Hudson River Blog

The "Working Landscape" of the Hudson Valley

2007-11-30T16:48:00.000-05:00

Cannavo defines a working landscape as "agricultural lands characterized by a long-standing balance between human and natural forces." (Cannavo, 220) This semester's focus has been on the historical struggle between these forces- particularly when it comes to the man's desire to alter his environment to better suit his needs.

Looking back on the Hudson River's colorful past, we have discussed both the physical and chemical alteration of the river. Whether it be construction projects such as that which was proposed for Storm King Mountain, dams, and concrete plants, or the introduction of pollutants from municipal, agricultural or industrial sources, there is no doubt that the Hudson has long been dominated by human forces. Cannavo warns us, however, that "founding without preservation is abusive in that it leads to the pure instrumentation of places, i.e., their treatment as objects to be disposed of at will, just like animals in a factory farm." (Cannavo, 221) Recent class discussion regarding conservation efforts gives hope that the region is working towards a more effective working landscape, where the river is healthy enough to counter-balance continued human forces.

How do we keep this balance? Cannavo believes that "the proper mixture of development, or founding, and preservation must thus be determined democratically, through a deliberate process." (Cannavo, 222). In our last class, we discussed the risks and benefits of a regional government. As a science major, I couldn't sit down and argue about regionalism and whether it was appropriate for the Hudson Valley; however, I believe that a regional committee based within a pre-existing legislative body would be a realistic goal to keep focus on both local and regional issues that pertain to the management of the Hudson River. A system like this would involve representatives from around the region, so that local issues could be better adressed with regional political power. Cannavo describes this approach as "multilayered, flexible in dealing with changes in social-ecological systems, and reliant not just on top-down scientific expertise, but also on culturally and geographically embedded local knowledge." (Cannavo, 223)

Cannavo and The Working Landscape

2007-11-28T09:04:00.000-05:00

In Chapter 6 “The Working Landscape” Cannavo creates the analogy of the “working landscape” to illustrate a landscape defined by the synthesis of founding and preservation. The divide, Cannavo argues, of founding places without preservation results in human degradation of the natural world. On the other hand a strictly preservationist approach to nature is overly ideal and ultimately prevents humans from fostering a sense of connection to nature. In this chapter Cannavo offers the idea of the ‘working landscape’ as an approach towards nature that integrates both human and nonhuman elements.
Cannavo argues the solution to the divide between founding and preservation is regional governance. This form of governance is rooted in a region’s self-reliance and is characterized by social factors within specific communities. Regionalism is a democratic form of government that emphasizes civic involvement. In addition to involving local citizens and addressing competing interests surrounding the natural world, Cannavo argues that regional governance enhances our human connection to places like the Catskills, Storm King Mountain, and most importantly, the Hudson River.
When applied to the broader context of this course we can see the e

Difficulties in Determining the Future of the Hudson

2007-11-28T04:17:00.000-05:00

Cannavo’s description of A working landscape seems to perfectly describe what we have conceived as an ideal Hudson river. Unfortunately, the Hudson river’s struggle to become a working landscape is perhaps the most polarized of any region imaginable. Cannavo defines a working landscape as, "agricultural lands characterized by long standing balance between human and natural forces" (220). The Hudson river falls a bit short of this definition because it has not been a primarily agricultural region throughout its existence; however, it is impossible to deny that for centuries people have been striving, unsuccessfully, to find a balance between human and natural forces. As a result, the Hudson river exemplifies many of the problems that Cannavo identities with the politics of place.

In producing a truly working landscape, Cannavo stresses the importance of compromise between opposite sides. In striking a balance between human and environmental considerations, Cannavo recommends that both sides set aside their individual interests and come to some kind of rational agreement. This approach to the Hudson river would certainly make solving the regions problems much simpler. Unfortunately, setting aside ones personal interest is nearly impossible for most people. It would be very difficult for an executive from General Electric to rationally come to the conclusion that his company should spend millions of dollars cleaning up the Hudson river when the reallocation of such money would have a devastating effect on his livelihood. Alternatively, it would be very difficult for individuals that regularly fish and swim in the Hudson to allow harmful PCB’s to remain in the river unchecked. I cannot imagine these individuals, and the politicians that represent their interests, coming together to find a logical solution without years of discussion. The PCB question represents just one of the many hotly contested issues that have surfaced throughout the semester. It has become abundantly clear that issues such as this, or the Saint Lawrence Cement company, are not easily settled.

Professor Cannovo’s solution to these difficult issues is decentralization or regionalism. I believe that this represents at least a partial solution to the problems posed by politics of place. In my opinion, the Saint Lawrence Cement discussion represents a victory for regionalism. The local politicians in Greenport may have been ready to start building a new plant immediately, but the local government possessed a framework that allowed for residents to voice their opinions and for politicians to adjust accordingly. In the end, the citizens that were most politically active were able to mobilize and effect legislation. This may not have resulted in the best outcome for all of Greenport’s citizens, but the residents of Greenport had tremendous input in the eventual outcome. In my opinion, it would have been impossible for a national government to respond to the actions of such an isolated town. The individuals who care most about an area should be able to effect the politics that determine that area’s future. In the case of St. Lawrence Cement, the citizens of Greenport N.Y. were able to mobilize and effect legislation on the future their area.

There are many complicated and multifaceted problems that will continue to face the Hudson river. In my opinion, regionalism affords the best opportunity for inhabitants of a region to effect legislation determining the future of that region. The structure of local politics generally allows citizens to mobilize, and in most cases, the largest group of individuals has the strongest effects on local legislation. Because of the difficulty in getting opposite sides to compromise on particularly heated subjects, local legislation should be determined by the side with the most involved individuals.

More about Portland and Measure 37

2007-11-28T01:30:00.000-05:00

A Region Unto Itself?

2007-11-27T20:57:00.000-05:00

As an aside: I was in Boston over Thanksgiving, where I've never been before, and spent a good deal of my time just wandering around trying not to get lost. Concerning our previous discussions about "living room" businesses - armchairs in chain venues such as Border's and Starbucks - I witnessed the viciously cyclical nature of independent bookstores and coffeeshops against corporate copies while exploring the city. Cambridge is replete with bookstores, but, when I went to several local independent retailers, I noticed the lack of chairs and tables, and the uncomfortable situation of being a bookstore's lone patron; I wasn't encouraged to sit and loiter, but to buy and get out, which, I realized, is a direct product of bigger bookstores. Smaller, independent stores need business to operate, and therefore economically can't allow for reading without buying. Likewise, independent coffeeshops accost their customers to purchase something, whereas Starbucks doesn't depend on your business - although it's depressing, I think these examples show the inevitably, if not the benefit, of globalization.

Cannavo concedes that "there is no formula" (235) for determining whether natural boundaries

have precedence over social boundaries in defining a region, the first, and probably hardest, step towards regionalism. Regionalism is not a simple solution solely for this fact - determing every individual region's boundaries seems, and may be, impossible. The Hudson Valley provides an expecially difficult example, as evidenced by the wide variety of perspectives and economic diversity we've discussed and studied in this class. As illustrated in the photo above, these two neighboring homes in Newburgh embody the identity crisis of the Hudson Valley. Even if the river itself was logically used as the definitive boundary of the region, as this course would suggest, the surrounding areas are nearly schizophrenic in their diversity - historically, geographically, economically, and so on. Cannavo almost dismisses the challenges presented in the Hudson Valley in the brief section "Reconciling the Particular and the Universal." Parochialism already seems rampant in parts of the Hudson Valley, as the St. Lawrence Cement issue (well-to-do WASPy enivronmentalists versus working class minorities) implies.

Fortunately, the Hudson Valley does have its river; the environment of the region itself therefore has more potential to engage residents, either in collaboration or debate. Tulsa and the surrounding counties have very little environmental issues in common, since Tulsa is an urban environment and the outlying regions swiftly become farms. The Hudson Valley, however, can at least unite over the shared river. The Hudson Valley is, therefore, an established region; it's a very simple start and a basic beginning, but it is, at least, a beginning.

An Important Ideological Difference Between Portland and the Hudson Valley

2007-11-27T20:11:00.000-05:00

First of all, I miss Portland.

Peter Cannavo’s example of Portland as the ideal of federated regionalism provides a remarkable success story that may be difficult to transpire to the Hudson Valley. In my experience, I have always benefited from the strict development laws just by driving beyond the city limits into an expansive region of forests, mountains and clean beaches with little evidence of development. By restricting the production of subdivisions and strip malls growing further and further from the city, Metro has forced the citizens of Portland to live within close proximity to one another, enhancing the sense of community and creating a greener and bike-friendly environment. This effort has by no means solved racial divisions, as the gorgeous Willamette River splits the city into an “East” and “West” side with their own characteristics. Suburbs have sprouted further out along highways, yet my experience in other cities makes Beaverton and Gresham seem like integrated parts of the Portland area. Driving just thirty minutes from Portland’s city center brings about endless possibilities from year-round skiing at Timberline Lodge to wind-surfing in the Columbia River Gorge to camping in the Tillamook State Forest. Few major cities around America can say the same.

The Hudson Valley has been labeled the “backyard” for New Yorkers, a place of striking beauty in need of preservation and even a symbol for American freedom due to its importance in the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, many people living in the Hudson Valley that experienced economic collapse with the fall of industrialization do not hold the same values. The socioeconomic diversity that exists along the Hudson makes its situation unique and much more difficult to resolve. Once the Catskill cement plant falls, what will become of the individuals whose families have lived and worked for generations? It seems ridiculous to force them out with higher property values and the prohibition of jobs which provide them with the greatest opportunities. The difference between the Hudson and Portland is the reliance on developments that have taken place. When Metro adopted its policies, few major corporations or citizens opposed the plans. The ideology behind the establishment of a regional governing body that addresses land use issues has succeeded because Portlanders generally have the same liberal mindset and they were handed the political power.

The same restrictions and preservationist policies may occur in the Hudson Valley if power is handed to Manhattan residents who own cabins they travel to for the weekend. The biggest concern in establishing a regional governing body is the representation that "old-timers" receive. As primary residents, they play a crucial role in the founding and preservation debate that should not be ignored.

The Ill Effect of Regionalism

2007-11-27T17:03:00.000-05:00

In Chapter Six of The Working Landscape, Peter Cannavo stresses the importance of compromise and democratization in determining the future of land-use politics in the United States. Cannavo argues that the decision to develop or preserve open space can only be properly addressed if opposing parties put their competing interests aside and engage in rational conversation over the meaning of the proposed building site. In the same breadth, Cannavo supports further democratization of land-use issues. However, he believes the national government is currently not doing an adequate job of managing American land-use. Cannavo’s remedy is thus the decentralization of the national government’s authority over land-use with the aim of placing more power in the hands of state lawmakers and local political organizations. Cannavo’s goal of balancing founding and preservation is worthy, and his call for businesses and conservationists to reach a common ground is essential to the future sustainability of both world financial markets and the environment. However, the regionalization of politics is not currently a viable course of action.

Developers and conservationists agree that the Bureau of Land Management, the central government organization controlling land-use, does not sufficiently regulate the use of America’s open spaces. Yet, it is hard believe that local politicians would do a better job of deciding how land should and should not be developed. Take the St. Lawrence Cement case as an example. If that decision had been left entirely to Mayor Rick Scalera and the local board of officials, St. Lawrence Cement would have immediately broken ground on a new plant. The environmental and aesthetic concerns associated with the proposed “state-of-the-art” plant are debatable, but the measly sum of money Greenport, New York would have annually received from St. Lawrence Cement was set in stone. Scalera and his political minions were extremely shortsighted in accepting St. Lawrence Cement’s initial offer of $200,000 per year. It took these local politicians far too long to realize a) how small an annual payment of $200,000 was to a company like St. Lawrence Cement and b) how little such a sum would actually do for the community they represented. Moreover, the local political body that drove the decision making process in Greenport was uninformed, its members professed inconsistent opinions, and it was overall severely unorganized. Fortunately, a federal court mediated and eventually ruled on the debate between Greenport’s politicians and St. Lawrence Cement. Although the federal court considered the final anti-plant sentiment of Greenport’s local politicians, these judges recognized that St. Lawrence Cement was attempting to take advantage of Greenport’s location and its citizens. Greenport’s politicians were ineffective and helplessly blinded by their own passions because they were so attached to the land they were representing. They were also in a difficult situation because any decision they made would surely to lead to social unrest. However, the fact remains that they were terrible business negotiators because they nearly sold out Greenport to a powerful, multinational corporation for what would have amounted to a mere $4 million over twenty years!

My point is that regional political bodies will not legislate development better than branches of the national government. The national government employs lawyers and scientists to study the effects of proposed developments from an impartial standpoint, which limits corruption and does more to ensure fair rulings that combine economic and ecological interests. Unfortunately, serving the interests of all parties is not always feasible, but foundation and preservation can be balanced if a central authority ensures that developers and conservationists equally accumulate victories and defeats.

