port facility will also play a key role in enhancing the environment, quality of life, and support economic vitality of the Kingston community by creating a draw for Hudson Valley tourism and attracting visitors to the Kingston waterfront.

“We are grateful to New York State (Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation),” said Jeff Rumpf, Clearwater’s executive director, “We are very excited about the new Home Port in Kingston; not only will it provide a permanent winter home for the sloop, Clearwater, something she has never had in her 40 years on the Hudson, it will also serve as headquarters for Hudson Valley Green Infrastructure, Green Cities, and position our water economy to grow!”

“The structure will be built by local craftsmen using mainly local materials and we are planning a barn-raising event for the fall.  This building really looks toward the future— and it’s designed to withstand the periodic floods that affect the Rondout,” said John C. Weeks, Hudson River Maritime Museum board member and chair for the Barn Building Committee. “Both organizations are grateful to the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and to Assemblyman Cahill for making this wonderful project possible. It will benefit all New Yorkers lucky enough to visit the site, but it will especially benefit the people of the Hudson Valley.”

“The partnership between Clearwater and the Hudson River Maritime Museum is going to make a big difference on the Kingston waterfront,” said Kate Mitchell, Hudson River Maritime Museum’s executive director, “This project gives us the opportunity to better serve the local community. In addition, we’ve got plans to make this a year-round destination, to draw people in for the cultural and heritage experience they can have here summer or winter. This is just the beginning of really good things.”

The Kingston city Planning Board voted unanimously in December for the building proposal. An old fashioned barn-raising involving community members is planned for Fall 2012. To learn more about the Kingston Home Port, visit http://www.clearwater.org/about/kingston-home-port/.

For more information about Clearwater’s OPRHP grant award, please contact Eileen Newman, Grants and Major Gifts Coordinator, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, at Eileen@Clearwater.org, or 845-265-8080, ext.7160.

Please visit Clearwater’s Kingsdotn Home Port web page for more information about Clearwater and the Hudson River Maritime Museum’s joint project.  

You can also visit the Hudson River Maritime Museum’s websit at  www.hrmm.org for more information.

River University, a new program by Beacon Insititue for Rivers and Estuaries, a subsidiary of Clarkson University, will be open to [...]]]> A unique opportunity awaits a select group of undergraduate students this summer – a venture titled “River University” that includes sailing the Hudson River aboard the sloop Clearwater, made famous by folksinger Pete Seeger.

River University, a new program by Beacon Insititue for Rivers and Estuaries, a subsidiary of Clarkson University, will be open to 25 undergraduate students, who will attend classes taught by Clarkson faculty at the Beacon Institute’s facilities on the banks of the Hudson River at historic Denning’s Point in Beacon. They also will have a chance to put into practice what they’ve learned in the classroom in five days aboard the sloop Clearwater as she sails the Hudson River.

River University launches July 8 and runs through August 3. River University is aimed at any undergraduate with an interest in the environment. Successful completion of the River University program will earn the undergraduate nine credits. It is an excellent option for students who would like to either lighten their course load during the academic year, or add nine credits during the summer to avoid a fifth undergraduate year.

Three interdisciplinary courses, each worth three credits and transcripted through Clarkson University, will be offered:

•Applied Environmental Policy: The Clean Water Act, taught by John Cronin, the first Beacon Institute Fellow at Clarkson University and for 17 years, the Hudson Riverkeeper, which earned him Time magazine’s title “Hero for the Planet.” Cronin has been an advocate, lobbyist, legislative and congressional aide, author (with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.) of The Riverkeepers and filmmaker, whose film, The Last Rivermen was named outstanding documentary of the year by the Motion Picture Academy Foundation. Students in this course will examine the history of American environmental law and the development of contemporary environmental policy, using Hudson River issues to illustrate their practical applications. Students will learn the practical aspects of decision-making and citizen participation through simulation exercises culminating in a mock public hearing on a key environmental issue that examines the role of law, economics, science and technology and advocacy in the execution of policy.

•The Ecology of American Rivers, taught by Tom Langen, Ph.D., associate professor in the departments of biology and psychology at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. Students will learn how rivers function; become familiar with the organism and natural communities of the Hudson River watershed; and understand how humans impact rivers and how that impact can be managed to minimize the negative consequences on the environment and human health and welfare.

