00:00:06.550 --> 00:00:10.090
In the summer of 2004,
Christopher Swain

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became the first person to swim
the entire length of the Hudson

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River from its source in
the Adirondack Mountains

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all the way to New York City.

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I've always loved
the water, and I

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think it should be clean
enough to drink and to swim in.

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I have moments swimming
when I blend with the water

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and feel that I'm a part of it.

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From being in the water and
coming to care about it,

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I want to convince others
to help protect it.

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And I want my two daughters
to know that I've tried.

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But this film is about more
than the swim down the Hudson.

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It's about raising that
people make a difference.

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And that's where
our story begins.

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I'm part of the picture and
so are you watching this film

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and so are the people
we meet along the way.

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Swim day number one--

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I've pledged to swim the Hudson
from its source to the sea.

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But it turns out before
I can swim, I must walk.

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In the Adirondack
Mountains, the streams

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that come together
to make the river

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are too shallow for swimming.

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The true source is a
tiny pond in the shadow

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of New York's highest peak.

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Lake Tear of the Clouds
is a 10-mile hike

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from the nearest road.

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I've been planning
this for months.

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But I wasn't expecting
it to be this cold.

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Yikes.

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I've brought too thin a wetsuit.

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Fortunately, there's
not far I could swim.

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It's 315 miles to New York
Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean.

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But where exactly are we?

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The Hudson begins in the
heart of the nation's largest

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wilderness park.

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Its 6 million acres
encompass hundreds

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of mountains, more
than 2,000 lakes,

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and more than 6,000 miles
of rivers and streams.

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Adirondack Park is bigger than
the state of Massachusetts.

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It's bigger than
Yosemite, Grand Canyon,

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and Yellowstone combined.

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People first began to see
the Adirondacks as a place

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to visit in the 19th century.

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Hunters and trappers
were in the vanguard.

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But soon there were also
painters, scientists, writers,

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and preachers.

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The early nature
enthusiasts were followed

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by all sorts of people.

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That sick came to be cured,
the weary to be rested.

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Tourists came in droves.

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There was a growing idea
that ordinary people

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had a natural
right to the beauty

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and grandeur of the wilderness.

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The poet Ralph Waldo
Emerson wrote, "things are

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in the saddle and ride mankind.

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In wilderness, we return
to reason and faith."

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Swim day number two--

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we're paddling upstream,
looking for the very first place

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that the river gets
deep enough to swim in.

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I had no idea it would
take this much effort just

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to get started.

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Ha, ha.

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Found it!

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Need a push.

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About two miles from the place
where I was first able to swim,

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there's a barrier
that seems to stop

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the river dead in its tracks.

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Somebody should dig
this out, I think.

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Soon as you dam it,
it and starts to pool,

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and it sits in the sun
longer in this area

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and doesn't move as fast.

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Temperature goes up.

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I can feel it, it means it's
a couple of degrees, at least.

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That can be absolutely
catastrophic for a fish that's

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right in the top of
its operating range.

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The road blocking
the river was built

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to support a mine, which
reshaped the landscape.

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Then profitability fell off.

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And in 1982, it was
closed for good.

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Stinks in there of dead fish.

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Here, the river goes
through four culverts.

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Levels of dissolved oxygen,
which supports aquatic life,

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are lower in areas where
water flow is impeded.

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I still can't
believe this is here.

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This is the idea--

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dig it down.

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Repeat if necessary.

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You know, this is so
obviously wrong and such kind

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of silly desecration of
the upper river that--

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In the first towns that I
come to on the upper Hudson,

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I try to rally support for
digging out the roadbed.

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So why not freeflow
the upper Hudson?

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Why not let the river
be a river there?

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Nobody gets fired up.

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Ore from the old mine
used to come through here

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on the railroad.

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Maybe a few people wish
the mine we're still here.

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One of my challenges
here in 1990

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was to try to fill the void that
the mining and lumbering had

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left.

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In 1970, the population
of Newcomb was 1,500.

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And it went down to about
1,000 in 1980 and 500 in 1990.

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And the 2000 census
was just about 480.

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You can starve really easy here.

00:09:24.050 --> 00:09:26.480
You can go out of
business very fast

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because for many, many, many
years everyone had to leave--

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or almost everyone.

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Very, very few people,
and that's not good.

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But things are beginning
to turn around.

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I answered an ad in the paper--

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whitewater guides wanted,
no experience necessary.

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And I was qualified.

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And I haven't been able
to hold a real job since.

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Hello!

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Is this your first time going?

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Are you excited?

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I'm scared.

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What are you scared of?

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Falling out.

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I just don't want
to fall out and die.

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So what do you think
of this guy who

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wants to swim the entire
length of the Hudson River.

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I think he's an idiot.

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Why?

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Because it's cold and dangerous.

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It's cool.

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He's putting his life in danger.

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So what are the
things in the river

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that would put him in danger?

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Rocks and logs and rapids.

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What else?

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And bears that run
across the river.

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It's not bears I'm worried
about, it's the river itself.

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Tom Groves manages a whitewater
company in North Creek.

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He's agreed to be my
guide and teacher.

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Instead of running the
river in some type of craft,

00:11:09.842 --> 00:11:11.300
he's running it in
his life jacket.

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His life jacket is his craft.

00:11:13.790 --> 00:11:18.980
So it's a lot tougher.

00:11:18.980 --> 00:11:21.180
If you're swimming and
you get in the hydraulic,

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you're going to get
what's called maytagged.

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Water will recirculate you.

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It'll bring you up and
pull you back down.

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When it pulls you back
down, if you hit the bottom,

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grab onto it and start
crawling on the bottom.

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Swim day number five--

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this is the day I've
been training for.

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100 years ago, this
stretch of the river

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was used for log drives.

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As many as 50 small
dams on tributaries

00:12:50.760 --> 00:12:56.070
released water into the Hudson,
raising its level enough

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to carry hundreds of thousands
of logs over the rapids.

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Wood was the fuel
of the 19th century.

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It was used for construction,
railroad ties, cooking, steam,

00:13:08.340 --> 00:13:12.960
heat, and making charcoal
to fuel blast furnaces.

00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:16.197
In 1850, New York was
the biggest lumber state

00:13:16.197 --> 00:13:16.780
in the nation.

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The practice of timber companies
was cut out and get out.

00:13:25.380 --> 00:13:30.370
Once land was logged
over, it was worthless.

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This cartoon appearing
in the New York Herald

00:13:32.740 --> 00:13:36.670
is captioned "the last
sunset in the Adirondacks."

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With the destruction
of the forests,

00:13:42.430 --> 00:13:47.100
the water level and the Hudson
became unpredictable, often

00:13:47.100 --> 00:13:52.290
too shallow to float barges
that supplied river towns.

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The forests had acted
as a natural reservoir,

00:13:56.120 --> 00:13:59.430
a kind of giant sponge
that retained moisture

00:13:59.430 --> 00:14:02.615
during the dry months
and gradually released it

00:14:02.615 --> 00:14:03.240
into the river.

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It began to sink in that
human beings had the power

00:14:09.550 --> 00:14:10.660
to destroy the land.

00:14:15.860 --> 00:14:18.020
It took a long time
to convince lawmakers

00:14:18.020 --> 00:14:21.870
that the Adirondacks
should be protected.

00:14:21.870 --> 00:14:25.710
But in 1894, an amendment
to the state constitution

00:14:25.710 --> 00:14:29.995
was passed, protecting land
within the region as forever

00:14:29.995 --> 00:14:30.495
wild.

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Swim day 11--

00:14:46.390 --> 00:14:49.850
I've swum, walked, floated,
and waded 85 miles.

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At Rockwell Falls, the river
narrows to about 30 feet.

00:14:58.380 --> 00:15:01.080
Several people have
drowned here, pinned down

00:15:01.080 --> 00:15:03.560
by the force of the water.

00:15:03.560 --> 00:15:05.210
I decide to walk around.

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This is the place
where the wilderness

00:15:12.360 --> 00:15:16.110
river, the wild Hudson, ends.

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Just below here,
the Sacandaga river

00:15:18.270 --> 00:15:21.720
comes in, tripling
the volume of water.