Democratic Deliberation, Regional Governance, and The Portland Example: A Model for the Future of tthe Hudson River Valley

2007-11-26T22:24:00.001-05:00

Cannavo's chapter entitled "The Working Landscape" provides a perfect solution to the policy and governance dilemmas that haunt the Hudson River Vally today. The spread of sprawl and the role that democracy among localities play a very large role in the continued development and the on-going struggle between citizen and state throughout the Hudson River Valley. As I am sitting, writing my term paper about the role that urban sprawl has played in the development of suburbia, I am somewhat inspired that someone has identified a possible solution to the never-ending debate between the nature-destroying, economically-driven conservative and the tree-hugging, hippie environmentalists that are doing everything in their power to put an end to urban development along the Hudson. It is nice to finally hear someone offer a solution. Cannavo fist addresses his space-and-place argument, specially the fact that there can be no continuous harmony about a specific place. New debates about what to do with a certain area and when to enact certain policy changes occur daily. The key that Cannavo suggests is a "commonality surrounding a place" (226). In other words, for debate, conversation, whatever you want to call it to take place - the people engaging in these debates must share the same land so that they can put the best interests of that place at the forefront of policy debates. Cannavo even suggests that "... a shared conversation can ease some of the deepest, most divisive conflicts about a place." (226-227). This is important to our class because it shows that the people engaging in the debates about whether or not urban sprawl should be the future of the Hudson, the people that live or own land in that region should be the ones engaging in the debate...the decisions and conversations should not primarily go through an outside agency or the federal government.

Cannavo suggests that in order to follow this approach, a system of regional governance combined with the local governments in that designated region. Cannavo comments on the ineffectiveness of thousands of small, local governments and these localities could voice more as a collective unit. The Hudson River Valley, for example, would be more successful in attaining mutually accepted policy if the villages, towns, and cities along the River were grouped together to form a larger democratic voice. Cannavo address the development of land in his explanation of regional systems saying, "To address the danger of simply partitioning the landscape into a commodified real estate and sealed-off preserves, citizens and policy makers should adopt a landscape, or regional, perspective, embracing an interrelated, coordinated mosaic of different kinds of places...and balancing founding and preservation across the region." (232). This is the solution! Instead of sectioning off little pieces of the Hudson River Valley for housing developments or re-industrialization, why not create larger areas that encompass these specific desires. Only then can there be a democratic system in which the people of that region decide if and how their land should be divided.

Finally Cannavo address what he calls the model city of a regional approach: Portland. Portland's directly elected, metropolitan government, or "Metro" serves as the foundation of Cannavo's argument. Here is an explicit example of how this regional system would work, and the astounding success it has had. The Hudson River Valley should adopt these guidelines. Although Measurement 37 was a hiccup in the design of Portland's regional government, this hiccup also provides valuable information about the strengths and weaknesses of such a system. The Hudson River Valley can, and should, learn from Portland and adopt a similar plan that includes the strengths of the Portland Metro and solves some of its biggest weakn

Cool it!

2007-11-26T13:31:00.000-05:00

Hudson Valley Sprawl

2007-11-26T13:29:00.000-05:00

Bannerman Castle

2007-11-26T07:13:00.001-05:00

Globalization and IT

2007-11-16T10:33:00.001-05:00

Exporting PCB dredging to Texas

2007-11-15T16:19:00.000-05:00

Urban Decline: New Haven and Chicago

2007-11-14T11:17:00.000-05:00

In his book, Urbanism and Its End, Douglas Rae writes about the decline in American cities. Specifically, Rae studies the city of New Haven, chronicling the city’s rise in the early 20th century and its fall in the second half. Rae disapproves of an idealist views towards urbanization: culturally diverse populations, tight-knit neighborhoods, booming industries, and assortment of small businesses, all of which foster a sense of membership. But that urbanism, Rae argues, is not so ideal. In this chapter Rae chronicles the forces that brought about New Haven’s decline during the postwar period which resulted in extreme poverty, refuse, and societal problems. Rae depicts the six reasons for urban decline – steam, agriculture, railroads, immigration, motor vehicles, and finally, urban electrical grids. These six factors affect production within cities and largely shaped their respective communities in the early 1900’s. The conglomeration of circumstances and unfolding of events, Rae adds:
“There was nothing inevitable or even predictable about this temporary historical alignment: if God, or nature, should elect to run the same history a thousand times, there is no particularly good reason to expect that the same alignment would recur very often, or, at all.”
In addition to New Haven, Chicago is another example of the rise of a city once heralded as the “City of Big Shoulders” and “Hog Butcher to the World” and the subsequent fall. For the first part of the 20th century Chicago was known as the printing center of the nation, a city of steel mills, manufacturer of men’s clothing, machine tools, telephones, farm equipment, and most of all, home to the nation’s meat packing industry. At the turn of the century, Chicago’s meatpacking industry manufactured 82 percent of the nations meat and employed over 25,000 people most of whom were immigrants.
Technological advancements such as units to preserve meat, refrigerated railroad cars, assembly line production, and the construction of federal highways led to the success of the city. New methods of production expanded the city’s marked by enabling processed meat to be shipped to eastern markets. However, Chicago’s rise was short lived and soon the impacts of city growth, increases in land value, and high property taxes led to stockyards’ decline. The result was the collapse of the meatpacking industry in 1955 and subsequently rapid urban decline; unemployment, poverty, crime, and societal tensions.
Therefore, in addition to New Haven the effects of urban decline can be traced throughout history to cities across America. In his book, Rae notes the cycle inherent to urbanization—the rise and fall of urbanization. Cities such as New Haven and Chicago are fundamentally shaped by the realities of capitalism, embodied in Rae’s description of Oscar Billiau and Emil Scheuerman (former small business owners in New Haven) as well Chicago’s meatpacking industry.

Gradual Development: The Wave of the Future

2007-11-14T10:38:00.000-05:00

The Hudson River Valley is to conflict as river is to water. Although the end of industrialization created a cleaner Hudson River, post-industrialization has led to a plethora of problems--socioeconomic and racial divides, unemployment, and communities that are deteriorating as quickly as their town centers’ buildings are--in the cities and towns along the Hudson River. Unfortunately, community division often occurs as a direct result of the river's environmental revival. A prime example of such division is the debate that is currently unfolding over the Hudson Valley housing boom. Contentious discussions are heating up between environmental activists, townsfolk, and real estate developers over the real estate market’s desire to construct approximately 15,000 housing units along the river between Yonkers and Kingston. Disagreements between these three parties are already causing social unrest, and it is ironic that tempers are flaring because the Hudson River is cleaner, quieter, and a more desirable place to live. The environmentalists and river enthusiasts argue the Hudson Valley’s history trumps its economic potential, and, therefore, they do not want to see any development of the river’s banks. Hudson Valley citizens hold mixed views. Some desire environmental conservation and historical preservation, but there is a surprising majority that see real estate development as the definite answer to the Hudson Valley’s post-industrialized economic lull. However, even the citizens that favor development are divided in their opinions of how real estate moguls should add housing units.

Gradual development is the ideal method. It calls for real estate developers to add housing units by renovating existing buildings, such as old factories and plants, that are no longer inhabited by local businesses before constructing “cookie cutter” developments. Although gradual development would not be as profitable as constructing large, new apartment and condominium complexes, real estate developers could still make a great deal of money by re-using these remnants of industrialization. Besides generating necessary tax revenue, gradual development would not change the current aesthetics of the Hudson Valley; developers could actually act as conservationists by renovating abandoned factories and plants instead of constructing new town homes and apartments. State lawmakers embrace housing construction as a means of protecting the environmental future of the Hudson by enforcing strict “green” building codes. Green building would curb point and non-point pollution during the construction process, and constructing a green development would limit both types of pollution in the future. Gradual development would also limit suburban sprawl, a main source of non-point pollution. Suburban sprawl occurs when the population of an area becomes too large too quickly, and the society can no longer depend on local businesses. Gradually developing the banks of the Hudson is a controlled method of increasing population because it won’t add 15,000 new housing units over a short period of time. It is instead a way of using what the Hudson Valley already has to add only what the riverbanks can support. Environmental legislation is necessary, but that is up to the politicians and not real estate developers. Real estate development is the most economically viable option for reviving the Hudson Valley, and it is a misconception that housing developments have to be of the “cookie cutter” variety. A consensus must be reached and all sides have to make concessions because the environmental and economic well-being of the Hudson Valley is at stake.

The Hudson's Future

2007-11-14T08:31:00.000-05:00

As the Hudson valley looks to rebound back into a prosperous, successful area since its decline due to the end of urbanism and industrialization that hit the valley hard, there have been steps to try to help bring industry and money back into the Hudson valley. The Lohr article about I.B.M.'s factory in East Fishkill, NY focuses on how communities as well as companies are trying to bring industry back into the valley. In order to bring life back to the valley large companies like I.B.M., that are opening these large factories, are receiving large amounts of tax credits in order to ensure that I.B.M. opens its factories in the Hudson valley. The hope is that the opening of these factories will bring about employment opportunities to areas that have been in the decline for the last couple of decades. The impact of the I.B.M. factory is that it should impact the regions economy by adding $2 billion over the next ten years. Also, the factory should create more jobs and hopes to employ 3,600 full-time jobs, and not to mention all of the construction workers that will be needed during the construction of these factories. The I.B.M. factories are doing a great job at bringing some jobs back into the Hudson valley as well as helping the economy in the area, but the factories are only a start to improving the Hudson valley. The factories are only creating a limited amount of jobs because factories have become very mechanical so the 30,000 people that were once needed to run the factories are no longer needed and there is a larger need for the limited amount of skilled labor positions. The East Fishkill region took a hard hit to its economy when I.B.M. closed its factory and left in 1993, but the new factory has done a lot to help the economy by attracting private investment and skilled workers. The factory has helped lower unemployment to 4 percent and rising housing prices is showing the region is on the rebound. The East Fishkill region is a success story as of now about how an economy has benefited from the introduction of a factory that has brought about many employment opportunities as well as stimulating the regions economy.

A New Vision for the Hudson River

2007-11-14T07:35:00.000-05:00

In his chapter on patterns of industrialization and regional development, Scott outlines modern patterns for industrialization and specifically examines the technological-institutional structure that developed in silicon valley. This chapter becomes valuable to a discussion about the future of the Hudson River when compared with the articles by Forderaro and Lohr. These two articles explain future plans to bring greater wealth into towns along the Hudson River Valley. The Lohr article focuses on high-tech industry that is moving into the Hudson Valley and Forderaro explains the new luxury homes that seek to increase tax revenues to old industrial towns. Scott’s article indicates that if high-tech industry is the economic future of the Hudson, then industrialization of the area must occur in unprecedented fashion. Furthermore, the conceptions of place among inhabitants of the Hudson River Valley makes any new development more difficult.

Scott asserts that "flexible manufacturing" -characteristic of high tech industry in Southern California- "occurs in parts of Western Europe and North America where traditions of fordist-style industrialization are at best weakly developed" (31-32). Scott defines fordist mass production as "large-scale assembly and process industry", which seems to characterize the traditional industrial towns along the Hudson River. In other words, according to Scott, the Hudson River cannot develop into a center for flexible manufacturing in the same fashion as Silicon Valley simply because it has an established tradition of fordist mass production. However, the Lohr article clearly indicates that with the help of substantial government subsidies high-tech industry is developing along in towns along the Hudson River. The role of this kind of government involvement is also discussed by Scott. Scott asserts that the movement of flexible development to forefront of capitalist development occurs along with privatization (32). Once again, the development of high-tech industry along the Hudson River occurs in opposition to Scott’s traditional method of development. In my opinion, the only way to reconcile Scott’s patterns of development with the development along the Hudson River is to say that the industry developing there is a hybrid of old-style fordist manufacturing and newer flexible manufacturing. The goods may be similar to those produced in Southern California, but New York State’s high-tech industry is being constructed, in unprecedented fashion, similarly to fordist mass production with high levels of government involvement.

High-tech industry could bring a large boost to the Hudson River Valley’s economy, but the Lohr article indicates that these jobs may not benefit the blue-collar poor in the region. These individuals could get a boost from the housing developments that are springing up along the river (discussed in Forderaro’s article) and the service jobs that would accompany an influx of wealthy landowners. However, groups like Scenic Hudson are slowing this development because of their conception of the Hudson river. Their environmentalist efforts focus on limiting urban sprawl and maintaining the valley’s natural beauty. I agree that environmental concerns are important in any kind of development, and Scenic Hudson is probably benefitting the region by exploring these new plans, but I think that it would be irresponsible of any group to stop development in this region. These two articles helped to illustrate a future in which the poverty of many Hudson River towns can be alleviated by the development of high-tech industry and high-end housing.

Breathing New Life into the Hudson Valley

2007-11-14T00:31:00.000-05:00

What does the future hold for the Hudson Valley? After reading both the Lohr and Foderaro articles, I was pleased to see that the technology industry and big housing money might be finding its way to the region- positive news compared to the depressing outlook of recent class readings. While some voice concerns that a luxury housing boom would alienate local residents in mainly blue-collar towns such as Sleepy Hollow, others seem to welcome the idea as a fresh start for the post-industrial region.

Lohr's article discusses the benefits of making the Hudson Valley the next Silicon Valley, specifically citing IBM's microchip plant in East Fishkill, NY. This is a win-win in more ways than one. Not only is the production of these items not being outsourced overseas, but it has the potential to bring new companies, communities, and people to the region. The development of this new community, in tandem with a housing boom could serve as the financial stimulus that the Hudson Valley needs to jumpstart its economy again.