•Green Infrastructure for Non-point Source Pollution Control, taught by Shane Rogers, Ph.D., an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Clarkson University who also serves as a special research environmental engineer at the National Risk Management Laboratory of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Clean Water Act, which observes its 40th anniversary in 2012, has helped control water pollution from “point sources,” such as discharges from sewage treatment plants and industrial sites. Rivers, such as the Hudson, also encounter pollution from “non-point sources” – the pollutants picked up when rain or melting snow carry natural pollutants from the ground to nearby rivers. Students will learn how historical uses of the Hudson have shaped current water quality and ecosystem challenges. They’ll also describe and design engineered landscape modifications and green infrastructure for storm water management that may be used to reduce the problems of non-point source pollution in both urban and agricultural landscapes.

“What better summer classroom for college students than the Hudson River, a birthplace of the modern environmental movement?” said John Cronin. “River University will examine the environmental law, science, and technology that revolutionize the way we understand and protect ecosystems across the nation. Only forty years ago many thought the Hudson was dead. Today, students can learn from it the hands-on skills that made it one of the world’s great environmental success students, and inspired journalist Bill Moyers to call the Hudson ‘America’s First River’.”

“River University is designed to provide students with a first-hand experience of the Hudson through three different lenses – ecology, engineering and policy – and then teach them to apply their knowledge to real-world problems,” said Timothy F. Sugrue, Ph.D., Beacon Institute president and chief executive officer and dean of Clarkson University’s School of Business. “Today’s students have a deep sense of responsibility toward the environment – River University will give them the depth and tools to understand the cause and effect relationship between human action and environmental result. We expect that many who enroll will find the experience to be truly life-changing.”

“Clearwater, America’s Environmental Flagship, is proud to join with Beacon Institute and Clarkson University to present River University,” said Jeff Rumpf, Clearwater’s executive director. “Educational sails onboard Clearwater provide hands-on learning experiences and direct contact with the Hudson River, which are key to engaging students as they study and encounter the estuary, its inhabitants, and witness the ecosystem – and prerequisite to our youth creating a personal connection to the environment and ensuring that the mighty Hudson remains America’s most influential river.”

Visit www.RiverUniversity.com for more information about the curriculum and faculty, tuition costs, housing and commuter options, frequently asked questions and the online application and important deadlines. Enrollment in this one-of-a-kind program limited to 25 participants, so early action is encouraged. The rolling admissions process is occurring now through the application deadline of March 15, 2012.

About Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries:
Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries, a subsidiary of Clarkson University with offices in Beacon and Troy, New York, is a not for-profit environmental research organization engaging scientists, engineers, educators and policy experts in collaborative work focusing on real-time monitoring of river ecosystems. It aims to make the Hudson Valley a global center for scientific and technological innovation that advances research, education and public policy regarding rivers and estuaries. www.bire.org

About Clarkson University:
Clarkson University launches leaders into the global economy. One in five alumni already leads as a CEO, VP or equivalent senior executive of a company. Located just outside the Adirondack Park in Potsdam, N.Y., Clarkson is a nationally recognized research university for undergraduates with select graduate programs in signature areas of academic excellence directed toward the world’s pressing issues. Through 50 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, arts, sciences and health sciences, the entire learning-living community spans boundaries across disciplines, nations and cultures to build powers of observation, challenge the status quo, and connect discovery and engineering innovation with enterprise. www.clarkson.edu

The public is invited to join Clearwater, America’s environmental flagship, for Family Open Boat Days on Sunday, January 15, 2:00-6:00 PM; Saturday, February 18, 5:00 – 9:00 PM; and Saturday, March 24, 5:00 – [...]]]> Join the sloop Clearwater in Saugerties for a winter tradition 

The public is invited to join Clearwater, America’s environmental flagship, for Family Open Boat Days on Sunday, January 15, 2:00-6:00 PM; Saturday, February 18, 5:00 – 9:00 PM; and Saturday, March 24, 5:00 – 9:00 PM, at Lynch’s Marina in Saugerties, NY.

As Clearwater enters her winter maintenance season, the community is invited to get involved and enjoy good food, music and company. Friends and families can come tour the sloop Clearwater in her winter port, meet the crew, learn about woodworking projects and repairs to the sloop, and cozy up in the shop for refreshments, stories and live music. Clearwater’s own Power of Song Apprentice group will kick off the festivities on January 15 with music. Attendees are invited to bring an instrument and join the jam session, or a favorite dish to share at the potluck.

Lynch’s Marina is located at 2 Ferry Street, Saugerties, NY, 12477 map

Open Boat Family Days are free and open to the public; a $10 donation is suggested. RSVPs are appreciated, but not necessary. Please contact Linda Richards at Linda@Clearwater.org, or 845-265-8080, ext.7105.

