Riverkeepers & Clearwater Leaders Remember Pete Seeger (1919
- 2014)
Rye Daily Voice
28 January 2014
http://rye.dailyvoice.com/news/riverkeepers-clearwater-leaders-remember-friend-pete-seeger
Beacon, N.Y. -- A true friend of the Hudson River and its valley
where he lived for 70 years, legendary folk singer/songwriter and
political and social activist Pete Seeger is being remembered for
his many contributions to his nation after passing away at age 94.
Seeger and his wife Toshi, who died in July 2013, founded Hudson
River Sloop Clearwater, Inc., and the Great Hudson River Revival,
the annual music and environmental festival that takes place at
Croton Point Park in Croton. The Seegers lived in Beacon, New
York, on the Hudson River for 40 years.
The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, the Beacon-based environmental
group that shares its name with its sailing vessel, took a leading
role in passage of the Clean Water Act, the fight to make General
Electric Co. remove PCBs from the river mud and a number of other
key chapters in the Hudson’s history.
Clearwater Communications Director Julia Church said "Pete planted
the seed that started Hudson River SloopClearwater with the belief
that a majestic replica of the sloops that sailed the Hudson in
the 18th and 19th centuries would bring people to the river where
they could experience its beauty and be moved to preserve it."
"The sloop Clearwater has become recognized for its role in the
environmental movement," Church wrote. "And thanks to Pete Seeger,
the over 12,000 school kids who sail each year will never see the
river in the same way that they did before their voyage. Perhaps
more importantly, they will be moved to protect the river every
time they look at it."
Leaders of the river’s other influential organizations — the
state’s Hudson River Estuary Program, Ossining-based Riverkeeper,
Scenic Hudson — got their start on board the Clearwater.
Riverkeeper President Paul Gallay said the conservation
organization is pledged to "carry on his work and make the most of
the gifts he left us."
"Pete Seeger was unique in that he was a musical genius, and
courageous in his beliefs and a generous man with a heart as big
as anyone's," Gallay said. "Pete will go on inspiring those who
endeavor to heal us humans and our one lonely planet, long after
we say our final goodbyes to the man himself."
The Riverkeeper group conducts water quality studies aboard the
"Riverkeeper" patrol boat. The primary goal of this ongoing
project is to characterize and report on the highly variable
conditions of the Hudson River Estuary through testing for sewage
indicating microorganisms, oxygen and turbidity levels, and other
indicators of water quality. - - -
See more at: http://www.riverkeeper.org/water-quality/hudson/#sthash.UTOYZJqo.dpuf
"River Of My People"
By Pete Seeger
There's a river of my people
And its flow is swift and strong,
Flowing to some mighty ocean,
Though its course is deep and long.
Flowing to some mighty ocean,
Though its course is deep and long.
Many rocks and reefs and mountains
Seek to bar it from its way.
But relentlessly this river
Seeks its brothers in the sea.
But relentlessly this river
Seeks its brothers in the sea.
You will find us in the mainstream,
Steering surely through the foam,
Far beyond the raging waters
We can see our certain home.
Far beyond the raging waters
We can see our certain home.
For we have mapped this river
And we know its mighty force
And the courage that this gives us
Will hold us to our course.
And the courage that this gives us
Will hold us to our course.
Oh, river of my people,
Together we must go,
Hasten onward to that meeting
Where my brothers wait I know.
Hasten onward to that meeting
Where my sisters wait I know.