Concerns over the clash of new townhouses/condos and unique existing homes are legitimate, however if the demand for housing become great enough, and pressure by organizations such as Scenic Hudson continues, perhaps new projects can be designed to better fit in with their surroundings. Best said by Lowell Thing, former president of Friends of Historic Kingston, "Gradualism is a good thing in cities and towns because they are complex environments. When you try to do things in one fell swoop, the results are unpredictable and often disastrous." Something tells me that even gradual change may be opposed in the Hudson Valley, even if it is the one thing that could bring the region back to the forefront of progress...

Booze, Birds, and a Barber

2007-11-13T23:52:00.000-05:00

As far as I can tell, change is good. At the "Muppet Diplomacy" lecture this past Monday, Sesame Workshop CEO Gary Knell stated the obvious but still disturbing fact that our children, and our children's children, will grow up in a world that never knew what life was like before cell phones, Blackberrys, iPods, and wireless internet, to name just a few. Consequently, the organization is hoping to infiltrate the newer, faster forms of media by releasing "alphabet-promoting" podcasts. Technologically, nothing could slow electronic progress beyond the actual apocalypse, and companies will always strive to fix what isn't broken in an unending attempt to improve and make our lives better and faster. That being said, "high-tech" companies are far from assured to improve any community, as cited in the example of the IBM chip production in Lohr's New York Times article - factories will come and factories will go, regardless of what the factory is making.
Lohr's objectivity in his article, "New York Bets on High-Tech to Aid Upstate," made choosing a definitive stance difficult for me, though I want to point out a frightening detail that seems to have been glossed over - these microchips, and this overwhelming wealth of nanotechnological knowledge, are being used for video game consoles. The article does not state whether video games are the primary users of these chips (I certainly hope not), and I don't mean to harp on a detail, but, from my own ethical standpoint, how can this be a good investment for the Hudson Valley, or any community? What message does that send about the state of American culture, and, more importantly, future generations of Americans? Without proselytizing, I can't see any kind of benefit from promoting NFL Madden or even Wii Bowling, especially with the current onslaught of childhood obesity. And there is some cyclical irrationality to harmful (at least to me) entertainment being produced by highly-skilled, PhD-wielding workers.
I admit my own bias against the video game industry because I fail to see the sense and benefit in it - but, given the aforementioned lightning-paced rate of technological development, I feel we can assume that Xboxes will, eventually, be as absurd as the "caged bird retailer" frequently mentioned in Rae's Creative Destruction. One could argue that business is business, and therefore any business is good, but if we taper the argument to the Hudson Valley specifically, the right and wrong of "high-tech" industries becomes clearer.
Setting nostalgia aside, sleepy towns and mom-and-pop diners are quickly becoming a thing of the past. As we discussed briefly in class a few weeks ago, there are some psychological benefits to globalization - the argument that a Border's in Chicago and a Border's in Albany are still going to have a Seattle's Best Coffee, and more than likely the coffee will taste pretty much the same, and the "living-room" feel will also carry across the states. However, the Hudson Valley has proven its worth beyond sheer size and available space - historical, geographic, literary, and purely natural significance are all present - leading to continual debate about development and change that wouldn't be as present in, say, Tulsa Oklahoma. Unfortunately, the cultural wealth of the Hudson Valley is just that - cultural, not monetary (how much money do you think the Olana Estate brings in versus the Wal-Mart in the next town over?). In Foderado's article, housing developments are largely contested on the basis of losing "quirky character" to "hundreds of cookie-cutter housing units." I agree with Mr. Thing in prescribing a return to the past, in renovating and restoring some of the Hudson houses and buildings. The Hudson Valley may become a fantastic backyard for New York City, but, truthfully, isn't it already? And, if not, the trend of urban sprawl will certainly force it to be, sooner or later.

An Unfortunate Effect of the End of Urbanism

2007-11-13T23:01:00.000-05:00

I have always been a firm believer in self-sustainability. I don’t mind paying a little bit more to support a mom-and-pop shop that has maintained itself for years. I understand the importance of buying local goods, reducing the polluting effects of mass transportation overseas and keeping money in the regional economy. Without clear and distinct lines between the wealthy and less affluent, a sense of community grows because people work together and rely on one another for their survival. In Douglas Rae’s City, Joseph Perfetto contributes his office supply store to the community where demand is high enough for him to make a profit. He has worked in his store for seven decades, living a modest yet stable life selling “transparent tape and typewriter ribbons.” The city around him appears to have stayed the same, yet Perfetto has recently struggled due to the end of the era of urbanism. The city has disappeared little by little, its superficial similarities falsely alluding to a preserved community, yet the people and close relationships no longer exist.
Globalization and the end of urbanism have brought about much success in America, yet their consequences have torn apart communities and made the country reliant on others for its survival. Increased productivity and cheaper imports have increased the buying capacity of American citizens, but shops like Perfetto’s that bring towns and people together to support one another have vanished. Walmart’s cheaper prices draw in customers, and shops that sustained themselves on simple products are unable to manage. Henceforth, the sense of community is many towns has dissolved from the mass movement of economic focus beyond the city limits.
Portland, I believe, has stood up to this threat. I can still go to Jim and Patty’s Coffeehouse (a one-store franchise) and share a conversation with the owners while devouring their famous coffeecake. To Jim and Patty, the focus of their business is not to bring in more money, but to bring neighbors together to share a social drink. Thankfully, some community still exists.

Housing Boom in The Hudson River Valley: A Double Edged Sword

2007-11-13T21:27:00.001-05:00

Development along the Hudson has existed for 200+ years, but the large and expensive housing developments that have been constructed along the river in recent years have caused many residents and activists to panic. Why is there this uneasy feeling about development along the Hudson in the 21st century? Lisa Foderaro, in herarticle "Rooms With Views Replace Factories on Hudson's Banks," first examines the reasons for the recent housing boom along the Hudson. Foderaro talks about the recent cleanup of the Hudson, coupled with the "...empty lots created by vanished factories, a housing boom, the proliferation of suburban developers, a willingness by local officials to embrace a new source of tax revenues, and a crystallizing Hudson Valley consciousness - have come together in recent years to generate interest in building and living along the Hudson." (1). This is important because it shows that the efforts by many poeple to clean up the river and its surroundings, as well as widely available, river front property has made the Hudson River Valley much more attractive in recent years. Many people, however, still oppose the housing boom. One problematic aspect of these large-scale developments are their size. Foderaro warns that some plans call for the creation of villages within villages, as well as developments in Sleepy Hollow and Kingston will create 1,250 housing units and 2,182 housing units respectively (1). These are huge developments, and they cover large areas of land. The Sleepy Hollow development alone will cover 100 acres. These developments, however, have stimulated the growth of cities along the Hudson that are still feeling the harsh effects of the end of the industrial revolution. Foderaro comments on this saying that, "Elected officials have raised concerns about the density of the plans, but have, for the most part, embraced them, particularly in communities that have felt the sting of departing industries" (2). Housing in most cases, therefore, is replacing the role that industrialization played in the economic development of the Hudson River Valley. Foderaro uses Yonkers as a case study that displays the potentially positive effects of certain housing developments explaining that citizens are pleased that these housing units are being created and that their view of the Hudson will not be compormised in the process (3). It seems as though these developments are a double-edged sword. On the one hand they are massive, they are extremely expensive, and they damage the majesty and beauty that many people associate with the Hudson River Valley. One the other hand, these developments are the source of economic growth and development in the wake of the industrial revolution. The real key to maintaining a good relationship between building company and residents along the Hudson seems to be a certain sense of respect. Residents do not want to compromise the beauty of the Hudson and building companies want to capitalize on the massive lots that are left over from the factories that existed during the industrial revolution. If the two sides could meet on some sort of regulations and policies, the development along the Hudson could be both economically beneficial, as well as acceptable to the current residents and activists that live in the Hudson River Valley. The government will play a large role in the continued developmet of the Hudson because the government will need to establish stricter policies that appeal to both the villages along the Hudson and the building companies that want to build housing developments along the Hudson. Housing, according to Foderaro, is the key to the contemporary, economic success of the Hudson. This success, however, could be severely restricted if these two sides cannot meet halfway.

The last mile

2007-11-13T15:14:00.000-05:00

OpEd by environmentalists arguing that NYS should require utilities to retrofit old plants with cooling towers.

Metro Nation

2007-11-12T11:09:00.000-05:00

Research project at Brookings Institution about the economic significance of metropolitan areas. Related to our class this week.

Wastewater Treatment Plants: An Issue of Environmental Justice?

2007-11-07T07:47:00.000-05:00

Levinton’s book The Hudson River Estuary he attributes improvements in the Hudson’s water quality over the past 50 years to the implementation of Wastewater Treatment Plants such as the North River Water Pollution Control Plant (NRPCP) in West Harlem. The North River facility eliminates pollutants such as sewage from used water before it is discharged into the mouth of the Hudson. Today, the plant provides wastewater treatment for hundreds of thousands of New York City residents who live and work within the west side of Manhattan. The North River facility treats roughly 125 million gallons of wastewater during dry weather and is designed to process up to 340 million gallons a day during high levels of precipitation. However, while the plant is an example of a significant environmental success it can conversely be viewed as an issue of distributive justice.

The issue of Distributive justice and the influence of social class on environmentalism surrounds many issues involving the Hudson River. While wastewater treatment plants can be viewed as environmental successes they can conversely be viewed as environmental burdens to neighboring communities—such as in the case of the North River facility. The $1.3 billion dollar plant, constructed on the Hudson River across the street from river view apartments, was first installed in 1986. In effect, the plant eliminated the daily outpouring of raw sewage into the Hudson River for the first time in New York City’s history. Since its construction, members of the community have complained about noxious odors emanating from the Plant, which they describe as resembling, “the smell of rotten eggs.” (www.umich.edu) In addition to the foul odor, after the opening of the plant neighboring residents complained of itchy eyes, respiratory ailments, and shortness of breath. (www.umich.edu)

Similar to the blasting of the Palisades, the North River Plant is an example of how communities can mobilize around environmental concerns. Initially, city planners chose to construct the North River Plant on 72nd street along the Hudson River. However, due to adamant community resistance, the site was rejected and the City Planning Commission decided to relocate to its current location 137th street in West Harlem.

While the Hudson River became cleaner, local residents surrounding North River Plant complained of diminished air quality. Residents complained of noxious fumes, rancid odors, and several health concerns such as respiratory ailments and shortness of breath. In addition to such health concerns residents suffered decreases in their property values. Therefore, while all of these factors can be viewed as an ultimate success in a newer, cleaner Hudson the North River Plant still poses the burdens of the issue of distributive justice for its local residents.

Calm in Calamity

2007-11-07T02:22:00.000-05:00

ANOTHER PAST POST

Like countless New Yorkers, Wendy Bounds was displaced on September 11th, 2001. Bounds was forced from her home and lost countless possessions, but she weaves a remarkably heartwarming story in her book, Little Chapel on the River. Bounds’ most impressive characteristic is her composure, which shows readers how to properly react in the face of any life altering event. Bounds was merely blocks from the World Trade Center when the Twin Towers fell, but she stayed collected in the midst of such confusion and physical danger; Bounds remains calm and helps distressed citizens by distributing Gatorade and water from the back of a delivery truck instead of jumping into the river, which she admits was tempting. Bounds does not give into fear or her emotions during the attacks. Rather, she stays composed and realistic by helping others and attempting to move forward with her life as quickly as possible. In reading Little Chapel on the River, one realizes that Bounds’ resolve helps her endure the violence and heartbreak of September 11th, as well as enables her to cope with the way in which her life irrevocably changes following the attacks. Bounds approaches her living situation in Garrison, New York with the same poise that she displays on September 11th. Although Bounds immediately falls into the good graces of Jim Guinan, her relationship with Jim’s daughter, Maggie, takes longer to develop. Although Bounds admits she was afraid of Maggie, she does not become defensive towards Maggie. Instead of disliking Maggie for her fiery demeanor and suspicious behavior, Bounds is patient with Maggie and tries to understand the hardships Maggie has endured. Throughout the book Bounds’ patience allows her to cope with less than desirable circumstance, and find a new place in the post-9/11 world. Bounds’ composure finds her a new home, new friends, and ultimately a new family that shows her “what really matters most.”

Property and Prosperity

2007-11-07T02:20:00.000-05:00

ANOTHER PAST POST

Human beings’ natural drive to attain property has driven history since the beginning of time. That said, it is not surprising that the history of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century New York was defined by its citizens desire to possess as much property as possible. New York changed a great deal following the American Revolution. Between 1786 and 1820, the population of Manhattan increased by 100,000 climbing from 23,000 to 123,000. The fur trade declined as cotton and flour became New York’s most profitable domestic imports. Clearly, Manhattan had become America’s most important port, and New York was now the financial center of the post-revolutionary Union; the founding of the New York Stock Exchange, the Bank of New York, and the Manhattan Company ensured that the bulk of America’s capital flowed through the banks of the Hudson. However, Manhattan’s prosperity was linked to New York’s new capital, Albany. Although Albany was first and foremost the political center of New York, the upstate city was securing its high rank in the financial world because New York’s wealthiest families lived in the Hudson River Valley upstate of Manhattan and secured their assets in Albany’s three prominent banks—the Bank of New York, the New York State National Bank, and the Mechanics and Farmers Bank. It was the patriarchs of these families—the Van Rensselear’s, Philipse’s, Livingston’s, and Van Derbilt’s—who built New York State through financial risks driven by an aspiration to own as much property as possible. Yet, Tom Lewis reminds readers that property to these men was not confined to land. Intellectual rights (see Gibbons vs. Ogden) were as important as acres, and the trading of human beings as personal property was also considered a thriving enterprise. The yearning to own consumed and inspired New York’s most ambitious men. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that everything from marriage to political power in New York was rooted in the attainment of property.