00:15:21.720 --> 00:15:24.690
From here on, they'll be
enough water to swim in.

00:15:29.820 --> 00:15:32.460
My friend Chris
Runyard has signed on

00:15:32.460 --> 00:15:35.160
as boatman, safety
officer, and all

00:15:35.160 --> 00:15:38.130
around on the river
logistics person.

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He's an ex-fighter pilot
turned conservationist.

00:15:43.530 --> 00:15:47.940
Nicole Boehmer is
our swim coordinator.

00:15:47.940 --> 00:15:51.950
This is the innards of
the swim, as it were.

00:15:51.950 --> 00:15:54.000
As far as the size
of the car, we're

00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:57.370
trying to remain true to
the conservation of gas.

00:15:57.370 --> 00:16:00.570
And so this is our this
is our sacrifice of sorts.

00:16:00.570 --> 00:16:04.200
How we get all of the stuff in
the car is very fine science.

00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:11.510
There's really very
few aspects of society

00:16:11.510 --> 00:16:14.660
that scare me as much as
the state of our environment

00:16:14.660 --> 00:16:16.190
right now.

00:16:16.190 --> 00:16:19.100
And in the future,
that's just what I

00:16:19.100 --> 00:16:22.800
envision the question being
asked of me, what did you do?

00:16:22.800 --> 00:16:24.900
And I just want to
have some answer.

00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:43.950
Corinth is the next town
we come to on the river.

00:16:43.950 --> 00:16:48.540
Here, people are fighting plans
to build a trash incinerator

00:16:48.540 --> 00:16:51.360
that would burn one
quarter of New York City's

00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:54.270
refuse every day.

00:16:54.270 --> 00:16:56.730
I've never done anything
like this before.

00:16:56.730 --> 00:16:59.520
My motivation was
I really knew this

00:16:59.520 --> 00:17:02.250
was a very unhealthy thing.

00:17:02.250 --> 00:17:04.740
And it was just
something in my heart

00:17:04.740 --> 00:17:08.849
I just knew that I had to take
on and I had to stop them.

00:17:08.849 --> 00:17:11.700
The incinerator would be
built on the site of Corinth's

00:17:11.700 --> 00:17:13.530
abandoned paper mill.

00:17:13.530 --> 00:17:15.890
The trash would
come in by train--

00:17:15.890 --> 00:17:19.500
45 rail car loads every night.

00:17:19.500 --> 00:17:23.250
They're going to put
the ash in a containment

00:17:23.250 --> 00:17:24.630
area near the river.

00:17:24.630 --> 00:17:26.819
So who knows how long it
will be before it actually

00:17:26.819 --> 00:17:27.652
gets into the river.

00:17:32.130 --> 00:17:36.570
So why would anyone think
this was a good idea?

00:17:36.570 --> 00:17:39.120
Richard Lucia invited
the trash company

00:17:39.120 --> 00:17:43.710
to consider Corinth as
a site for the plant.

00:17:43.710 --> 00:17:47.370
My first thoughts on the
American Ref-Fuel Project was,

00:17:47.370 --> 00:17:49.436
wow, we're going to have jobs.

00:17:49.436 --> 00:17:51.060
We're going to have
tax base back here.

00:17:51.060 --> 00:17:54.300
And that's what my
job is is to try

00:17:54.300 --> 00:17:56.370
to keep the tax
rate as low as I can

00:17:56.370 --> 00:17:57.940
for the folks that are here.

00:17:57.940 --> 00:18:00.050
The shutdown of the mill
was very devastating.

00:18:00.050 --> 00:18:01.740
When I went to work at
the mill, my grandfather

00:18:01.740 --> 00:18:02.280
had worked there.

00:18:02.280 --> 00:18:03.150
My father worked there.

00:18:03.150 --> 00:18:04.274
I mean, that's what it was.

00:18:04.274 --> 00:18:07.050
It was a family
oriented type thing.

00:18:07.050 --> 00:18:10.770
People that I knew
now were without jobs.

00:18:10.770 --> 00:18:13.200
Sold their homes,
let their homes

00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:15.250
go just so they could
continue living.

00:18:18.510 --> 00:18:21.300
But as a result of steady
pressure from Louise

00:18:21.300 --> 00:18:23.820
and her group, a
public meeting is held

00:18:23.820 --> 00:18:26.220
to consider the trash plan.

00:18:26.220 --> 00:18:30.360
They came from all walks of
life, all kinds of jobs--

00:18:30.360 --> 00:18:34.530
professionals, laborers,
the guy who washes dishes

00:18:34.530 --> 00:18:35.550
at the restaurant.

00:18:35.550 --> 00:18:37.860
Everybody came because
that's where the power is.

00:18:37.860 --> 00:18:40.500
The power is in the community.

00:18:40.500 --> 00:18:42.810
It's a critical moment.

00:18:42.810 --> 00:18:45.480
The company that wants
to build the incinerator

00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:47.820
is well prepared.

00:18:47.820 --> 00:18:51.150
They explain how pollution
hazards will be identified,

00:18:51.150 --> 00:18:54.180
health risks assessed,
and the latest technology

00:18:54.180 --> 00:18:56.130
used to keep the
smell of garbage

00:18:56.130 --> 00:18:58.830
from permeating the town.

00:18:58.830 --> 00:19:02.130
But few people are
buying the sales pitch.

00:19:02.130 --> 00:19:06.450
And why if this is so benign,
if this plant is so benign, why

00:19:06.450 --> 00:19:08.259
truck that garbage
all the way up here?

00:19:08.259 --> 00:19:09.300
Keep it in New York City.

00:19:09.300 --> 00:19:10.292
Build the plant there--

00:19:10.292 --> 00:19:13.268
[APPLAUSE]

00:19:14.260 --> 00:19:17.850
I feel like he has a point.

00:19:17.850 --> 00:19:19.650
I put a question
to the scientist

00:19:19.650 --> 00:19:22.050
that the waste company
hired to explain

00:19:22.050 --> 00:19:23.940
why the plant would be safe.

00:19:23.940 --> 00:19:28.950
So my question to you guys is
are you absolutely convinced

00:19:28.950 --> 00:19:32.730
that no harm will come to
life as a result of what

00:19:32.730 --> 00:19:34.550
you're proposing?

00:19:34.550 --> 00:19:35.780
No, of course not.

00:19:35.780 --> 00:19:41.474
I mean, but, you know, there's
no guarantee of anything,

00:19:41.474 --> 00:19:42.140
frankly.

00:19:42.140 --> 00:19:44.460
You have to do something.

00:19:44.460 --> 00:19:48.252
But if you don't manage
garbage, you get typhus.

00:19:48.252 --> 00:19:49.710
I mean, you have
to manage garbage.

00:19:49.710 --> 00:19:52.890
But, of course, there's
no guarantee of safety.

00:19:52.890 --> 00:19:55.840
I mean, how could there be?

00:19:55.840 --> 00:19:58.680
I said it twice in
my presentation.

00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:03.660
The only reason to consider
is that that trade-off

00:20:03.660 --> 00:20:08.940
for the economic benefit is
something that you accept.

00:20:08.940 --> 00:20:11.320
The waste that
we're talking about,

00:20:11.320 --> 00:20:13.800
I would love to see more
of it go to recycling.

00:20:13.800 --> 00:20:17.040
Unfortunately, from
a practical matter,

00:20:17.040 --> 00:20:20.190
that particular waste is
not going to go there today.

00:20:20.190 --> 00:20:22.680
We're not going to solve New
York City's recycling or US

00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:25.710
recycling today.

00:20:25.710 --> 00:20:29.110
And you're not going to solve
it by acting as New York City's

00:20:29.110 --> 00:20:30.120
toilet.

00:20:30.120 --> 00:20:33.780
The point is this, it's
only by dedicated effort

00:20:33.780 --> 00:20:37.040
to recycling and
composting and reuse

00:20:37.040 --> 00:20:38.820
that we can get off
the treadmill which

00:20:38.820 --> 00:20:40.080
leads to global warming.

00:20:40.080 --> 00:20:44.300
In other words, incineration
is business as usual at a time

00:20:44.300 --> 00:20:46.330
that we cannot afford
business as usual.

