The Environmental Studies and Geology Division at Alfred University are presenting weekly talks on environmental topics this fall.
Please join us this Friday to hear this week’s speaker Jen Benson give a talk titled “Building a Movement to Save the Hudson River: Advocacy, Education, Sailing, and Music Aboard the Sloop Clearwater.” Jen is the Director of Environmental Action and Communications at Clearwater.
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater is a member-supported, non-profit organization whose mission is to protect the Hudson River by inspiring lifelong stewardship of the river and its tributaries with innovative advocacy through education programs.
The organization owns and operates a historic 106' Hudson River Sloop replica, recognized as America’s Environmental Flagship. Continuing historic sloops’ tradition as a vital link between communities, Clearwater carries a message of preservation and protection of our region’s waterways to her passengers and those who see her iconic sails from the shore.
More than 50 years later, Clearwater is recognized for its award-winning environmental education programs, through which students investigate the ecology, history, and environmental challenges of the Hudson Valley– fostering generations of environmental stewards in local communities.
To date, more than half a million people have experienced their first real look at an estuary’s ecosystem aboard the sloop.
Clearwater founders used music to advocate for workers’ rights and labor unions, Civil Rights, to end the Vietnam War, and environmental protection. Since Clearwater‘s maiden voyage, music has always been a powerful way to unite communities with the shared goal of protecting and preserving the Hudson River.