River of Fortunes

2007-11-07T02:17:00.000-05:00

THIS IS A PAST POST THAT I WAS UNABLE TO POST BEFORE BECAUSE MY ACCOUNT WAS MESSED UP. HOWEVER, PROFESSOR EISMEIER WANTED ME TO RE-POST IT.

In chapter eight, “River of Fortunes,” Tom Lewis writes about the men who commercialized Albany and New York City, as well as numerous Hudson Valley towns and cities between these two booming metropolises. Although the shipping industry had declined by 1861 in Hudson Valley cities, such as Hudson, the rise of the manufacturing industry preserved the commercial value Hudson Valley real estate. Iron manufacturing in Troy, Hudson, and Poughkeepsie made these cities important centers of commerce, and their inhabitants became increasingly wealthy. However, Lewis’ eighth chapter is interesting because he explains how a rift formed in 1861 between New York City and the cities located on the Hudson River North of Manhattan. Economic growth in New York City had not shown signs of decline for centuries until the prospect of disunion became reality. New York City’s barons and merchants had profited so much from their investments in the cotton trade, which was of course driven by slavery, that they forgot the principles of liberty and diversity that Manhattan was originally founded upon. New York City’s most powerful men, such as Mayor Fernando Wood, could not see the liberal motivation for fighting the South because they refused to look past their southern investments, and they thus rallied against president-elect Abraham Lincoln. On the contrary, Hudson Valley citizens living North of New York City supported Lincoln. The support of Lincoln in places like Hudson and Poughkeepsie demonstrates how vastly different the ideals of people living North of Manhattan were during this time period, which explains the moral divide between New York City and the northern Hudson Valley. While Mayor Wood spoke out against Lincoln and disregarded the moral worth of enslaved blacks, Matthew Vassar used his amassed wealth to build a college for women, who were then considered intellectually inferior to men. By chronicling the Albany-New York City leg of Lincoln’s 1861 journey to Washington, Lewis reveals a great deal about the accomplishments and well-founded priorities of those who lived on the Hudson River between New York’s two most economically prominent cities. In 1861, economics did not beget benevolence in Manhattan.

The Conundrum of Non-Point Pollution

2007-11-07T02:13:00.000-05:00

Jeffrey Levinton demonstrates the prominent roles point source pollution and non-point pollution play in contaminating the Hudson River. Point source pollutants are the manufactured nutrients, sewage solids, and toxic waste that emanate from particular manmade structures on the Hudson River, such as publicly owned sewage facilities and industrial complexes. These manmade facilities release pollutants directly into the Hudson River, and, as a result, federal legislators easily pass laws that regulate point source pollution; point source pollution is thus somewhat preventable because environmentalists and politicians know exactly where the pollutants come from. Unlike point source pollution, non-point pollution comes from many different sources. Non-point pollutants include fertilizers and insecticides from farms, oil and toxins from industrial waste, sediment from construction sites, acid runoff from old mines, atmospheric deposition, and even bacteria and nutrients from livestock and humans. These natural and man-made pollutants are naturally dispersed by water runoff from rain and snowmelt. The ground then absorbs the polluted runoff, which contaminates groundwater and the river estuary. The EPA condemns non-point pollutants as the leading contaminant of human drinking water, and estimates that non-point pollution also has an extremely detrimental effect on the Hudson River Estuary’s wildlife, specifically the region’s fisheries.
However, the main problem with non-point pollution is that we all contribute to it regardless of our respective levels of environmental consciousness; humans release non-point pollutants into the ecosystem by simply going to the bathroom. The unchecked, widespread production of non-point pollutants is not the only reason this form of pollution is so dangerous to our environment. The term “non-point pollution” implies pollutants are dispersed in random locations by natural forces, which makes it is almost impossible for politicians to enact effective legislation against non-point pollution. Legal regulation of non-point pollution is difficult to enforce because politicians have no distinguishable producer/polluter to blame. Additionally, one must question whether non-point pollution should be handled by state or federal legislation. The 1972 Clean Water Act, which was passed by the federal government, offers some protection against non-point pollution because it requires regular testing of the Hudson River’s toxicity levels, but it does nothing to curb the process of non-point pollution.
The shortcomings of the Clean Water Act in regards to non-point pollution come as no surprise because federal legislation is not the correct means of action against non-point pollution. Rather, local action is necessary if we want to stop this destructive form of pollution. State level politics is vital to this fight, and town councils also have a significant role to play. The Hudson Valley needs stricter building laws that mandate “greener” construction sites, restrictions on pesticide use, detoxification of abandoned mines, and limitations on urban sprawl, which would decrease runoff following inclement weather. Yet, local politics can only go so far. Like other environmental movements, curbing non-point pollution in the Hudson River Valley rests in the hands of local communities. If farmers want to see environmental change, they will re-evaluate their use of pesticides. Similarly, residents further downstate will fight against suburban sprawl if they wish to decrease the amount of toxic runoff that reaches the river, as well as pollutes local reservoirs. The Hudson River depends on us to stop denying our responsibilities to our environment and to one another.

Allen Mill Incident

2007-11-07T00:46:00.001-05:00

Recovering from PCB Contamination

2007-11-07T00:10:00.000-05:00

Following the release of multiple scientific investigations, people began to understand and accept the detrimental effects of PCBs on aquatic and human life. Studies have shown that the chemicals and “bio-accumulating compounds” affect animals by causing “reproductive dysfunction, impaired development, reduced growth, and alterations in biochemical processes” (353). In humans, scientists have labeled PCBs as possible carcinogens and investigated effects such as liver damage and “impaired human immune systems” (352). Animals further up the food chain face the worst consequences because eating more in terms of mass exposes them to the chemicals at higher concentrations.
General Electric ceased dumping PCBs in 1977, and evidence has shown that concentrations in fish have decreased since that time, only subsisting due to the gradual mixing of the sediment on the river floor. Many environmentalists have suggested that General Electric should pay millions for the dredging of the river floor, to decrease the amount of contaminants entering the water and reduce the risk of another Allen Mill incident that could occur under extreme weather conditions. However, the amount of money to pay for dredging seems unreasonable for the few benefits that would be achieved. First of all, ecosystems would be damaged throughout the dredging process, with increased turbidity and noise that would force wildlife away. A possibility also exists that dredging could disturb the sediment and release too many PCBs. Active remediation may not be the best solution for the river. The “natural dissipation of pollutants” is reliably steady and decreasing. Within 100 years, PCB concentrations in fish will reach normal levels and sediment will no longer contaminate the river to the slightest degree. Natural healing is the solution.

Point vs. Nonpoint Pollution

2007-11-06T21:37:00.000-05:00

Both point and nonpoint sources of pollution present challenges in the modern day Hudson River. Point sources are well-defined sources of pollution, and in the case of the Hudson this includes sewage and industrial outflow pipes, and other on shore facilities that pump material into the river. Nonpoint sources are less defined and could include runoff from industrial, residential, agricultural, or urban areas. The challenges presented by each source type of pollution are unique, in that they must be addressed and enforced through different means.

Point sources are more specific and identifiable, and can therefore be regulated through legislative action (water discharge quality standards, pollution limits, discharge rate limitations). As most point sources are either industrial or municipal, setting restrictions through legislative means is practical and simple in concept, however this same legislative system can bog down these actions with appeals and time-consuming studies and impact statements. When examining BOD5 (biological oxygen demand) levels, which are are associated with pollution input, point sources account for approximately 36% of total input. In comparison, nonpoint sources account for approximately 44%.

Nonpoint sources present their own challenges, specifically they are harder to regulate due to their unspecified origin. While it is feasible to trace the source of runoff contaminants, it is not practical on a large-scale. It is possible to create laws restricting actions that contribute to runoff pollution (such as agricultural or residential over-fertilizing), however enforcing these laws is not always practical or effective. Where I'm from- the Chesapeake Bay watershed area- actions such as legislation regarding agricultural waste and residential-aimed public service announcements have been used to combat rising runoff pollution in the Bay. What the chicken industry does with it's animal waste is now being reevaluated (shipped out of the watershed area as opposed to being spread on watershed-area fields), and residents are urged to be sparing with their lawn fertilizer and to apply it in the fall (as opposed to the rainy spring season). The significant pollution contributions to the Hudson from nonpoint sources should serve as a reminder that not all water quality issues are the fault of industrial and municipal organizations; rather, we as citizens share the burden and should continue to play our part in maintaining suitable water quality in the future.

PCB's: Threat or No Threat?

2007-11-06T21:13:00.000-05:00

Chapter 24 of the book The Hudson River Estuary, begins with a startling statistic: "From the latter 1940's until 1977, the General Electric Corporation discharged an estimated 200,000 to 1.3 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River..." (349). This is a staggering number, but the effects of these PCBs were not known until decades later. Are these chemicals harmful to people? Have these chemicals had an adverse effect on the human and animal development along the Hudson? Levinton first addresses these questions by stating two main points: 1) PCB levels of fish in the Hudson are well above those levels that are believed to harm humans and 2) That PCBs have caused harm along the Hudson based on the extremely high concentrations in certain areas (352). Levinton then goes on to describe the possible effects that PCBs have on humans which are not limited to developmental and learning disorders, impairing human immune systems, and low birth rates. Although the GE plant does not currently PCBs into the Hudson, the levels of concentration that have accumulated over the years have been harmful to the human and animal life that have been exposed to the river. In fact, PCBs that have been ingested by fish can directly affect the health of those humans who eat the contaminated fish. This is one of the main connections that Levinton makes between the high levels of PCBs and the exposure and effects on humans. Levinton points out, however, that determining the levels of PCB exposure that are harmful to people can be very difficult, and that these risks need to be judged by probabilities. He talks about the probability that someone will be affected by PCBs, based on the number of fish that person eats. The FDA set an acceptable level of PCB-exposed fish two decades ago, but this number has changed due to the increase in the number of fish people eat worldwide (352).

I think that Levinton makes some interesting points in his chapter about the effects of the GE dumping of PCBsPCBs have on humans, but his main point is that the high levels of PCBs along the Hudson have and could continue to cause harm to humans who are exposed to the Hudson. According to Levinton, "the large quantity of PCBs residing in the sediments of the Upper Hudson River are not permanently sequestered, but rather are currently leaking back into the water, comprising the largest single source of PCBs to the river. Even though New York and GE have cleaned up their acts, the effects of the dumping are and will be continued to be felt by the animal and human lives that come into contact with the Hudson. PCBs are harmful to humans, but stopping the dumping of PCBs is no longer the only solution to the problem. New York must come up with a way that protects its citizens from the leaking PCBs in the sediments of the Hudson, because prolonged contamination could result in harmful effects for generations to come. Levinton even suggests that a plan to tackle the PCBs in the sediments of the Hudson is the answer to prolonged contamination, and although this would be costly, the cost of human lives is greater. People will feel the negative effects of PCB exposure as long as the existence of PCBs in the sediment of the Hudson continues. The problem of PCB contamination has not been solved, and the effects of GE's dumping can still be felt almost 30 years after it stopped.

I am not confident that we now have systems in place that would prevent this from happening with some new product. I think that the fact that we did not understand the effects of PCBs on humans and wildlife along the Hudson proves that we will not know about another potentially dangerous product begins to emerge in the waters of the Hudson or another body of water. The fact of the matter is that until we as people feel the negative effects of something, we will not do anything to protect ourselves from another product. Global warming is a perfect example. People as a whole were polluting the environment through industrialization, littering, and CO2 emissions from the early 20th century until about 10-15 years ago. It was not until we saw the negative effects of global warming until we decided that recycling, using less energy, hybrid cars, and other environmentally friendly ideas were important to our future. Whatever the next crisis, the appropriate system to research and determine the effects of this crisis will not come into effect until we feel the negative effects of the crisis. Although we have advanced exponentially in technology since GE was dumping PCBs, people feel no real sense of urgency until other people begin to get sick or die.

A Bicycle Industrial Complex

2007-11-04T23:15:00.000-05:00

Would this be good for Hudson Valley?

An Erie Canal in Space?

2007-11-03T04:29:00.000-04:00

Nature Conservancy Becomes a Logger

2007-11-01T11:27:00.000-04:00

Cementing our Future: The Anti-Environmental Opposition to the SLC

2007-10-31T12:36:00.001-04:00

Stopping the Greenport cement plant was an effort led by a grassroots team of environmentalists concerned about the plant’s adverse impacts on the local environment as well as on it’s threat to the public health. In her book Stopping the Plant: The St. Lawrence Cement Controversy and the Battle for Quality of Life in the Hudson Valley Miriam D. Silverman celebrates the stopping of the plants as a major environmental victory. However, opposition was based largely upon the self-interest of local residents who viewed the SLC as an eyesore rather than a state-of-the-art facility.