00:20:52.570 --> 00:20:55.777
The people of Corinth
reject the incinerator.

00:20:59.190 --> 00:21:00.760
It's a victory.

00:21:00.760 --> 00:21:03.680
But this is just the first of
many challenges to the river.

00:21:10.540 --> 00:21:16.770
Swim day 12-- we portage around
our first hydroelectric dam,

00:21:16.770 --> 00:21:19.650
one of five on the river.

00:21:19.650 --> 00:21:22.785
By evening, we reach the
100-mile mark in the swim.

00:21:25.830 --> 00:21:28.410
We camp out in a boat house.

00:21:28.410 --> 00:21:32.620
Our host read about my
swim on the internet.

00:21:32.620 --> 00:21:34.566
Things like this keep happening.

00:21:38.454 --> 00:21:40.884
Yeah!

00:21:40.884 --> 00:21:41.620
He's swimming.

00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:45.778
Hi.

00:21:45.778 --> 00:21:46.710
Hi.

00:21:46.710 --> 00:21:47.425
I'm Christopher.

00:21:47.425 --> 00:21:48.133
Nice to meet you.

00:21:48.133 --> 00:21:48.720
I'm Patty.

00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:50.800
For the waters, right,
to clean the waters?

00:21:50.800 --> 00:21:51.300
Yeah.

00:21:51.300 --> 00:21:54.021
Yeah, I think it's good
to do something like that.

00:21:54.021 --> 00:21:56.520
Everyone does their own little
thing, it makes a difference.

00:21:56.520 --> 00:21:57.978
I've been watching
on the internet.

00:21:57.978 --> 00:22:00.930
So I know it was up above.

00:22:00.930 --> 00:22:01.990
But this is fabulous.

00:22:01.990 --> 00:22:05.152
And I give the guy a lot of
credit for what he's doing.

00:22:05.152 --> 00:22:07.380
Yo, is that tight or what?

00:22:07.380 --> 00:22:09.600
Word.

00:22:09.600 --> 00:22:12.150
The swim captures
people's imagination.

00:22:12.150 --> 00:22:13.488
There he goes.

00:22:13.488 --> 00:22:15.880
If you swim in sewage
and then complain

00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:19.390
about the sewage treatment
situation in the area,

00:22:19.390 --> 00:22:21.580
nobody can attack
your credibility

00:22:21.580 --> 00:22:24.310
because it's one thing to
like eat some bad nachos

00:22:24.310 --> 00:22:26.571
yourself and deal
with the consequences.

00:22:26.571 --> 00:22:28.570
It's another thing to
deal with the consequences

00:22:28.570 --> 00:22:31.490
of like drinking the nachos
that someone else ate.

00:22:31.490 --> 00:22:33.710
It's a definite
conversation stopper.

00:22:33.710 --> 00:22:36.790
So what's something a city
could do to keep pollution

00:22:36.790 --> 00:22:38.590
and dirt out of the river?

00:22:38.590 --> 00:22:41.050
Keep big factories
away from the river.

00:22:41.050 --> 00:22:45.190
Try and make products that
don't cause as much pollution.

00:22:45.190 --> 00:22:48.110
Maybe if I got a ton
of my group of friends,

00:22:48.110 --> 00:22:52.660
everyone got a group of friends
and maybe wrote some letters

00:22:52.660 --> 00:22:56.410
to the factories
saying, hey, we're kids,

00:22:56.410 --> 00:23:00.230
and we already know the
effects of your pollution,

00:23:00.230 --> 00:23:03.070
and do you think you
could find an alternative?

00:23:03.070 --> 00:23:06.310
Well, some people might say
that you really don't care.

00:23:06.310 --> 00:23:08.440
You need to give
them some reasons.

00:23:08.440 --> 00:23:10.460
You need to give some reasons.

00:23:10.460 --> 00:23:12.700
Good luck.

00:23:12.700 --> 00:23:14.200
Remember, you guys,
it's your river.

00:23:14.200 --> 00:23:15.100
It belongs to you.

00:23:15.100 --> 00:23:17.594
Good luck, Chris!

00:23:17.594 --> 00:23:18.094
See ya!

00:23:46.040 --> 00:23:47.315
Swim day number 13--

00:23:49.890 --> 00:23:54.750
back on the river, one day
feels very much like another.

00:23:54.750 --> 00:23:56.975
But then we come to Glens Falls.

00:24:00.830 --> 00:24:03.940
Here, the city grew
up out of the forest,

00:24:03.940 --> 00:24:06.685
using the power of the
river to drive its industry.

00:24:18.560 --> 00:24:22.700
In 1944, the popular
photo magazine LOOK

00:24:22.700 --> 00:24:26.865
did a profile of the town,
calling it a perfect hometown

00:24:26.865 --> 00:24:27.365
USA.

00:24:35.960 --> 00:24:40.610
Glens Falls, it said, contains
in microcosm every potential

00:24:40.610 --> 00:24:44.900
for achievement of
the American ideal.

00:24:44.900 --> 00:24:50.180
And yet prosperity came with
an unacknowledged price--

00:24:50.180 --> 00:24:54.110
the poisoning of
the Hudson River.

00:24:54.110 --> 00:24:57.260
The economic engine
that powered Glens Falls

00:24:57.260 --> 00:24:59.820
was the Finch Pruyn
Paper Company.

00:24:59.820 --> 00:25:02.340
Its mills and its
limestone quarries

00:25:02.340 --> 00:25:07.130
were the core industries upon
which the city was built.

00:25:07.130 --> 00:25:11.210
Today, the mills still provide
jobs to a lot of people

00:25:11.210 --> 00:25:16.610
and make fine paper that's
distributed all over the world.

00:25:16.610 --> 00:25:19.550
But not everything here
is picture perfect.

00:25:19.550 --> 00:25:21.920
My obsession to swim
or float or wade

00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.230
through every inch
of the river leads

00:25:24.230 --> 00:25:29.210
us to discover the dark
side of hometown USA.

00:25:29.210 --> 00:25:32.450
The mills have dammed the river
and diverted it through pipes

00:25:32.450 --> 00:25:34.939
to drive electric turbines.

00:25:34.939 --> 00:25:36.980
They've also fenced off
the river, which makes it

00:25:36.980 --> 00:25:40.400
difficult to reach the water.

00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:42.620
This rubs me the wrong way.

00:25:42.620 --> 00:25:45.710
The idea that you can bar
access to a public waterway

00:25:45.710 --> 00:25:49.580
seems wrong, even if
it's perfectly legal.

00:25:49.580 --> 00:25:52.100
You can be in the river, but
you can't get to the river

00:25:52.100 --> 00:25:54.004
without cutting through
somebody's plant.

00:25:54.004 --> 00:25:55.670
So to get to the
river, to actually swim

00:25:55.670 --> 00:25:58.770
in the Hudson River, Runyard
and I have to go in downstream

00:25:58.770 --> 00:25:59.270
and come up.

00:26:03.790 --> 00:26:08.890
And that's how we come to
discover the 008 outfall,

00:26:08.890 --> 00:26:11.910
just downriver from
the Finch Pruyn Mill.

00:26:11.910 --> 00:26:14.376
It's actually the first--

00:26:14.376 --> 00:26:15.750
probably first
place on the river

00:26:15.750 --> 00:26:17.630
I've really been disgusted.

00:26:17.630 --> 00:26:22.630
I got at least four or
five pipes spilling liquor

00:26:22.630 --> 00:26:26.110
into the river and really
just pumping it in.

00:26:26.110 --> 00:26:29.930
It's coming in fast,
and there's a ton of it.

00:26:29.930 --> 00:26:34.310
Liquor is industry slang
for waste effluent.

00:26:34.310 --> 00:26:36.920
According to Finch
Pruyn state permit,

00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:39.860
this particular waste
is a toxic cocktail

00:26:39.860 --> 00:26:43.340
that in any given 24-hour
period may contain

00:26:43.340 --> 00:26:48.620
15 pounds of cyanide, 21 pounds
of zinc, 4 pounds of phenol,

00:26:48.620 --> 00:26:52.440
and similar amounts of copper,
chloroform, sulfate, aluminum,

00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:57.890
titanium, molybdenum, methanol,
as well as 63,000 pounds

00:26:57.890 --> 00:26:59.920
of unspecified waste solids.