WHAT:  The Indian Point nuclear plant in Buchanan, New York, 25 miles north of New York City, is reaching the end of its designed 40-year lifespan.  Since it was built, the plant has aged, become embrittled, [...]]]> Research Reveals Failure to Address the Plant’s Disproportionate Effects on People of Color, People with Low-Incomes, Disabilities and/or Limited Mobility

WHAT:  The Indian Point nuclear plant in Buchanan, New York, 25 miles north of New York City, is reaching the end of its designed 40-year lifespan.  Since it was built, the plant has aged, become embrittled, been subject to many leaks and accidents, passed to private, for-profit ownership, stored more dangerous spent fuel than it was designed to handle, and posed growing health and safety threats to the surrounding population, which has greatly increased.  Nonetheless, plant owner Entergy Corporation has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to renew Indian Point’s license for another 20 years.  The NRC review of the application is underway now.  Clearwater is one of three parties with standing before the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (the others are Riverkeeper and New York State) to challenge Indian Point’s relicensing.  Clearwater has gathered evidence it will file with the ASLB on December 22, 2011 as testimony the NRC must consider in the relicensing process.  It shows that the NRC and Entergy failed to address the environmental justice impacts of relicensing, and that Indian Point’s continued operation disproportionately threatens the safety of the very young, the very old, lower-income and minority residents, and people with disabilities and/or limited mobility.

Children in day care, those without cars who rely on public transportation, people living in shelters, seniors in assisted living facilities and nursing homes, patients in hospitals and other institutionalized populations living near Indian Point are virtually ignored by evacuation planning, Clearwater’s research found. Largely lower-income and minority residents, in the event of a serious accident at the plant, they would lack access to transportation, potassium iodide or even adequate provision to shelter in place.   The NRC has failed to recognize the disproportionate impacts a serious accident at Indian Point would have on them, failed to look for ways to reduce these impacts, and failed to assess the plant’s environmental impact statement with respect to them.  This shows a complete disregard for low-income, minority, disabled and institutionalized populations living near the plant, violating principles of environmental justice and procedures under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for identifying and addressing environmental justice concerns.  “These failures mean that the relicensing of Indian Point cannot proceed,” said Richard Webster of Public Justice, a Washington DC-based public interest law firm, who is serving as a consultant to Clearwater.

More current information and resources on Indian Point’s environmental justice impacts, along with other vital safety, health and environmental considerations that the NRC excluded from consideration in the relicensing process, are posted at  http://www.clearwater.org/ea/power-plants-energy/indian-point-campaign/.   As former NRC commissioner Victor Gilinski wrote in The New York Times December 17,

“A severe accident at Indian Point…is a remote but real possibility. We’ve had two severe accidents with large releases of radioactivity in the past…. We now know that radioactive material in the melted fuel can escape to contaminate a very large area for decades or more. It

doesn’t make sense to allow such a threat to persist a half-hour’s drive from our nation’s largest city.”

WHO:  Here are some of the experts and residents who can speak about the environmental justice impacts of Indian Point and some of the particular threats it poses to low-income, minority, institutionalized and transportation-dependent populations living near the plant:

• Manna Jo Greene – Environmental Director, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, who conducted extensive research on the disproportionate negative impacts of Indian Point on environmental justice populations living near the plant.
• Richard Webster –  Attorney with the Environmental Enforcement Project of the DC-based consulting firm Public Justice, who is serving as a consultant to Clearwater.
• Aaron Mair – founder and executive director of Arbor Hill Environmental Justice Corporation, longtime leader in the environmental justice movement and native of Peekskill.   
• Michael Edelstein — Professor of environmental psychology at New Jersey’s Ramapo College.
• Stephen Filler – Attorney and Board member, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.

WHERE AND WHEN:  Clearwater’s written testimony will be complete and filed with the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board on December 22, and at that time made available to the media and the public.   The above sources live locally and are available for interviews on request.

To request a copy of the written testimony or interviews with residents and experts about environmental justice impacts of Indian Point, contact Stephen Kent, skent@kentcom.com 914-589-5988.

Alan Petrulis, "The Dairy - Central Park", etching

First Street Gallery will host a small works invitational exhibition and fundraiser [...]]]> First Street Gallery to Mount Fundraising Exhibition in Support of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater

Alan Petrulis, "The Dairy - Central Park", etching

First Street Gallery will host a small works invitational exhibition and fundraiser in support of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater and on display December 8, 2011 through January 5, 2012. Over one hundred regional and national artists have been invited to participate in the exhibition, along with First Street Gallery artists. Both abstract and figurative works are represented in this select group of paintings, sculpture, prints, mixed media and photography.