NIMBY is an acronym for “Not In My Backyard” and is most often heard in discussions of waste management such as landfills. This term can similarly be applied to cement manufacturing. Plant opponents would respond issue is not a matter of NIMBYism but a concern for environmentalism.

According to Table 4.1 the advanced technologies of the SLC would in most cases significantly reduce levels of pollution and other harmful byproducts emitted during the cement making process. In addition to reducing pollution levels the new facility is far more energy efficient and requires less water to operate, none of which would be pulled from the Hudson.

In a debate such as the one over the SLC individuals should act to create the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. The long-term benefits of switching to newer, more advanced, and ultimately cleaner technologies that would decrease atmospheric pollutants for future generations far outweigh the minimal noise pollution of operation and the eyesore the facility would create. In this regard opposition to the SLC is morally and even more importantly environmentally unjustifiable.

The Potential Environmental Benefit of the Plant

2007-10-31T08:41:00.000-04:00

Miriam Silverman’s book Stopping the Plant explains the controversy that embroiled Columbia County from 1999 to 2005, concerning St. Lawrence Cement Company’s (SLC) plans to build a new cement plant along the banks of the Hudson river. The book is successful in that it objectively states the arguments of each group. In fact, as I read the book I found myself identifying with the arguments put forth by SLC. It seems that modern environmentalism is overly sentimental, placing too much focus on aesthetics and not actual environmental health. In many ways, this was true of the SLC debate.

Silverman outlines the debate by citing three main arguments against the plant. First and foremost, opponents of the plant were concerned with, "the potential visual impact on the beauty of the Hudson" (7). The second point of opposition included the potential adverse effects on tourism and real estate and the third dealt with the actual environmental health of the region. In my opinion, the environmental health of the Hudson River was not the central issue in this debate. Silverman devotes an entire chapter to discussing "aesthetic" and it seems that the opposition’s main concern was that the plant would look bad. The plant may not have been beneficial to the environmental health of Columbia County in particular, but the Hudson river, and the world in general, would have benefitted from the construction of this plant. Silverman points out that SLC was not ignoring environmental concerns (chapter 3). On the contrary, SLC was very concerned with environmental regulations and while the plant may have introduced new pollutants to Columbia County, the discontinuation of production at the older Catskill plant would have decreased overall emissions in the Hudson River. Silverman is very clear in illustrating that this is not a classic example of environmental activism, where the corporation stresses economic gain at the expense of the environment. Both sides argued for the environmental benefit of their particular point of view, and while the opposition did raise very real environmental concerns about potential plant emissions they failed to see the national implications their actions.

The national implications of this debate are illustrated in the first few pages of the book. Silverman explains SLC’s argument that a new plant would decrease America’s dependence on imported cement by 7% (6). Many foreign companies that produce our cement are not held to the same stringent regulations as American companies and as such, increased domestic production of cement helps to cut down on pollution in general. Furthermore, with the modern concerns of greenhouse gasses a decrease in the need to transport goods across large distances can be seen as environmental friendly. What frustrates me about this debate is that environmentalist rhetoric was used by the opposition when in fact both sides had legitimate claim to environmentalism. There is a particular example in the text that illustrates my point. Many residents of Columbia County expressed concern about the visual effects of SLC’s proposed 406 ft smokestack and the image of this smokestack was important to gathering support for the opposition. The roll of a smokestack is to help decrease emission of harmful pollutants that cause acid rain and to elevate any escaping pollutants away from humans. Silverman alludes to this in discussing the debate over its length (16). The opposition used the stack as a point of concern and a powerful image in their environmental activism. This is ironic because in many ways, the smokestack is illustrative of successes in American environmentalism. Smokestacks are only needed because of the strict emission controls placed on American companies. This particular example is indicative of a much larger point; the opposition to SLC’s proposed plant called themselves environmentalists, but their activism may not have benefitted the greater environmental good.

The Subjectivity of "Beauty"

2007-10-31T00:12:00.000-04:00

After seeing the diagram on page 81 and the statistic that a 1999 explosion from a Holcim Plant Site damaged Ada, Oklahoma, I tried to dig up some more information to see whether Ada's story matched the Hudson's. I found this quotation from notoxicburning.com, complaining about Holcim Cement's lax environmental policies from a November 2006 update:
"Three of those are classified as "high-priority violators" by EPA, including a Holcim cement plant in Ada, Oklahoma, which was fined $321,000 in 2005 for violating its pollution limits more than 1,000 times in a single year. Despite repeated requests, Holcim has declined to share emissions data from its Oklahoma cement plant, leading one to believe that this information would be detrimental to Holcim’s Trident proposal."
Suspiciously, I could find no mention of the Ada plant on the official Holcim website, though Holcim was once an Associate Member of the Environmental Federation of Oklahoma, according to 2005 records.
I also found this, though I can't locate the date on it, which also references the Ada incident: http://www.friendsofhudson.com/research/overview.pdf

I wanted to reiterate what I said last week in class, and which Silverman speaks of in Stopping the Plant. I argued that aesthetics was a major factor in environmental planning (building a cement plant on the Hudson, playground for weekending Manhattanites, versus building one on the Arkansas river, which is dry 90% of the time anyway). Silverman illustrated that the division is much starker and deeper than pretty vs. ugly; rich vs. poor plays a large part in development as well. The Hudson Valley and Tulsa are somewhat similar in their seemingly stark economic divisions - the Vanderbilt Mansion, equivalent to the midtown mansions built by 1900s oil barons in Tulsa, next to honest, lower-class towns like Garrisson, equivalent to the West side of Tulsa, across the river and surrounded by refineries. Ada is not a tourist attraction, by far, but, as Silverman repeats, working-class individuals don't care about the view, not through ignorance, but because they can't afford to care. Environmentalism certainly is a luxury of money and time; hybrid cars are expensive and sorting through the recycling bin is not a quick process. I don't think it's coincidence that any information about the Ada incident is buried somewhere on the internet while stopping the St. Lawrence plant merits an entire book. Ironically, I did find a message board post of a woman asking if anyone knew of cement companies in Ada, as she and her husband were moving there. Someone responded with the Holcim phone number. The post dates to this past August.

Not to play my own devil's advocate, but I also wondered whether cement plants and other industrial structures could ever be considered an improvement to the landscape. There's probably no way to prove this idea, although I was reminded of the book Professor Eismeier showed us earlier in the semester defending the "Hudson Valley Ruins." I agree that the Hudson Valley, though not officially recognized by the National Parks Service as a National Park (which is absurd), has too much aesthetic and historical value to lose to a cement plant, but there are probably areas where industrialization can be considered beautiful. I personally find some kind of beauty in images like these: http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y55/silverbeam/CSM%20Blog/powerlines.jpg
http://www.europavalve.com/images/oil-refinery-crop2.jpg

Overall - and I think this is what Silverman struggled with - the end result was neither good nor bad, right nor wrong, and this moral ambiguity may have its core at the subjectivity of aesthetics.

Personal Interests in the Environmental Movements

2007-10-30T23:54:00.000-04:00

While reading Miriam Silverman's Stopping the Plant, I noticed a striking similarity between the reasons behind the first conservationist movement and the debate (on both sides) regarding the SLC plant.
The preservation of the Palisades succeeded due to the vested interest of the wealthy in maintaining their gorgeous landscape purely for its aesthetic values. Dr. Edward Patridge, a resident of Cornwall, said “the Hudson river presents, throughout the fifteen or twenty miles of its course in the Highlands, its most picturesque and boldly beautiful section. Every American, from near or remote parts of these United States, is influenced to visit the great Hudson, and here his eye is pleased.” Patridge knew that the destruction of the Palisades would ruin the view from his private estate on Storm King Mountain. Others in the area, such as those who comprised the Hudson-Fulton Commision argued for legislation like the “Wainwright-Merritt bill” to protect wild forest growth entirely for its aesthetic beauty. The voices for the preservation of the Hudson showed little empathy for others in the community. Even if jobs created by logging companies and limestone excavators would clearly benefit the economy, the beauty of the scenery was all that mattered to those with the means to advocate for it.
In the more recent St. Lawrence Cement controversy, the two sides of the debate are also completely vested in their own personal interests. The inability to compromise showed that the groups sunk into dogmatism. As the SLC attempted to divide the community, a general class distinction still existed between those trying to make ends meet and those who viewed the Hudson as their “weekend getaway.” Even though most vacationers voiced their opinion to preserve the natural beauty of the river, they were adamant in their decision and entirely set on satisfying themselves rather than the community. Many probably justified their decision as the one best for the Valley, but could they really know about the poor looking for hope in a new job? Or could the poor and uneducated really understand the historical significance or uniqueness of beauty that was so necessary to protect?
Through it all, the similarity still exists. People care about themselves, their money, their home, and their family. The ideologies of the early conservationist movement and the SLC debate purely reflect these personal interests.

The Cultural Value of Land

2007-10-30T23:05:00.000-04:00

Miriam Silverman provides readers with a thorough history of the six-year debate that occurred over the St. Lawrence Cement Company’s (SLC) application to build a plant on the banks of the Hudson River in Greenport, New York. Silverman’s scholarship is impressive because she does not express bias towards the arguments made by SLC supporters or the company’s opponents in her book, Stopping the Plant. By not siding with SLC or the opposition, Silverman reveals how subjective environmentalism and capitalism were during the SLC controversy, as well as the degree to which modern society’s “sense of place” has changed in the face of technological growth, capitalism, and globalization. Silverman dispels the common misconception that SLC supporters were nothing more than cutthroat capitalists during the controversy that unfolded between 1999 and 2005. By the same token, Silverman shows that SLC opponents fought the construction plan for reasons beyond its environmental risks. The controversy in Greenport, according to Silverman, did not pit environmentalism versus capitalism. Rather, this controversy was unique, and its legacy explains so much about the human race’s sense of place because SLC proponents and opponents alike were both environmentalists and capitalists.
Although SLC wished to increase production and profit by opening a new plant in Greenport, SLC was green-minded because their new, “state of the art” plant would have been more environmentally friendly than their existing plant in Catskill, New York, which SLC promised to close if the Greenport plans were approved. Therefore, SLC supporters should have been considered environmentalists in their own right because they attempted to improve the air quality of the Hudson Valley by lobbying for the construction of a “greener” plant. Similarly, SLC opposition was motivated by both economic and environmental concerns. Plant opponents were obviously environmentally conscious; they rallied against the plant’s potential pollution levels, and they believed the plant’s proposed size, design, and location would detract too much from the area’s notable natural beauty. However, plant opponents also disliked the idea of a multinational corporation reaffirming its presence within their local economy. The opposition saw the SLC as an outside giant and a remnant of industrialism that was unwelcome in Greenport’s contemporary, rural community. Thus, Silverman’s most important observation is that supporters and opponents were actually concerned with the same communal values (environment, economy, etc.), but “merely articulated these values in different ways” (114). That supporters and opponents read the same evidence but then interpreted and defended it in such different ways illustrates how humans define themselves through the areas that they inhabit. Therefore, Silverman shows readers just how far people will go to defend their own cultural values by articulating how and why the face of their land changes.

Where are the Limits?

2007-10-30T22:25:00.000-04:00

I would like to comment more on the issues that are raised in the previous post. I think that we can apply some of the ideas that we discussed in class last week to the controversy surrounding the building of this cement plant. The most obvious connection I made was when we were discussing the difficulty that has become contemporary environmental politics. It is impossible to do or build anything today. Personally, I am not sure whether I believe that we as a nation are a bit overprotective or not, but the critics of this plant sound very familiar to the critics of that nuclear power plant that we were discussing last week. I understand that there is a difference between coal and nuclear power, but when do we as a nation draw the line in what can and cannot be build, and on what grounds we can deem something environmental hazardous. I mean I could argue with my local community that I think that the trash should not be collected every week because garbage trucks only contribute to the emissions that cars let into the atmosphere, or someone could also argue that all houses should be run with solar energy, because all other energy sources are harmful and unnecessary. In both of these cases, I would probably be laughed at or lose, but the point is that we need to draw a line between what is environmentally harmful to a certain area, community, and region, and what is not harmful. I am not sure what should be considered environmentally harmful or not, it just seems as though anyone can make any claim to a potential threat on the environment, and either delay the process of building something or stop the process all together. I think in this specific circumstance, you would have to look to the advantages of constructing a new plant and compare them to the disadvantages, and if the plant is truly an environmentally friendly plant, than it should be build based on those grounds. Another area of concern is the ability to maintain the aesthetic beauty of New York, and the potential harm a cement factor would have on this goal. This seems to mirror the Storm King Mountain argument in the sense that people will see the construction of this plant as intrusive to the mystery and beauty that is New York. This argument also follows the same thought process as the previously mentioned argument, as their needs to be a line drawn between what is and what is not acceptable. I think that the controversy over the construction of the cement plant could be lessened if each side could come to some sort of agreement about what is necessary and the limits to the environmental and aesthetic issues that surround the building of this plant.