00:27:03.370 --> 00:27:08.200
No one expected this would still
be here in the 21st century.

00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:12.730
By 1972, New York state
will have cleaned up all

00:27:12.730 --> 00:27:14.260
of the sources of pollution.

00:27:14.260 --> 00:27:16.705
And the Hudson will
be cleaned up by 1972.

00:27:16.705 --> 00:27:18.590
Sir, we're not used to
all that clean water.

00:27:18.590 --> 00:27:19.798
What are going to do with it?

00:27:19.798 --> 00:27:22.220
If nothing else,
you can swim in it.

00:27:22.220 --> 00:27:26.170
In the '60s and '70s, state
and federal governments

00:27:26.170 --> 00:27:30.980
passed laws mandating
the end of pollution.

00:27:30.980 --> 00:27:34.030
Industries had to use
state-of-the-art technology

00:27:34.030 --> 00:27:37.750
to reduce the emissions.

00:27:37.750 --> 00:27:40.390
But if the technology
did not yet exist,

00:27:40.390 --> 00:27:43.600
industries would get
temporary permits,

00:27:43.600 --> 00:27:47.080
allowing them to keep polluting.

00:27:47.080 --> 00:27:49.510
Technology has come a long way.

00:27:49.510 --> 00:27:51.790
But many industries
balk when it comes

00:27:51.790 --> 00:27:54.520
to spending money on upgrades.

00:27:54.520 --> 00:27:59.830
And regulatory agencies have
been slow to enforce the laws.

00:27:59.830 --> 00:28:01.500
People were so
happy to have jobs

00:28:01.500 --> 00:28:04.030
that the last thing
they're going to do

00:28:04.030 --> 00:28:07.130
is challenge industry leaders.

00:28:07.130 --> 00:28:09.010
And most people
just accepted it.

00:28:09.010 --> 00:28:11.550
So the idea of
environment enforcement--

00:28:11.550 --> 00:28:15.920
environmental enforcement
wasn't popular at all.

00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:19.010
The most interesting thing
about 008 outfall is that

00:28:19.010 --> 00:28:20.210
it's hidden.

00:28:20.210 --> 00:28:22.490
It's down there,
around the bend,

00:28:22.490 --> 00:28:24.800
protected by fenced lands.

00:28:24.800 --> 00:28:26.930
Once you see it, you know
why the paper companies

00:28:26.930 --> 00:28:28.970
have walled off the river.

00:28:28.970 --> 00:28:30.890
It's not that it's
that big a secret.

00:28:30.890 --> 00:28:32.840
Anyone could learn about
it on the internet.

00:28:32.840 --> 00:28:36.890
It's more like out of
sight, out of mind.

00:28:36.890 --> 00:28:39.410
Imagine what might happen
if Finch Pruyn were

00:28:39.410 --> 00:28:42.410
to put their outfall in
full view of this bridge,

00:28:42.410 --> 00:28:44.450
right in the center
of town, and then

00:28:44.450 --> 00:28:46.220
put a sign on the
fence listing all

00:28:46.220 --> 00:28:48.680
the toxic chemicals that
they were discharging

00:28:48.680 --> 00:28:51.100
into the river.

00:28:51.100 --> 00:28:53.950
Citizens might be inclined to
consider the long-term costs

00:28:53.950 --> 00:28:57.746
of pollution and support both
Finch Pruyn and the government

00:28:57.746 --> 00:28:59.245
in coming up with
a better solution.

00:29:16.190 --> 00:29:19.415
Yeah, we got one.

00:29:19.415 --> 00:29:21.260
My adviser got bitten last year.

00:29:21.260 --> 00:29:23.990
We had to pry her jaws
open with a screwdriver.

00:29:23.990 --> 00:29:27.420
She just wasn't letting go.

00:29:27.420 --> 00:29:29.600
Unless I actually
step on one, I'm

00:29:29.600 --> 00:29:33.395
unlikely to be attacked
by a snapping turtle.

00:29:33.395 --> 00:29:35.050
Hi, lady.

00:29:35.050 --> 00:29:37.610
I do talk to the
turtles, it's true.

00:29:37.610 --> 00:29:40.460
But biologist Shannon
Green and her assistant

00:29:40.460 --> 00:29:44.265
risk their fingers for
the sake of science.

00:29:44.265 --> 00:29:45.390
You going to behave for me?

00:29:50.710 --> 00:29:53.280
It turns out, snapping
turtles can tell us

00:29:53.280 --> 00:29:56.550
a lot about contaminants
in the river.

00:29:56.550 --> 00:30:00.960
A snapping turtle can have
levels of PCBs in its body

00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:04.470
that are as much as 1,000
times, if not greater,

00:30:04.470 --> 00:30:06.600
than the environment.

00:30:06.600 --> 00:30:10.590
PCBs mimic estrogen, which
is the female hormone.

00:30:10.590 --> 00:30:12.840
It's what makes
a female a female

00:30:12.840 --> 00:30:14.340
in all of the vertebrates.

00:30:14.340 --> 00:30:17.940
So what we're looking for
is possible feminization

00:30:17.940 --> 00:30:20.130
of male turtles.

00:30:20.130 --> 00:30:23.610
And we're finished
with this fella.

00:30:23.610 --> 00:30:25.470
There's been
evidence of reduction

00:30:25.470 --> 00:30:29.886
in penis size in other reptiles
species, such as alligators.

00:30:29.886 --> 00:30:32.010
So that's something that
we're looking at, as well.

00:30:34.540 --> 00:30:37.480
PCBs, or polychlorinated
biphenyls,

00:30:37.480 --> 00:30:39.460
are a syrupy substance
that was once

00:30:39.460 --> 00:30:43.570
used to insulate
electrical capacitors.

00:30:43.570 --> 00:30:47.440
At Fort Edward in Hudson Falls,
General Electric factories

00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:52.330
discharged 1.3 million pounds
of PCBs into the river,

00:30:52.330 --> 00:30:56.020
ending in 1977.

00:30:56.020 --> 00:31:02.812
To this day, PCBs remain a
major contaminant in the Hudson.

00:31:02.812 --> 00:31:06.750
This particular home here
is the Mandolier home.

00:31:06.750 --> 00:31:09.750
Gary Mandolier was born
with such a defect,

00:31:09.750 --> 00:31:12.570
he was unable to walk upright.

00:31:12.570 --> 00:31:15.450
Here we have the Cullen home.

00:31:15.450 --> 00:31:19.140
They had a child born
with a hole in his heart.

00:31:19.140 --> 00:31:22.830
He died at a very young age.

00:31:22.830 --> 00:31:27.270
When Dennis Prevo grew up on the
street in the 1950s and '60s,

00:31:27.270 --> 00:31:29.610
it was not paved.

00:31:29.610 --> 00:31:33.450
To keep the dust down, waste
PCB oil from the GE plant

00:31:33.450 --> 00:31:34.770
was sprayed on the dirt road.

00:31:38.630 --> 00:31:44.080
When it rained, the PCBs
leached into water wells.

00:31:44.080 --> 00:31:46.210
Years later, tests
showed that the water

00:31:46.210 --> 00:31:48.400
for most of the
homes on the street

00:31:48.400 --> 00:31:51.340
was heavily contaminated.

00:31:51.340 --> 00:31:54.310
Over here was the
home of the first girl

00:31:54.310 --> 00:31:56.110
that I ever had a
crush on in the world.

00:31:56.110 --> 00:32:00.200
She died in her early
20s of a brain tumor.

00:32:00.200 --> 00:32:02.200
This is my home here.

00:32:02.200 --> 00:32:05.950
My brother and I used to
live in the upstairs bedroom.

00:32:05.950 --> 00:32:10.921
My brother died 46 years of
age of very aggressive brain

00:32:10.921 --> 00:32:11.420
cancer.

00:32:18.750 --> 00:32:21.130
Brings back a lot of
memories of all the people

00:32:21.130 --> 00:32:25.800
who have passed here
that I grew up with.