The public is invited to the opening reception taking place Saturday, December 10, from 3:00 to 5:00 PM at First Street Gallery located at 526 West 26th Street, Suite 209, New York, NY 10001. Clearwater’s own Power of Song music group will kick off the event with a performance. 

Gallery hours are 1:00 AM – 6:00 PM, Tuesday through Saturday. For more information contact First Street Gallery at 646-336-8053, or visit www.firststreetgallery.net.

First Street Gallery was founded in 1969 as a not-for-profit, and is a 501(c) 3 corporation. Located in the heart of Chelsea in New York City, it is one of the oldest artist-run galleries in New York. Its dual mission is to exhibit and promote the work of talented artists and to provide the public with an opportunity to see and learn about contemporary art in a highly accessible milieu, as in its partnership with Clearwater. The gallery’s professional artists are a stylistically diverse group who employ a variety of mediums and techniques: drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture and mixed media.  Most commonly explored subject matter includes landscape, still life, and the figure, as well as mythic, personal, historical or political narratives.

Tao Seeger and Pete Seeger onstage at the October 21st Power of Song Award Concert at Symphony Space in NYC

Clearwater’s Friday evening benefit concert to honor music impresario George Wein at Symphony Space [...]]]> Over One Thousand March to Columbus Circle after Power of Song Award Benefit Concert

Tao Seeger and Pete Seeger onstage at the October 21st Power of Song Award Concert at Symphony Space in NYC

Clearwater’s Friday evening benefit concert to honor music impresario George Wein at Symphony Space featured a high energy event that featured performances by Pete Seeger, Tao Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Suzanne Vega, Lucy Kaplansky, Tom Chapin and the Chapin Sisters, Guy Davis, David Amram with Adam and Alana Amram, Toshi Reagon, Loudon Wainwright III,  Richard Barone, and Power of Song.

Clearwater’s own Power of Song took to the stage to open the show with” Jacob’s Ladder”. Toshi Reagon set a tone with “There and Back Again.” Richard Barone dedicated his song, “God Understands” to Pete Seeger and was later joined onstage by an ensemble that included Guy Davis on harmonica, David Amram on flute, and the Chapins to perform his contemporary version of “The Sidewalks of New York”.

Guy Davis told a stunning story though music in memory of Odetta, sharing his account of visiting her in the hospital where he sang to her despite hospital administration’s objections. Guy went on to engage the audience in a sing-a-long to Mississippi John Hurt’s “Payday.”

Tom Chapin and the Chapin Sisters provided a rousing version of “Walk the World Now, Children” with the audience joining in. David Amram accompanied by his daughter Alana and son Adam dedicated his experimental version of “Red River Valley”, dedicated to George Wein.

Tao Seeger made the presentation of the Power of Song award to George Wein to a standing ovation. George Wein, music festival impresario and the evening’s honoree, admitted that he is first and foremost a jazz man, but also said, “When folk music reaches you, it stays with you.”

Wein sitting at the piano related the story of how the Newport Folk Festival was born during a visit to Pete and Toshi Seeger’s house. Later Pete joined Wein at the piano and accompanied him on banjo for a bit of boogie-woogie.

Occupy Wall Street protestors gather in front of Symphony Space as the Clearwater benefit concert ended

March to Columbus Square: After the concert concluded a crowd of protestors gathered outside Symphony Space to join Tao Seeger, Pete Seeger, along with David Amran, Guy Davis, Tom Chapin and other musicians from the concert including Clearwater’s Power of Song, to march to Columbus Circle as part of the Occupy Wall Street protest.

Seeger replaced his banjo with two canes as he marched with over one thousand people to Columbus Circle. The 92-year-old Seeger occasionally sang ‘We Shall Not be Moved”, “This Land is Your Land”, and other anthems of protest as the peaceful march traveled over more than 30 blocks to Columbus Circle.

Arriving in Columbus Circle, Seeger stopped to bang a metal statue of an elephant with his cane to the delight of the crowd.  Seeger was then joined by fellow folk singer Arlo Guthrie, to perform a version of “We Shall Overcome” with the crowd as police stood by and watched from the sidelines.

To see a slide show of photos from the march, please click here to visit photographer Stephanie Keith’s flickr page.