The Plant and the Environment

2007-10-30T20:16:00.000-04:00

When reading Silverman's book Stopping the Plant I found it very interesting how each side addressed the problem and I could not help but think how I would react if a cement plant wanted to be constructed in my community. One of the first parts of the argument that I found interesting was the debate between against SLC from the aesthetic conservation approach and the ethical conservationist approach. The passage on page 42 addresses the question of a beautiful sunset, but it is beautiful because of the sulphur dioxide in the air and this brings about the question of how our ethical inclinations should affect our aesthetic perceptions and vice versa. It brings about an issue that I had not really thought about before because see this sunset should bring about a bad taste to ones mouth if one is trying to protect the beauty of the natural environment. Also, I found it amusing how both sides were able to use primarily one document, the 1,600 page DEIS, and be able to derive completely different conclusions on the affects that the SLC would have on the economy and environment in the city of Hudson. Looking at table 4.1 it would appear that the new plant would be beneficial because old technology would be removed from old plants and the new plant would produce far more cement and have fewer environmental affects and then you read the oppositions side that got information from the same table and it seems that the plant would have a devastating affect on the environment. The oppositions argument is that cleaner is not as good as clean and that there is still an enormous amount of pollution that will be released into the atmosphere and the city of Hudson as a result of the plant. After reading the book and looking at both sides I side with the opposition because I think of how I would feel if a large, pollution creating plant wanted to be built in my town. I would be opposed because of the aesthetic reasons of not wanting to see a large, unsightly plant in the spot where acres of forest use to be. Also, the pollution it creates would bug me, but I feel the part that would bother me the most would not be knowing the amount of toxins in the air, but the aesthetic disruption that the plant would create.

Social Class in Environmental Politics

2007-10-30T18:12:00.000-04:00

After reading Ms. Silverman's book "Stopping the Plant," it became clear to me that there was in fact a general separation in social class between those who supported the plant and those who opposed it- and this divide still exists today. Silverman includes a quote from Phillip Shabecoff, in which he describes the average members of a national environmental organization as ""mostly white, well-educated, relatively affluent middle-class professionals."" (Silverman, 70) This is certainly not the description of someone who would be lobbying for the construction of a plant on the premise it would bring them a job.

Alternatively, the main supporters of the St. Lawrence Cement Plant project seemed to fit a different description. Silverman reports thats the average household income in the City of Hudson was $24,000 as of 2000, whereas the state average at the time was nearly twice that at $43,000. (Silverman, 51) In a region with it's share of lower-class workers, the advertised concept of a well-paying job at the plant was attractive. Silverman relates the words of a plant worker in a 2002 SLC film, in which they claim ""Everyone that worked in a cement plant could buy a home. Everyone."" (Silverman, 49) Another worker goes on to state "one year's wage at the plant could buy three brand-new Chryslers." (Silverman, 49) To someone making only $24,000 a year, this would appear to be a huge quality of life increase. Yet despite all this, supporters of the plant were still seen as "less intelligent, less educated, or having a "bizarre nostalgia" for the days of industry." (Silverman, 21).

I do find this polarization worrisome, as it persists today in new environmental disputes. One of the more interesting of these modern debates focuses on the proposed wind power project off Cape Cod. While this issue is does not involve a dispute between the lower-working class and the upper-middle class, an economic polarization still exists. This time it is between the stereotypical environmentalist (see description in first paragraph) who believes that a switch to clean power is necessary and the rich elite with previously undisturbed views of the water and concerns that- besides ruining their view of the horizon- the blades of the windmills could harm migratory birds and other such ecosystems. As with SLC, both sides offer biased 'scientific reasoning' and to why their opinions are more viable, however in the end it still boils down to the conflicting beliefs and emotions of two different socio-economic groups of people. It almost seems that money, advertising, and political lobbying power matter more than the true science behind the issues...

Film about Pete Seeger

2007-10-28T05:50:00.001-04:00

Morality in the Face of Commerce Between Albany and New York City

2007-10-24T12:40:00.000-04:00

THIS IS SAM DUDLEY'S POST

In chapter eight, “River of Fortunes,” Tom Lewis writes about the men who commercialized Albany and New York City, as well as numerous Hudson Valley towns and cities between these two booming metropolises. Although the shipping industry had declined by 1861 in Hudson Valley cities, such as Hudson, the rise of the manufacturing industry preserved the commercial value Hudson Valley real estate. Iron manufacturing in Troy, Hudson, and Poughkeepsie made these cities important centers of commerce, and their inhabitants became increasingly wealthy. However, Lewis’ eighth chapter is interesting because he explains how a rift formed in 1861 between New York City and the cities located on the Hudson River North of Manhattan. Economic growth in New York City had not shown signs of decline for centuries until the prospect of disunion became reality. New York City’s barons and merchants had profited so much from their investments in the cotton trade, which was of course driven by slavery, that they forgot the principles of liberty and diversity that Manhattan was originally founded upon. New York City’s most powerful men, such as Mayor Fernando Wood, could not see the liberal motivation for fighting the South because they refused to look past their southern investments, and they thus rallied against president-elect Abraham Lincoln. On the contrary, Hudson Valley citizens living North of New York City supported Lincoln. The support of Lincoln in places like Hudson and Poughkeepsie demonstrates how vastly different the ideals of people living North of Manhattan were during this time period, which explains the moral divide between New York City and the northern Hudson Valley. While Mayor Wood spoke out against Lincoln and disregarded the moral worth of enslaved blacks, Matthew Vassar used his amassed wealth to build a college for women, who were then considered intellectually inferior to men. By chronicling the Albany-New York City leg of Lincoln’s 1861 journey to Washington, Lewis reveals a great deal about the accomplishments and well-founded priorities of those who lived on the Hudson River between New York’s two most economically prominent cities. In 1861, economics did not beget benevolence in Manhattan.

2007-10-24T11:49:00.000-04:00

Confluence and The Catskill Aqueduct

The Catskill Aqueduct, an impressive work of engineering and construction, raised the issue of water availability in large cities. The aqueduct was designed to supply New York City’s rapidly expanding population with fresh drinking water from the Catskills. In 1905 a plan was devised to divert water from two Catskill Mountain streams, the Esopus and Schohaire, into reservoirs flooding 24-square miles of the Catskill Mountain watershed located north of the city and west of the Hudson River. Stored in reserves and funneled through enormous underground tunnels, today New York City’s water is considered outstanding for such a large urban area. Today, the Catskill Aqueduct yields 1.2 billion gallons of freshwater (450,000 meters) per day, and, serving ore than 9 million people, remains the largest water supply system in the world. The project took 20 years to complete.

Despite the enormity of the undertaking Dunwell describes the advocates leading the effort as the “same people who fought for conservation and preservation of Highlands scenery”. Dunwell describes environmental impact of the aqueduct as one that “left little visible imprint despite its massive effects”. Unlike the Bear Mountain Bridge and the Storm King Highway the Catskill Aqueduct was less imposing. Aqueducts rely on gravity and the build up of pressure to transport water as opposed to pumping stations. A self-delivering system, the Catskill Aqueducts were engineered to establish a confluence between satisfying the growing need for water in New York City as well as the conservation of the land within the historic Highlands.

NYC's Insatiable Demand for Water

2007-10-24T10:40:00.001-04:00

$500,000,000 Preservation Initiative

2007-10-24T10:36:00.000-04:00

Women and the Hudson

2007-10-24T01:39:00.000-04:00

Aside: I've linked the Constitution Island's store website for purchasing bracelets and cufflinks from the "Great Chain Jewelry Collection," namely because I think it's a hilarious idea and because it's a little ironic, given the subject of this post.

While Dunwell's emphasis on the role of women in the development of 19th and 20th century Hudson may be due to her graduation from Kirkland College, New York has always been a thriving area for women's rights (the first women's right convention was held in Seneca Falls in 1848 - quite a long time ago considering women didn't receive the right to vote until the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920; likewise, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton both had personal ties to New York state). In Dunwell's Hudson River Highlands, Dunwell states that women were not afraid to use their wealthy husbands' influence to create change, especially in environmental matters. Specifically, the New Jersey Federation of Women's Clubs had direct impact on the formation of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission. Likewise, Mary Harriman, wife to railroad entrepenuer Edward Hanley Harriman, fulfilled her late husband's ambition by creating Bear Mountain State park and the subsequent Bear Mountain suspension bridge.

I found the story in Hudson River Highlands about the preservation of Constitution Island especially moving. Home to the Warner sisters, Susan, a bestselling novelist at the time, and Anna, who wrote the lyrics to "Jesus Loves Me," the sisters struggled to make ends meet. Both women were childless, and the Island was slated to house an amusement park or summer resort if purchased by the government, adequately destroying its historical value. Anna was determined to see the Island given to West Point following her death - only with the assistance of another women, Olivia Slocum Sage, a philanthropist also responsible for expanding several campus universities, was President Roosevelt convinced to use the island for military purposes. The situation ironically resembled Jim Guinan's agreement with the General. Also, Elihu Root, of Root Hall fame, was directly involved in putting the island to good use. Copies of Sage's correspondence with President Roosevelt can be found here: http://www.constitutionisland.org/ci-giftNation.asp

Overall, I found the historical importance of women very refreshing in both readings for this week; while these women may have not been the very first to reform the Hudson (Fanny Kemble helped in her own poetic and inadvertent way), they were some of the first to do so publicly and proudly.

Hudson River Pollution and the Global Climate Crisis

2007-10-24T01:38:00.000-04:00

The age of commerce and economic growth that swept American throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries dealt the Hudson Valley a tough card. Its rich resources became vulnerable to the bridges, roads, factories, automobiles, and people that had enhanced transportation and opportunities along the river. Factories like General Electric and Anaconda Wire and Cable dumped dangerous contaminants in the water, the Hudson River Stone Corporation blasted stone from the gorgeous mountains, and the Storm King Highway and Bear Mountain Bridge arguably imposed upon picturesque views of the valley. Seeing distinct evidence of unnatural and unsafe pollutants in and around the river, the people “bumped up against the reality that there were limits on the earth’s capacity for renewal and those limits were being reached” (Dunwell 138).
Air pollutants have pressed up against these limits as well. The introduction of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere has raised the average temperature of the earth and reportedly caused an increase in tropical storms, more difficulty in producing crops due to agricultural changes, and rising sea-levels due to thermal expansion and the melting of polar ice caps. The detrimental effects of this environmental problem have not been dealt with however.
The important distinctions between the Hudson River and global climate change rest on proximity and clarity. The Hudson River Valley overcame its misfortunes because of a mass mobilization of its constituents. People cared about their surroundings since the mountains and river characterized their unique community. Influential men and women in the Hudson River Conservation Society brought their concerns to Congress and indicated that they were willing to contribute for the preservation of their environment. The Hudson River Valley was “theirs,” after all.
Global climate change fails to interest as many because the problem may not have an evident effect on one’s own small constituency. To solve the problem, people must reach out to billions to increase awareness and catalyze behavioral changes. In the Amazon Rainforest, for example, impoverished people rely on burning the vegetation to produce soil rich in nutrients in order to plant foods to eat and sell. Without deforestation, these people would starve.
Another important distinction between the two environmental problems is the evidence of damaging effects. “At Tarrytown, residents knew each day what color General Motors was painting its production of trucks by the color of the Hudson, and people avoided fish from Manhattan’s waters; many even avoided walking beside it, as the stench on a summer’s day made a bankside stroll in Riverside Park almost unbearable.” (Lewis 262). The clear effect of pollution on the senses affected each person individually. Anyone who respected the natural beauty of the river or its surroundings would witness firsthand the detrimental effects of pollution.
On the global scale, those with the power to bring about change in the fight against climate change rarely experience any direct result of its damage and therefore have little personal interest in utilizing their own funds to remedy the problem. The temperature change is so gradual that it cannot be sensed. For this reason, carbon emissions keep increasing and humans won’t modify their behavior. Once effects are apparent, hopefully the tide will turn before it is too late.

Cotton, Slavery, and Steam

2007-10-23T23:17:00.000-04:00

I think that the most interesting aspects of chapters 8 and 9 in the book The Hudson by Tom Lewis are his discussions about the importance that cotton played in the development of the Hudson River Valley, as well as the population explosions due to advancements in travel. Lewis starts his discussion about the role that cotton played in the development of the Hudson River Valley saying, "New Yorkers cared less about the question of the morality of slavery than they did about slavery's chief product, cotton...New Yorkers busied themselves with commerce without much concern for conscience." (235) I thought that this was interesting, especially the last section of the quote, because Lewis sees New Yorkers as wanting the benefits of slavery without dealing with the human rights and moral issues that surround slavery. This makes sense, though, because cotton was the chief export of the era, and the North depended on cotton as much as the rest of the globe. In fact, Lewis goes on to say that, "Every forty cents of every dollar paid for Southern cotton went to the merchants of New York City. New York merchants owned the ships that carried the cotton from the South to New York and Europe." (236) It is hard to imagine New York City as the 'cotton capital' that Lewis makes it out to be, but cotton was indeed a major part in the development and population shifts of early New York City.

As we have talked about numerous times this semester, steam was a crucial aspect of the development of the Hudson River Valley and New York City. Lewis comments on the importance of the key families in the development of the Hudson River Valley (Livingstons and Van Rensselaers), and the role that the concentration of wealth in New York City and the Hudson Valley had on the development of New York, the Northeast, and the country as a whole. The emergence of engineers in the latter half of the 19th century led to the construction of new steam power machines and boats, and the economy on the Hudson flourished. The rise in the number of immigrants is also an interesting point that Lewis talked about in his book, and I thought it was especially interesting to see the actual number of immigrants from each foreign country in New York. The development of the brick industry was also vital to the economic success of the Hudson Valley, and this dynamic river valley became the center of a developing nation.