00:32:25.800 --> 00:32:29.500
You're not supposed to bury
people in their 30s and 40s

00:32:29.500 --> 00:32:32.720
and 50s in the numbers that
we've lost here on this street.

00:32:36.120 --> 00:32:40.020
PCBs have taken a
toll on the river.

00:32:40.020 --> 00:32:41.940
Commercial fishing
was banned when

00:32:41.940 --> 00:32:44.250
they were discovered in fish.

00:32:44.250 --> 00:32:46.980
But some people still
fish, despite the fact

00:32:46.980 --> 00:32:49.840
that eating fish from
the Hudson is dangerous,

00:32:49.840 --> 00:32:53.080
particularly for children
and pregnant women.

00:32:53.080 --> 00:32:54.660
Our people are
very proud people.

00:32:54.660 --> 00:32:57.087
And many of them refuse the
food stamps or the welfare.

00:32:57.087 --> 00:32:58.170
They go down to the river.

00:32:58.170 --> 00:33:00.060
My grandfather, my father--

00:33:00.060 --> 00:33:01.140
proud men.

00:33:01.140 --> 00:33:03.340
People to this day fish.

00:33:03.340 --> 00:33:07.155
It's very intrinsic
to people of color.

00:33:07.155 --> 00:33:09.480
How's it going, guys?

00:33:09.480 --> 00:33:12.870
Y'all catch and
release it, right?

00:33:12.870 --> 00:33:15.560
All right, catch
and release, right?

00:33:15.560 --> 00:33:17.540
All right, that's
what I want to hear.

00:33:17.540 --> 00:33:19.280
Is that the son and daughter?

00:33:19.280 --> 00:33:21.920
All right, spend a
nice evening out, Don.

00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:24.380
People feel that they can
see a sick fish or a bad fish

00:33:24.380 --> 00:33:27.380
and don't realize that it's
contaminated at a biomolecular

00:33:27.380 --> 00:33:29.060
level stored in fat.

00:33:29.060 --> 00:33:31.010
And it's the consumption,
the actual cooking

00:33:31.010 --> 00:33:32.750
of the fat of the fish
that actually gets

00:33:32.750 --> 00:33:34.329
the PCBs in the human body.

00:33:34.329 --> 00:33:35.870
So a of people don't
understand that.

00:33:41.630 --> 00:33:43.520
Swim day 18--

00:33:43.520 --> 00:33:47.480
I swim over the biggest
concentrations, or hotspots,

00:33:47.480 --> 00:33:48.950
of PCBs on the river.

00:33:52.160 --> 00:33:53.720
I console myself
with the knowledge

00:33:53.720 --> 00:33:57.920
that PCBs are
heavier than water.

00:33:57.920 --> 00:33:59.900
Unless stirred up by
turbulence, they're

00:33:59.900 --> 00:34:01.550
lodged in the mud on the bottom.

00:34:07.150 --> 00:34:11.440
In 2002, General Electric was
ordered by the Environmental

00:34:11.440 --> 00:34:14.800
Protection Agency to
dredge these hotspots

00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:17.560
and remove the major
concentrations of PCBs

00:34:17.560 --> 00:34:19.090
from the riverbed.

00:34:19.090 --> 00:34:21.639
But GE resisted.

00:34:21.639 --> 00:34:24.310
Four years later,
when this documentary

00:34:24.310 --> 00:34:30.010
was being completed, GE's
cleanup had yet to begin.

00:34:30.010 --> 00:34:33.010
They currently still are suing
the Environmental Protection

00:34:33.010 --> 00:34:35.500
Agency over the
constitutionality

00:34:35.500 --> 00:34:37.690
of certain elements
of the Superfund Law.

00:34:37.690 --> 00:34:39.800
So it's hard for us to
believe that on one hand,

00:34:39.800 --> 00:34:42.699
they're cooperating with one of
the largest Superfund cleanups

00:34:42.699 --> 00:34:45.219
in the history of the program
and at the same time are

00:34:45.219 --> 00:34:48.790
continuing to push through
a lawsuit to undermine EPA's

00:34:48.790 --> 00:34:50.925
ability to order cleanups.

00:34:50.925 --> 00:34:52.300
And the reason
they're doing that

00:34:52.300 --> 00:34:54.709
is because they've got
100 other Superfund

00:34:54.709 --> 00:34:55.750
sites around the country.

00:34:55.750 --> 00:34:57.790
And they know if they've
got to clean up this one,

00:34:57.790 --> 00:34:59.998
they're going to have to
clean up the others as well.

00:35:04.190 --> 00:35:08.870
Below Fort Edward, the
river becomes navigable.

00:35:08.870 --> 00:35:11.090
A system of dams
and locks make it

00:35:11.090 --> 00:35:15.920
possible to go by boat
all the way to the ocean.

00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:18.140
The lock keepers don't
like the idea of me

00:35:18.140 --> 00:35:19.280
swimming through the locks.

00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:27.170
And going over the bigger
dams is not an option.

00:35:43.870 --> 00:35:47.650
Swim days 19 and 20--

00:35:47.650 --> 00:35:51.050
I swim past the towns of
Schuylerville and Stillwater.

00:35:56.300 --> 00:35:58.050
To look at the
river, you wouldn't

00:35:58.050 --> 00:36:01.440
think that it is poisoned.

00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:04.620
It's rather in the empty
streets of these little hamlets

00:36:04.620 --> 00:36:07.270
that you see the effects
of PCB contamination.

00:36:10.410 --> 00:36:13.590
They are ideal spots
for a summer vacation,

00:36:13.590 --> 00:36:14.950
but no one comes here.

00:36:23.690 --> 00:36:24.330
Will do, Patty.

00:36:24.330 --> 00:36:26.320
Thank you so much.

00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:27.200
All right, thank you.

00:36:27.200 --> 00:36:28.020
Take care.

00:36:28.020 --> 00:36:28.650
Bye bye.

00:36:28.650 --> 00:36:32.160
I am calling back the people
who have been leaving messages

00:36:32.160 --> 00:36:33.990
for about the past 24 hours.

00:36:33.990 --> 00:36:39.090
We have an interview coming up
with the Glens Falls Post-Star.

00:36:39.090 --> 00:36:41.970
And then a CBS affiliate
in Albany, they

00:36:41.970 --> 00:36:44.981
want to do a story on him as he
gets closer to the Troy/Albany

00:36:44.981 --> 00:36:45.480
area.

00:36:45.480 --> 00:36:49.560
So it's picking up.

00:36:49.560 --> 00:36:54.200
Troy is the halfway
point in the swim.

00:36:54.200 --> 00:36:57.860
It seems like a good place
to call a press conference.

00:36:57.860 --> 00:37:00.380
As I said before, I'm
trying to use this swim

00:37:00.380 --> 00:37:02.780
to make friends for the river.

00:37:02.780 --> 00:37:05.030
Maybe the press coverage
will help convince people

00:37:05.030 --> 00:37:07.710
that the river is
worth protecting.

00:37:07.710 --> 00:37:11.090
What's the most disgusting
thing you've seen?

00:37:11.090 --> 00:37:13.520
The sewage scum, you know,
because you know it when you

00:37:13.520 --> 00:37:15.485
smell it, is pretty disgusting.

00:37:15.485 --> 00:37:18.110
So even though we get all these
representations about the river

00:37:18.110 --> 00:37:19.580
being so much
cleaner than it is,

00:37:19.580 --> 00:37:24.350
you still encountered stuff that
you would have real questions

00:37:24.350 --> 00:37:24.900
about?

00:37:24.900 --> 00:37:27.150
Yeah, I mean, I'm still
swimming in some sewage.

00:37:27.150 --> 00:37:29.090
There's still a lot
of industrial outfalls

00:37:29.090 --> 00:37:31.100
that are nasty to swim through.

00:37:31.100 --> 00:37:32.510
Lots of dead fish lately.

00:37:35.640 --> 00:37:38.350
You're watching News
Channel 5 at 6:00.

00:37:38.350 --> 00:37:40.750
Sometimes, the best way to
grab everyone's attention

00:37:40.750 --> 00:37:42.700
is through an amazing feat.

00:37:42.700 --> 00:37:45.070
Swaine is planning to
swim through all kinds

00:37:45.070 --> 00:37:48.190
of toxic pollution
to make a point.

00:37:48.190 --> 00:37:50.260
And it won't be easy.

00:37:50.260 --> 00:37:55.306
And he plans to gargle every 20
minutes with hydrogen peroxide

00:37:55.306 --> 00:37:57.680
to try to keep from getting
sick as he does it this time.

00:38:03.850 --> 00:38:04.600
See you later.

00:38:04.600 --> 00:38:05.440
Thank you, Troy.

00:38:10.510 --> 00:38:13.240
A few minutes after
the press conference,

00:38:13.240 --> 00:38:17.380
someone saw me in the
river and called 911.

00:38:17.380 --> 00:38:19.620
They thought I was a suicide.

00:38:19.620 --> 00:38:23.280
Six emergency response teams
were dispatched to rescue me.

00:38:26.380 --> 00:38:27.940
This depresses me.

00:38:27.940 --> 00:38:31.360
If people believe the river
is only fit for drowning,

00:38:31.360 --> 00:38:33.130
there's still a lot
of work to be done.

00:38:38.130 --> 00:38:40.310
Looking for answers,
I go to visit

00:38:40.310 --> 00:38:42.690
Pete Seeger, a
man who has become

00:38:42.690 --> 00:38:44.490
a legend in his own time.

00:38:44.490 --> 00:38:46.740
[MUSIC - PETE SEEGER, "SAILING
DOWN MY GOLDEN RIVER"]

00:38:46.740 --> 00:38:51.360
[SINGING] Sailing down my
golden river, sun and water

00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:53.070
all my own.

00:38:53.070 --> 00:38:55.950
Pete Seeger's contributions
to civil rights

00:38:55.950 --> 00:38:59.940
and environmental causes
span half a century.

00:38:59.940 --> 00:39:04.290
In 1969, the songwriter,
performer, and activist

00:39:04.290 --> 00:39:06.690
made one of the most
important contributions

00:39:06.690 --> 00:39:09.102
to the cleanup of
the Hudson River.

00:39:09.102 --> 00:39:13.530
[SINGING] I'll have
them where'er I roam.

00:39:13.530 --> 00:39:16.260
All my life, I've
gotten crazy ideas.

00:39:16.260 --> 00:39:19.710
And, usually, they
end up as a piece

00:39:19.710 --> 00:39:21.660
of paper in a filing cabinet.

00:39:21.660 --> 00:39:24.630
However, the Clearwater
project started

00:39:24.630 --> 00:39:31.380
after a friend loaned me a
book, Sloops of the Hudson.

00:39:31.380 --> 00:39:34.290
They said these were the most
beautiful boats we ever knew,

00:39:34.290 --> 00:39:36.642
and they will never
be seen again.

00:39:36.642 --> 00:39:38.100
Well, I scratched
my head and said,

00:39:38.100 --> 00:39:39.974
well, if there's enough
nuts, we might do it.

00:39:44.580 --> 00:39:47.400
The sloop Clearwater is
an environmental floating

00:39:47.400 --> 00:39:48.205
classroom.

00:39:53.430 --> 00:39:56.470
The idea behind it is simple.

00:39:56.470 --> 00:39:59.460
If you take people out and
teach them about the river,

00:39:59.460 --> 00:40:01.202
they're more likely
to care for it.

00:40:05.060 --> 00:40:07.892
Since it's launching,
almost a million people

00:40:07.892 --> 00:40:08.850
have been on its decks.

00:40:08.850 --> 00:40:10.872
Heave!

00:40:10.872 --> 00:40:14.239
Two, three, heave!

00:40:14.239 --> 00:40:16.163
Two, three, heave!

00:40:16.163 --> 00:40:19.049
Two, three, heave!

00:40:19.049 --> 00:40:22.530
Now the big
discovery we made was

00:40:22.530 --> 00:40:26.060
how to take schoolchildren
out on sails.

00:40:26.060 --> 00:40:27.870
When we take out
50 schoolchildren,

00:40:27.870 --> 00:40:30.840
we divide them up
into five groups.

00:40:30.840 --> 00:40:35.430
10 go to the starboard side and
learn to put a net in the water

00:40:35.430 --> 00:40:37.003
and catch some fish.

00:40:37.003 --> 00:40:41.160
Check out that
beautiful, beautiful eel.

00:40:41.160 --> 00:40:43.380
Another 10 students
go to the tiller--

00:40:43.380 --> 00:40:47.340
a big 12-foot stick of wood
with a fist at the end.

00:40:47.340 --> 00:40:49.800
The captain says push
that stick to starboard,

00:40:49.800 --> 00:40:51.960
that means over there.

00:40:51.960 --> 00:40:53.160
Now push it to port.

00:40:53.160 --> 00:40:55.490
That means over here.

00:40:55.490 --> 00:40:57.580
Now hold it at midships.

00:40:57.580 --> 00:41:00.029
And the kids say, we're
steering the boat.

00:41:00.029 --> 00:41:00.570
And they are.

00:41:03.650 --> 00:41:06.120
I want to be a marine biologist.

00:41:06.120 --> 00:41:09.608
And I figure this is
a good way to start.

00:41:09.608 --> 00:41:11.286
There you go.

00:41:11.286 --> 00:41:14.490
I learned a lot about
plankton, for example,

00:41:14.490 --> 00:41:17.180
that all the plankton that's
dying due to factories

00:41:17.180 --> 00:41:18.600
that's putting hot water--

00:41:18.600 --> 00:41:20.380
we are actually losing a lot--

00:41:20.380 --> 00:41:22.990
we're losing our
biggest oxygen source.

00:41:22.990 --> 00:41:23.525
Not trees.

00:41:23.525 --> 00:41:25.150
You know, everyone
says save the trees.

00:41:25.150 --> 00:41:26.691
And you should save
the trees, but it

00:41:26.691 --> 00:41:28.090
should be save the plankton.

00:41:28.090 --> 00:41:31.450
And the little kids we are so
excited because I connected it

00:41:31.450 --> 00:41:34.474
with SpongeBob, and the villain
in SpongeBob is Plankton.

00:41:34.474 --> 00:41:35.140
That's his name.

00:41:35.140 --> 00:41:37.940
And he's one of those--

00:41:37.940 --> 00:41:40.020
oh my god, what do call them?

00:41:40.020 --> 00:41:40.969
Microinvertebrates.

00:41:40.969 --> 00:41:41.510
There you go.

00:41:59.700 --> 00:42:03.810
I like that connection between
the sloop and the classrooms

00:42:03.810 --> 00:42:05.970
because children
bring it home and then

00:42:05.970 --> 00:42:07.551
the parents are
more aware of what's

00:42:07.551 --> 00:42:08.800
going on in their environment.

00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:09.966
And it starts with the kids.

00:42:40.120 --> 00:42:44.000
Swim days 26 through 32--

00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:48.020
below Troy, the Hudson
stops acting like a river.

00:42:48.020 --> 00:42:49.460
It becomes a tidal estuary.

00:42:53.390 --> 00:42:57.520
Even though we're 150
miles from the ocean,

00:42:57.520 --> 00:43:03.120
Atlantic tides reverse the flow
of the river every six hours.

00:43:03.120 --> 00:43:06.600
If my timing's off, I could
get pushed upstream while

00:43:06.600 --> 00:43:08.329
trying to swim downstream.

00:43:13.320 --> 00:43:17.340
It helps that we now
have a boat with a motor.

00:43:17.340 --> 00:43:20.610
Each day, I get in the water
just as the tide turns,

00:43:20.610 --> 00:43:23.033
so it helps carry me
towards the ocean.

00:43:30.290 --> 00:43:33.650
With the tide, I swim
100 miles in 7 days.

00:43:38.380 --> 00:43:41.350
I pass 20 little towns
and 3 small cities.

00:43:44.730 --> 00:43:49.590
I go by power plants and
pocket-sized marshes, created

00:43:49.590 --> 00:43:52.308
by the railroad embankment
that skirts the river.