The Civil War and the Hudson

2007-10-23T22:15:00.000-04:00

In discussing the Civil War, most American’s think about the great battles of Gettysburg or Bull Run. Areas north of Pennsylvania are often overlooked because no battles were fought in New England and New York. The war is generally thought of as involving large numbers of troops from all across the country, but the important events seemed to take place between central Pennsylvania and Atlanta. Tom Lewis’ book reminded me of the importance of industrialized cities to the northern victory. Lewis refers to the many industrialized towns along the Hudson river that played vital roles in maintaining the North’s war machine. In many ways, the Civil War represents the worlds’ first industrial war and modern technologies like railroads and steamships were as important in their ability to transport goods and men as modern firearms were on the battlefield. For these reasons, the towns and cities along the Hudson river were central in the Union’s victory.

Lewis echoes other author’s in his discussion of industrial towns along the Hudson, which flourished as a result of the Erie Canal and New York Cities fantastic deep water ports. Lewis discusses the iron foundries in Troy (228), which were vital in the making of railroad spikes and horseshoes. Both of these goods were important to the Union army in their ability to transport troops, which is very important in an industrial war where the amount of men an army can mobilize quickly can often determine the winner of a battle. Lewis also talks about West Point Foundry (234), where an engineer named Robert Parrott developed the first modern cannons that served the Union during the civil war. The West Point Foundry also produced steam engines and locomotives, which were important for all the aforementioned reasons.

In spite of New York City’s neutral attitude towards abolitionism and succession (235) the city’s industrial prowess must have been influential in the Northern victory. Lewis states that "The 1870 census found that one of every thirty-three factories in the United States was located on Manhattan Island" (241). These numbers are indicative of Manhattan’s importance as an industrial center during the Civil War, even though the date of the census comes after the wars’ end.

Beyond the industrial towns along the Hudson River, Lewis stresses the importance of the region in training many of the officers on both sides of the war (232). Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant, two of the officers that Lewis mentions, were perhaps the two most influential people in the war’s outcome. The training they received at West Point undoubtably informed their decision making during the war. The towns and cities along the Hudson River may often be overlooked in discussions of the American Civil War. However, for the above reasons, the region was central to the North’s eventual victory.

Great Outdoors

2007-10-23T20:57:00.000-04:00

While reading our assigned reading this week, the section that interested me the most was Dunwell's chapter on the Great Outdoors. This chapter intrigued me because I was amazed by the many examples of philanthropy and environmental preservation that were taking place along the Hudson River Valley. One of the people that I thought was very influential in preserving the land was Edward H. Harriman who took it upon himself, with the help of others including his wife when he passed, to preserve a large section of the Hudson Highlands. The preservation would cease the building of the Sing Sing prison and would provide a park of 10,000 acres to be run by the Park Commission. What is also interesting about this preservation effort was that a lot of prominent people were donating money to make sure that the beauty of the Hudson River Valley was preserved. The work of Edward Harriman and his wife Mary provided the state with a great park that to this day is still very popular and "receives more visitors annually than Yellowstone National Park" (Dunwell 159). This was pretty shocking to me because when I think of National Parks, Yellowstone and Yosemite are the ones I think of right away it it would never have occurred to me that a park along the Hudson River would receive more annual visitors. Another section of the chapter that interested me was the work by conservationists to preserve the scenic Palisades. They were being diminished at a staggering rate for construction purposes in New York City and in 1897 the public began to take action to try to preserve The Palisades. The Palisades were eventually purchased and protected thanks to the generous donations of many prominent people, including J.P. Morgan, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Twombly as well as others and the states of both New York and New Jersey. This chapter was interesting because it illustrated the beginning of a philanthropic and conservationist movement on the Hudson River and because of the work of these people and states, part of the Hudson's natural beauty was preserved for future generations to see and enjoy.

Little Known Facts about the Hudson Valley

2007-10-23T16:01:00.000-04:00

While our reading to this date has established that the Hudson River valley played a crucial role in many aspects of our modern life (i.e. the steamboat/ferries, industrialization, commerce), our reading this week highlighted some little known facts about the area that I found quite intruiging. For example, did you know that the manufacturer for the U.S. Treasury's secret-formula ink that made our currency "nearly impossible to counterfeit" called Troy, NY home? (Lewis, 228) The city of Troy was home to many such inventors and manufacturers, including the inventor of the detachable collar, the manufacturer of the steel plates used to armor the Northern ship Monitor, and the inventor of a machine that produced 36,000 horseshoes an hour to supply the Union Army. (Lewis, 228)

While Storm King Mountain later became the subject of a major environmental debate, it made its debut in the mid 1800's as the testing grounds for artillery designed by West Point graduate Robert Parker Parrott. Parrott is credited with bringing "the first modern cannons to American battlefields." (Lewis, 234).

The most interesting lesser-known fact about the area, however, is its rich history in the ice market, which was fueled by the popularity and usefulness of ice for preserving foods. What the industry became sounded surprisingly like what the oil business has become today. Small time ice harvesting with horses gave way to massive operations that utilized steam-powered conveyor belts to move more than 3 millions tons of ice per year. What reminded me of the modern oil industry was a move the ice companies pulled in 1895, when they joined together to form an 'ice trust.' The goal of this trust was to ""regulate prices and the amount [of ice] harvested, and hold down competition."" (Lewis, 245). Sound familiar?

Worlds Colide

2007-10-17T12:28:00.001-04:00

Several weeks ago we read a book by Shorto that outlined the history of New York city and Manhattan’s place at the financial center of the world. This fast paced, urban world represents a stark contrast to the picturesque, seemingly timeless, world of Garrison. Little Chapel on the River beautifully illustrates the intersection between these two very different worlds that exist along the Hudson River. Jim Guinan compares the area around Garrison to his homeland of Ireland. In chapter 8, Jim discusses the mountains and river in describing Garrison’s natural beauty. Jim is not alone in these kind of descriptions. In fact, it is impossible to read this book and not get a sense for the profound effect that Garrison’s natural landscape has on its inhabitants. The author makes a point of providing a contrasting description in the first few chapters when she describes New York City; her "anonymous apartment building", the glass towers of the world trade center. What I found to be most fascinating about Guinan’s pub is that it provides an intersection of these two worlds.
Bounds spends many chapters discussing the lives of Guinan’s "regulars". She tells us about Fitz, the ex-federal marshal who won a silver star for his time in Vietnam. She introduces us to Dan, the liberal attorney who overcame a broken home to become a successful aviation lawyer. There are others too, Old Mike, the Preusser brothers, Margaret Guinan, John Guinan, Mary Ellen and Jane. These individuals make up the fabric of Guinan’s close knit community. In this world there are no bar tabs, no calculators and the bartender knows each costumers preferred beer. In the mornings, there is a large group of regular commuters, who come in to pick up their reserved newspapers and a cup of coffee. It is here that two very different worlds collide. These commuters come to Guinan’s to start their days before boarding the train into the anonymous world of Manhattan. Because of Guinan’s location next to the train station, these commuters provide valuable cash flow for the general store. Guinan’s also provides an invaluable service to these commuters.
In chapter 10, Bounds makes it clear that it is not really in the best interest of the store to open at 5 AM for the few commuters on the 5:09 train. When she asks John about the practicality of opening so early he responds with, "I guess I don’t want to be the one to those guys on the 5:09 train that they’re gonna be standing out in the dark without a cup of coffee or a newspaper"(130). This example illustrates the collision that I have been talking about. John is applying the personal ideology of Garrison. For him, running a store is more about the customers needs then economic efficiency. However, these customer’s needs only exist because they have to commute into a bustling work place that is centered on economic efficiency. In this way the hour long commute from Garrison to Manhattan covers more then just distance. This commute transports people from one completely different world into another and Guinan’s is right on the way.

Link to Article Below

2007-10-17T09:47:00.000-04:00

Sorry the link doesn't work here is the website

http://www.nysun.com/article/61116

Article About Hudson River Paintings at Vassar

2007-10-17T09:43:00.000-04:00

"State of Mind"

2007-10-17T09:21:00.000-04:00

"Someone once described Garrison as a 'state of mind.' I think this quote is very fitting when describing Garrison, NY, and the security it provides Wendy in a post-9/11 world. She was living in the fast pace, information driven world that is New York City, and that world suddely changes for her on September 11, 2001. The interesting aspect of he story, however, are her actions after the attacks. She leaves New York City and moves to Garrison, NY to find refuge and to ultimately get back in touch with herself and her roots. She comment that, "In late 2001, Garrison still has no mayor, no town water and actually isn't big enough to qualify for official town status." I think that it is very interesting that in the face of the worst attack in U.S. history, Wendy decides to move away from the bllod and carnage in NYC and out to Garrison which is located on the Hudson. The mystery and beauty of this river town provide her with a sense of security, and it seems as though time has stopped in its tracks in Garrison. She feels as though she can integrate herself into the community, and she even says that, "I had never really belonged to anything, except maybe my job." Although it is hard to imagine this for anyone, itt seems as though 9/11 may have been a blessing in disguise for Wendy because she is able to reinvent herself and get into touch with who she really is. There is a passage that talks about her ability to waste time while sitting alone and waiting for a dinner companion, and I think that her move to Garrison has taught her to value certain things and experiences in her life that she had fallen out of touch with. I find the writing style of this book to be better than the last, mostly because there are not as many characters. I think it is fitting that we read this book for this class, because it gives us a real example of someone who had a life changing experience moving away from the modern world and back to the rustic world along the Hudson River.

Lake Wah Wash Kesh

2007-10-17T08:23:00.000-04:00

While reading Gwendolyn Bounds' book Little Chapel on the River, i found myself thinking about my version of Guinan's in Canada. Every summer since my great, great uncle Herman in 1906 bought a small hunting lodge on Lake Wah Wash Kesh my family has spent every summer on the lake and although we have a great time water skiing and relaxing its the people that we see for a short while every year that make the place special. One of the greatest memories that I have on the lake is of a place called Hayward's, which is a small bakery slash grocery store. When you dock your boat and walk up to the store, which is in a small, rundown trailer, you half wonder how it could be a bakery, but then the smells of fresh baked bread and sticky buns begin guide you to the door. When you walk Gene would behind the counter with a big smile to ask how you were doing and to no fail she would always respond, "just fine, thanks." Then normally sitting in the stores "lobby" her brother Kenny, would normally be sitting there enjoying some type of ice cream bar after a hard days work. Then in the back is their sister, Ruth, who would be bringing packing up the sticky buns and bread. The Haywards are some of the nicest and genuine people I have ever met and have been a huge service on the lake. Not only have they acted as a grocery store on a lake that is an hour from any town, and provided propane for families like mine that have no electricity, they have also been a signature part of the lake, but things have recently changed. In June of 2005, Gene passed away after her struggle with lung cancer, even though she did not smoke, and Ruth has recently been struggling with her fight against cancer. The bakery no longer operates to the full capacity that it used to, but we still frequently visit just to sit and talk for a few minutes and share stories and here the "just fine thanks" that always awaits as you walk through the door. One of the reasons that makes Haywards special is not because of the sticky buns or bread, which were delicious, but because of the people that run the store and the camaraderie and lightheartedness that filled the room as you entered. The second place on the lake that reminds me of Guinan's on the lake is Bennett's Landing. The lodge, as it is mostly referred to is in its third generation of being run by the Bennetts and is in as good of shape now as it was a hundred years ago. The lodge as doubled as a hunting lodge for hunters in the winter, which the Bennetts would host the hunters and serve great meals for the wary hunters after a long day and as a lodging for the employees of the store during the summer months. The lodge has always been a very welcoming place and there have been countless times that members of my family as well as others on the lake, have slept on the couches downstairs when weather or other situations have made the trip back across the lake not possible. The Bennetts, like the Haywards, provide a great service with the store, but it is the selflessness, and friendship of the family throughout the years that make it a special place in my eyes.

Guinan's and Wee Works

2007-10-17T01:07:00.000-04:00

Just as Wendy found an unexpected love in Guinan’s, I too discovered a place that grew on me and grounded itself into my character.
Following my 16th birthday, my parents demanded that I find myself a job. I scoured websites and newspapers, trekked around the neighborhood, and filled out dozens of applications, hoping to secure a high-paying yet laid-back form of employment that would amuse me for a few afternoons during the week.
I eventually found myself at Wee Works preschool, a relatively cute establishment where I had spent two years of my awkward childhood. Unlike Wendy, I did not feel an undeniable desire to become a member of the place from the beginning. As cute as three and four-year-olds may be, the screaming, spitting, hitting, and constant chaos that truly describe their stage of adolescence were apparent to me. I had little desire to scrub tables, clean toilets, wash dishes, and sanitize everything imaginable. However, this was the only place looking to hire an inexperienced junior in high school, and months of searching had forced me into desperation.
What occurred to me over the next two years distinctly resembles the transformation that Wendy experienced as she became integrated into the Garrison community. The character analyses she presented in her story capture the admiration she had for Guinan’s as a whole. Fitz and Jim, John and Jane, they all contributed to her understanding of sacrifice and friendship. Their deep concern for the store and pub led them to back-breaking measures to maintain its traditions and legacy.
Granted, Wee Works wasn’t in a substantial economic crunch, nor was its property sought after by condominium-building millionaires, yet the individuals comprising the school as a whole made it one of the most enriching and inspiring places to work. The children displayed their “true” nature, less influenced by media and peer pressure than those closer to my age. Small moments make up my memory, just as Fitz called Wendy a “pip,” I recall one boy telling me that my dress made me “look like a princess.” Instead of Irish Night, we would have dance parties and costume days, painting stripes on our faces and playing jungle games to the Lion King soundtrack or making eye patches and swords for Pirate Day. Beyond the hour or so I spent performing grunge work, the benefits of relaxing and playing with the kids, listening to their insights and answering their questions, and forgetting my responsibilities for a few hours every week made Wee Works an essential part of my schedule. I can’t say that I considered moving there, but Wee Works became a part of me just as Guinan’s became a part of Wendy.