00:44:02.590 --> 00:44:05.320
It's relatively safe to
swim by a sewage treatment

00:44:05.320 --> 00:44:08.830
plant on days when
the weather is dry.

00:44:08.830 --> 00:44:12.030
But after a rain, they
overflow into the river.

00:44:19.890 --> 00:44:22.650
The most dangerous place
on the Hudson River

00:44:22.650 --> 00:44:26.700
is the Indian Point
Nuclear Power Plant.

00:44:26.700 --> 00:44:29.070
It's estimated that a
core meltdown caused

00:44:29.070 --> 00:44:31.770
by an accident or
a terrorist attack

00:44:31.770 --> 00:44:36.840
would kill 43,000 within days,
followed by half a million

00:44:36.840 --> 00:44:39.010
from radiation-induced
illnesses.

00:44:41.580 --> 00:44:45.265
Passing the plant,
we attract attention.

00:44:45.265 --> 00:44:49.065
Folks, we need to move you
off the river, down the river.

00:44:49.065 --> 00:44:50.370
Do so now.

00:44:50.370 --> 00:44:52.620
First off, I don't want to
see you back in the channel

00:44:52.620 --> 00:44:56.376
again, especially with
cameras, because you're

00:44:56.376 --> 00:44:58.200
going to be arrested.

00:44:58.200 --> 00:45:00.990
On one level, it's
reassuring that security

00:45:00.990 --> 00:45:04.340
is keeping an eye on me.

00:45:04.340 --> 00:45:06.380
But the reaction
to a lone swimmer

00:45:06.380 --> 00:45:09.380
and a couple of open boats
in the middle of the river

00:45:09.380 --> 00:45:11.941
suggests the vulnerability
of the place.

00:45:18.820 --> 00:45:20.320
Freakishly warm.

00:45:20.320 --> 00:45:24.070
Meanwhile, the plant is
heating up the Hudson.

00:45:24.070 --> 00:45:27.490
River water is used to
cool the reactor core.

00:45:27.490 --> 00:45:30.370
It's a bathtub moment.

00:45:30.370 --> 00:45:32.900
Due to its outmoded
cooling system,

00:45:32.900 --> 00:45:36.310
the plant destroys plankton
and a billion fish eggs

00:45:36.310 --> 00:45:39.460
and larvae a year.

00:45:39.460 --> 00:45:43.120
In this aerial photograph made
with a heat-sensing camera,

00:45:43.120 --> 00:45:46.830
you can see the plume of hot
water discharged by the plant.

00:45:52.840 --> 00:45:57.940
Day 36-- I'm 25 miles
from the Atlantic.

00:45:57.940 --> 00:45:59.920
I can taste the
salt in the water.

00:46:04.610 --> 00:46:08.660
Yonkers, once famous for
its pickles and hat makers,

00:46:08.660 --> 00:46:11.260
has fallen on hard times.

00:46:11.260 --> 00:46:14.990
I pass a tiny plot of open land.

00:46:14.990 --> 00:46:18.210
At first glance, it
doesn't look like much.

00:46:18.210 --> 00:46:21.390
But it is a special place.

00:46:21.390 --> 00:46:25.340
It's the beginning of a man-made
salt marsh at the Beczack

00:46:25.340 --> 00:46:28.640
Environmental Center.

00:46:28.640 --> 00:46:31.490
I tell the people
in the neighborhood,

00:46:31.490 --> 00:46:34.280
if you want something
different for your child,

00:46:34.280 --> 00:46:39.800
then come here, bring your
child, come with your child

00:46:39.800 --> 00:46:43.880
and learn about the world
because that's what it is.

00:46:43.880 --> 00:46:46.760
Environmental education
connects people

00:46:46.760 --> 00:46:49.370
to their community and their
community to the world.

00:46:49.370 --> 00:46:53.535
Learn that there's
other things out there.

00:46:53.535 --> 00:46:56.510
We saw a lot of fish today.

00:46:56.510 --> 00:46:58.935
This is cousin of the
striped bass, a white perch.

00:46:58.935 --> 00:47:00.280
A what?

00:47:00.280 --> 00:47:03.080
It felt slimy, like the seeds.

00:47:03.080 --> 00:47:04.940
It felt smooth.

00:47:04.940 --> 00:47:08.770
And when you rub it the wrong
way, it starts to jump up.

00:47:11.600 --> 00:47:13.915
Mario.

00:47:13.915 --> 00:47:17.140
Yonkers gets a raw
deal a lot of times.

00:47:17.140 --> 00:47:20.926
It's crowded, and it's hard.

00:47:20.926 --> 00:47:22.690
They caught a big one!

00:47:22.690 --> 00:47:25.300
What we do gives them
a sense of place.

00:47:25.300 --> 00:47:27.170
And they get a sense of pride.

00:47:27.170 --> 00:47:28.495
That green stuff is algae.

00:47:31.536 --> 00:47:34.615
And this is a different
color of all the rocks

00:47:34.615 --> 00:47:36.698
because you know how rocks
be like black or brown?

00:47:36.698 --> 00:47:38.117
It's different.

00:47:38.117 --> 00:47:41.350
This is a special rock.

00:47:41.350 --> 00:47:43.660
We've had kids here
for programs and then

00:47:43.660 --> 00:47:48.470
go back to their school and
undertake recycling drives.

00:47:48.470 --> 00:47:50.470
They touch the Hudson
River and the Hudson River

00:47:50.470 --> 00:47:52.450
flows to the Atlantic Ocean.

00:47:52.450 --> 00:47:55.030
And from there,
they go anywhere.

00:47:57.760 --> 00:47:59.440
And the kids are
always astonished

00:47:59.440 --> 00:48:03.444
to learn this water is
connected to other places

00:48:03.444 --> 00:48:05.110
and connected to
people in other places.

00:48:08.680 --> 00:48:10.020
[SPEAKING SPANISH]

00:48:33.140 --> 00:48:36.181
The George Washington
Bridge in New York City--

00:48:40.510 --> 00:48:42.830
I'm almost there.

00:48:42.830 --> 00:48:44.690
But there's one last
stop I want to make

00:48:44.690 --> 00:48:46.110
before coming to the sea.

00:48:51.500 --> 00:48:53.960
Newtown Creek separates
the city boroughs

00:48:53.960 --> 00:48:56.150
of Brooklyn and Queens.

00:48:56.150 --> 00:48:59.000
It is not a healthy
place to go swimming.

00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:01.610
Though it's not actually
a tributary of the Hudson,

00:49:01.610 --> 00:49:04.910
ocean tides carry pollutants
from the creek around Manhattan

00:49:04.910 --> 00:49:06.860
and into the river.

00:49:06.860 --> 00:49:11.090
A 55-acre underground oil spill
beneath Brooklyn's Greenpoint

00:49:11.090 --> 00:49:14.120
neighborhood has been leaching
into the creek for over half

00:49:14.120 --> 00:49:15.790
a century.

00:49:15.790 --> 00:49:18.380
You're having oil,
essentially, coursing

00:49:18.380 --> 00:49:20.023
underneath their
property coming out

00:49:20.023 --> 00:49:21.356
into the banks of Newtown Creek.

00:49:21.356 --> 00:49:22.439
And you see it right here.

00:49:25.390 --> 00:49:27.850
Basil Seggos is the
lead investigator

00:49:27.850 --> 00:49:30.760
for Riverkeeper, an
environmental group that

00:49:30.760 --> 00:49:33.800
uses the courts to compel
polluters to clean up

00:49:33.800 --> 00:49:34.300
their mess.

00:49:37.800 --> 00:49:41.310
Riverkeeper is suing the
ExxonMobil corporation

00:49:41.310 --> 00:49:44.760
for its failure to
clean up the oil spill.

00:49:44.760 --> 00:49:46.890
We're here, quite
simply, because it's

00:49:46.890 --> 00:49:48.470
the dirtiest waterway
in the country,

00:49:48.470 --> 00:49:50.931
and it's been left
generally unprotected

00:49:50.931 --> 00:49:53.430
and unregarded for the past 30
years of the Clean Water Act.

00:49:59.010 --> 00:50:03.030
Neighborhoods around here
are poor, low income.

00:50:03.030 --> 00:50:04.590
Historically, it
didn't have a voice,

00:50:04.590 --> 00:50:06.660
didn't have a voting block.

00:50:06.660 --> 00:50:10.080
So that top to bottom,
from politicians

00:50:10.080 --> 00:50:13.200
through bureaucrats
through industries,

00:50:13.200 --> 00:50:16.731
the people in this area
really had no recourse.

00:50:16.731 --> 00:50:18.480
I don't think there's
any accident that we

00:50:18.480 --> 00:50:22.380
have the largest
oil spill in America

00:50:22.380 --> 00:50:27.120
seeping into our basements,
and it's not been cleaned up.

00:50:27.120 --> 00:50:33.540
I think it's reflective of how
major industries, toxic kinds

00:50:33.540 --> 00:50:37.830
of industries and waste happen
to be neighborhoods that do not

00:50:37.830 --> 00:50:41.640
have the power to stand
up for their human rights

00:50:41.640 --> 00:50:44.340
and that, therefore,
they can be exploited,

00:50:44.340 --> 00:50:46.800
they can be expendable.

00:50:46.800 --> 00:50:50.100
The first time I ever
went on the Creek,

00:50:50.100 --> 00:50:53.580
I think it was on a
Riverkeeper patrol.

00:50:53.580 --> 00:50:58.770
And it was like the
nine circles of hell.

00:50:58.770 --> 00:51:01.920
I mean, the farther in we
went, the worse it got.

00:51:01.920 --> 00:51:05.570
I mean, the banks of the creek
were black and shiny with oil.

00:51:08.440 --> 00:51:11.030
And I got really angry.

00:51:11.030 --> 00:51:12.160
And I thought--

00:51:12.160 --> 00:51:13.890
I mean, people live here.

00:51:13.890 --> 00:51:15.750
People work here.

00:51:15.750 --> 00:51:17.460
These businesses
are on this creek,

00:51:17.460 --> 00:51:20.290
and they're looking at it
every day and how dare they.

00:51:28.090 --> 00:51:31.100
The point about Newtown
Creek is that the water

00:51:31.100 --> 00:51:34.760
looks very much like Hudson
River water did 50 years ago.

00:51:40.820 --> 00:51:44.080
Back then, untreated
sewage and industrial waste

00:51:44.080 --> 00:51:45.850
from dozens of
cities and towns was

00:51:45.850 --> 00:51:47.200
pumped straight into the river.

00:51:56.460 --> 00:51:58.920
Back then, it's
unlikely that I could

00:51:58.920 --> 00:52:02.070
have done this swim and
lived to tell the tale.

00:52:08.960 --> 00:52:11.960
But in the 1970s
and '80s, Americans

00:52:11.960 --> 00:52:13.610
began to realize
that we all have

00:52:13.610 --> 00:52:15.455
a relationship with
the environment

00:52:15.455 --> 00:52:17.330
and that our health and
welfare depend on it.

00:52:20.276 --> 00:52:23.410
I think it's clear that
the force of public opinion

00:52:23.410 --> 00:52:25.930
across the country, as
well as in the Congress,

00:52:25.930 --> 00:52:29.890
has induced the president
to change his position.

00:52:29.890 --> 00:52:32.650
I signed the
Superfund legislation

00:52:32.650 --> 00:52:35.530
to accelerate the clean up of
the nation's hazardous waste

00:52:35.530 --> 00:52:36.030
sites.

00:52:40.720 --> 00:52:42.760
There are still problems.

00:52:42.760 --> 00:52:45.250
And there are still
powerful forces in society

00:52:45.250 --> 00:52:47.800
that favor short-term
profit at the expense

00:52:47.800 --> 00:52:50.110
of long-term sustainability
and survival.

00:52:53.020 --> 00:52:55.810
But here we've come a long way.

00:52:55.810 --> 00:52:58.240
So why not clean up
the creek and continue

00:52:58.240 --> 00:53:01.020
to fight for a truly
pristine river?

00:53:41.914 --> 00:53:43.830
Finally, this evening,
our person of the week.

00:53:43.830 --> 00:53:46.320
Come rain or shine,
he takes the time

00:53:46.320 --> 00:53:50.070
to ply the rivers wide and deep.

00:53:50.070 --> 00:53:54.220
He loves the water when
it is clean and clear,

00:53:54.220 --> 00:53:57.810
though, that is water
he is rarely near.

00:53:57.810 --> 00:53:59.430
We do not really envy him.

00:53:59.430 --> 00:54:03.780
Admire him, we do, as he
goes on his dogged way

00:54:03.780 --> 00:54:05.640
through all the sludge and goo.

00:54:16.410 --> 00:54:19.980
I keep looking for ways to
make friends for the river.

00:54:27.110 --> 00:54:29.540
After the swim, we
asked a sculptor

00:54:29.540 --> 00:54:32.870
to make these scales to
signify the everyday choices we

00:54:32.870 --> 00:54:36.410
make for and against a
sustainable environment.

00:54:43.140 --> 00:54:46.770
We invited people to deposit
a cupful of white sand

00:54:46.770 --> 00:54:51.190
to signify their
pledge to do something.

00:54:51.190 --> 00:54:53.870
It's surprising what people
will do when you invite

00:54:53.870 --> 00:54:57.500
them to take responsibility.

00:54:57.500 --> 00:54:59.270
Hi, my name is Jennifer.

00:54:59.270 --> 00:55:03.440
And I'm about get married
and start a family of my own.

00:55:03.440 --> 00:55:05.120
And I promise to
teach my kids how

00:55:05.120 --> 00:55:07.850
to be responsible to
their environment.

00:55:07.850 --> 00:55:08.690
My name is Bryant.

00:55:08.690 --> 00:55:09.740
I'm an administrator.

00:55:09.740 --> 00:55:11.270
And we're going to save energy.

00:55:11.270 --> 00:55:13.010
My name's Adella,
and I'm a student.

00:55:13.010 --> 00:55:15.110
And I'm going to buy used.

00:55:15.110 --> 00:55:17.350
My name is Josie,
and I'm a nurse.

00:55:17.350 --> 00:55:19.760
And I'm going to turn
off all the faucets

00:55:19.760 --> 00:55:21.198
that the kids leave running.

00:55:25.978 --> 00:55:28.520
I'm going to not throw
garbage onto the ground.

00:55:28.520 --> 00:55:30.920
And I'm going to design
water treatment plants.

00:55:30.920 --> 00:55:33.890
I want to help animals.

00:55:33.890 --> 00:55:36.590
And I pledge to be a
year-round bicycle commuter.

00:55:36.590 --> 00:55:38.330
Purchase less plastic.

00:55:38.330 --> 00:55:39.110
Live simply.

00:55:39.110 --> 00:55:41.090
Getting involved in
local government.

00:55:41.090 --> 00:55:42.750
We promise never to litter.

00:55:42.750 --> 00:55:45.470
And my pledge is to preserve
what green space there

00:55:45.470 --> 00:55:47.750
is in New York.

00:55:47.750 --> 00:55:49.680
My name is Allen.

00:55:49.680 --> 00:55:51.360
My name is [INAUDIBLE]

00:55:51.360 --> 00:55:54.030
My name is Aswan [INAUDIBLE]

00:55:54.030 --> 00:55:55.670
I'm Ramona.

00:55:55.670 --> 00:55:57.004
[INAUDIBLE]

00:55:57.004 --> 00:55:58.480
Ethan.

00:55:58.480 --> 00:55:59.894
Jerry.

00:55:59.894 --> 00:56:00.888
Emma.

00:56:00.888 --> 00:56:02.379
Jonah.

00:56:02.379 --> 00:56:03.870
Saddam.

00:56:03.870 --> 00:56:05.361
Seth.

00:56:05.361 --> 00:56:07.846
[INAUDIBLE]

00:56:07.846 --> 00:56:09.337
Walt.

00:56:09.337 --> 00:56:10.828
Skyler.

00:56:10.828 --> 00:56:12.319
Carla.

00:56:12.319 --> 00:56:15.301
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:56:38.710 --> 00:56:44.008
This program has been funded by
the Lillian Lincoln Foundation.