Little Chapel on the River

2007-10-16T22:47:00.000-04:00

It's always nice to see that the small-town lifestyle and values are alive and kicking, especially within the unique community of the Hudson River. Bounds' book highlights a way of life that most city people rarely get to experience (no, Clinton doesn't count), set on the Hudson River in the town of Garrison, NY.

While I found Bounds' account of 9/11 and her subsequent displacement from her apartment moving, it reaffirms my belief that sometimes it takes a significant life disruption to be able to step back and try something new. In Bounds' case, this meant leaving the busy city life and deadlines at the Wall Street Journal. I had a similar experience last semester after taking the semester off to travel the high seas with the SEA Semester program. Being able to stop and appreciate a sunset while slowly sailing up the eastern seaboard was a huge change compared to the busy college campus "daily grind" I had become so accustomed to.

What makes this such a captivating story is the fact that many people don't realize that this classic old-time American lifestyle still flourishes in the world of hybrid cars, Blackberrys, and Starbucks. While Garrison gets all the glory in this story, I would bet that every major US city has it's own small-town equivalent. Take my local big city, Washington, D.C.. Drive an hour or so in any direction and there is a wealth of small-towns just like Garrison. The Appalachian Mountains hide many such towns, complete with little general stores, family farms, and the local rendition of Guinan's little chapel on the river.

As I considered what makes Garrison and other small towns like it unique, I came to the realization that most of the places we consider to be quintessential examples of American life have a distinct natural landscape "feature" that acts as the basis of the town's culture. For Garrison it is the majestic Hudson River, while in my example it is the Appalachians, or maybe the Shenandoah River. These natural features seem to be a cultural anchors for communities- something that stays relatively constant through the progression of generations.

While I initially worried that Bounds' book would turn Garrison into another cheap tourist attraction, I was pleased to find updates on the town, pub, and its charismatic regulars on Bounds' website (http://www.gwendolynbounds.com/newsletter.htm). I found the updates on John to be particularly inspiring, and a testament to the healing power of a tight-knit community.

The Power of Personalization

2007-10-16T20:22:00.000-04:00

While Little Chapel on the River and World's End are wildly different books - one a non-fiction account of a journalist's transplant from post 9-11 Manhattan to small-town Garrison, the other an epic of historical fiction spanning 300 years in the Hudson valley - both Gwendolyn Bounds and T.C. Boyle add the critical element of the personal to their works. Without discounting Bernstein's extensive research in Wedding of the Waters, Bernstein severed himself entirely from his subject to give an objective, informative, and, in my opinion, dry history of the Erie Canal. Comparatively, Shorto's Island in the Center of the World was much more than a chronicle of the early Hudson settlers, as Shorto clarifies in his introduction. His fascination with the origins of Manhattan stemmed from a personal curiosity, and his lively writing reflected the enthusiasm of his research.
Likewise, Boyle and Bounds both have personal ties to the Hudson area. Boyle was raised in Peekskill, which he fictionalizes as Peterskill in World's End. Bounds' investment in Garrison is the basis and bulk of Little Chapel. In World's End, Boyle expands his available audience by fictionalizing history - whether the account of the van Brunts, van Warts, and Crane family is historically true, or even accurate, is beside the point. Personally, I felt Boyle's story was far more educational than any article, text book, or primary source could be. By personalizing the patroons and natives of the Hudson Valley, Boyle manages to simultaneously entertain and educate - without quoting Rousseau directly, he still echoes the inherent evil of private property, as later advocated by Marx. Likewise, without detailing the specifics of the governmental processes of the time, he criticizes their irrationality. Boyle's use of parallel timeframes is not only the mark of masterful story-telling (he received his MFA from the Iowa Workshop, the most prestigious Creative Writing program in America - more bluntly, he definitely deserves all his accolades, and I'm pretty jealous of his literary success), but allows subtle allusions about the inherent traits of Hudson Valley inhabitant, and of people themselves. Walter's death is a direct echo of Harmanus's, perhaps suggesting the inescapable trait of greed in humans. Walter's promiscuity also shadows Joanna's and Mardi's - regardless of their class, race, etc, these characters suffer the same need to be unfaithful. I wonder if Truman Van Brunt can be read as a self-portrait of Boyle himself, solely through the mutual mark of obsession - Truman's magnum opus as the impetus for his abandoning Walter seems anti-climactic, or at least Walter thinks so, but I wonder if Truman is perfectly rational to Boyle, since his own magnum opus probably required as much effort. Whether it had similar repercussions, I don't know.
Boyle subtly personalizes history; Bounds' personal account in Chapel overwhelms the economics she may have been trying to address. There were a few dozen instances in Little Chapel on the River where I wondered what Bounds was aiming for - the inclusion of the "bonus puppy" still seems like unnecessary sentimental detail - and, ironically, I found the organization in Bounds' book much more aggravating and confusing than World's End. Though the book has been touted for its "charm," I felt the overall message of the book could have been a little more assertive. Though I have scant knowledge of economics, Chapel seemed like it could have been a good case study of the dying mom-and-pop establishments of small-town America and the need to preserve them. The book is its own message, though - Chapel serves as the best form of publicity for Guinan's, and I'm sure the bar has tripled its business since publication. (According to gwendolynbounds.com, the only recent piece of news concerning Guinan's is the death of LouLou the dog, so presumably the business hasn't drowned yet.) The italicized portions at the end of the chapters added little to the book, and I suspect the publisher, or Bounds herself, was rushed to print the book (though it came out in 2005) to capitalize on the "post 9-11" label. I found Bounds' details of September 11th to be the strongest part of the book. Though the book is enjoyable, the cynic in me wonders what her real mission was in writing.

Northwest Passage

2007-10-11T10:24:00.000-04:00

Port Albany

2007-10-10T12:30:00.001-04:00

Walter Van Brunt

2007-10-10T09:42:00.000-04:00

Throughout the history of the Van Brunt family there seems to be a continual trait of deception, lying and bad luck. These traits are seen in the seventeenth century and carry over to the descendants of the family in the twentieth century. The book starts in the twentieth century with the terrible accident that has left Walter Van Brunt an amputee from his right shin down. Walter was involved in a motorcycle accident that left him an amputee but was it an accident that he could have avoided. It seems that Walter was destined to have bad luck. The first part of the book continues to reveal more of the unfortunate events that have transpired throughout his life like the riots in 1949 that left his mother dead and revealed the deceitful side of his father, Truman. The bad luck does not stop here for Walter. Later, after the first accident that left him without his right foot, he was out on New Years with Mardi Van Wart, while his wife was at home, and again crashed his motorcycle this time losing his left foot. Walter, it seemed, was destined to have a rough life. He was living an unfaithful life but bad things continued to happen to him and he would soon find out that bad luck was commonplace for Van Brunt's. Towards the end of the book Walter meets with his dad and finds out what happened on that fateful day in 1949 that left his mother dead and Walter to be raised by Lola and Hesh. Upon meeting with his father he finds out about his mothers death and that he is not so different from his father. Both of them were unfaithful to their wives and both seemed to be destined to have bad luck. In the end of the meeting we find out that Walter had been named after his ancestor, Wouter. His ancestor, like himself and his father, was a deceitful, bad person and their was no use trying to fight fate anymore for Walter because three hundred years later the the Van Brunt's had not changed; badluck was in his families blood and bones.

Progression of Time in "World's End"

2007-10-09T20:51:00.000-04:00

When I initially began reading T.C. Boyle's "World's End," I was confused by the way Boyle skips between both the past and present in introducing his characters. I had been told to expect this, however I noticed that as the book progresses this theme of historical chaos continues. Although I had adapted to his writing style, the way Boyle constantly alludes to similar historical events indicates a theme of cultural progress, or as it appears, the lack thereof.

Examples of these allusions include the comparison of the U.S.S. Anima and the 1699 wreck of William Kidd's Quedah Merchant (pg 12/14), the mention of Revolutionary War figures on Walter's ride home (pg 17), and later in the book as Depeyster peruses a biography of General Israel Putnam dating back to the 18th century (pg 161). While these specific allusions exist, it is the theme of lack of cultural progress that is most powerful. It is almost as if Boyle is suggesting that we have not learned from history- from our historical ancestors.

An example of on a character basis is found in Walter, who is following his father down the slippery slope of depression, danger (their similar motorcycle injuries), and alcohol abuse. On the cultural level this lack of progress is evident in Boyle's references to American literature, specifically his character Sasha Freeman's "Marx Among the Mohicans" (titled similarly to Cooper's novel "Last of the Mohicans").

Overall, Boyle is implying that American culture has not progressed due to its inability to learn from historical mistakes- mistakes that could have been avoided through the transfer of wisdom and values typically associated with the passing of generations.

The Art of Industrial Ruins

2007-10-09T14:54:00.000-04:00

Walkway Over Hudson

2007-10-09T14:53:00.001-04:00

Great exhibit of Hudson River Paintings

2007-10-04T14:51:00.000-04:00

Closes January 13.

The Two Canals

2007-10-03T18:02:00.000-04:00

A comparison between George Washington’s privately financed Potomac River canal and the publicly funded Erie Canal offers a striking exception to the common conception of efficiency. Most would argue that a profit-driven corporation with a strong financial base would have a greater chance of success than an unaffected group of disconnected politicians scrounging for pennies. Thomas Jefferson even said “public undertakings are carelessly managed, and much money spent on little purpose.” However, in the years building up to the construction of the Erie Canal in 1817, the opposite occurred.
George Washington was one of the first to identify the importance of connecting the developing west with the backbone of the United States along the eastern coast. He indicated how “one channel, supplying the wants [and] increasing the wealth … of each great section of the empire, will form an imperishable cement of connection, and an indissoluble bond of union.” With this perfect link in mind, The Patowmack Canal Company attempted to tame the fierce rapids and frequent waterfalls of the Potomac River in Virginia. Unfortunately, the company underestimated its ferocity and the river “[fought] against his plans for it almost every inch of the way” (72). Washington searched for day-to-day management to aid in designing the canal, eventually settling on James Rumsey, an innkeeper with little engineering knowledge. At this point, problems began to arise. Laborers were unprepared for the icy streams up to their thighs and started drinking heavily. Due to the small labor base interested in joining the chaos of a few drunk men, Washington “had no choice but to buy black slaves and to take over the indentures of Irish immigrants to add to his canal force” (74). The canal did become a functioning waterway, yet the task was not completed until after Washington’s death. Just years later, the Patowmack Company declared bankruptcy and the vision of massive amounts of goods flowing upstream was shattered. “While corn, whiskey, furs, and timber floated downstream toward the Atlantic without much difficulty, only trifling amounts of light manufactured goods moved upstream toward the mountain” (75).
The Erie Canal, in its slow progression, eventually became the surviving dominating force of the 19th century. This state-financed project luckily found the more geographically profitable section of land in New York from Lake Erie. Constant opposition pointed out the impossibility of the daunting task and the drain on funds that a young nation could not afford, especially when the War of 1812 exhausted some of the surplus. “Disbelief was real, not a blind for political discord: many people were simply unable to visualize how such a novel, gigantic, and hugely expansive project could ever fulfill those glowing promises” (181). Believers such as Joshua Forman stood their ground, indicating that “the state of New-York would never rest until the canal was accomplished” (125). Once construction began, “all the years of debate, doubt, and division seemed to melt away (180).” The pieces came into place for the Erie Canal. Laborers were free men, many contributing relevant technological growth to aid in the digging process. The final cost of the canal reflected the original estimate of approximately $6 million and the task was completed on schedule without any severe mistakes. Populations and economies boomed around the canal, with property values “tripling” in major areas as “the area’s rich production of wheat, barley oats, and corn found an artery of transportation to feed the east” (351).
The state of New York succeeded in achieving the dream of many Americans, opening up commerce to the world and bringing New York City the traffic that would lead to its great expansion. The Erie Canal is an outstanding example of a successful public undertaking that lead to the growth and prosperity of an entire nation.

Inspiration from a Canal

2007-10-03T11:21:00.001-04:00

Even more so than Shorto's book, Wedding of the Waters broadened my perspective in ways which seem redundant in retrospect. Simply put, Bernstein's book was so far from anything I would have ever read and the subject matter (compared to Island at the Center of the World, Bernstein's book is much drier and economically-focused), I was a little unsure how to react to the information. I kept feeling some sense of pity, however, for the short-lived glory of the Erie Canal. The work was completed in 1825; Wilbur Wright would make his first flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903, a mere 78 years after the Canal's opening. Likewise, trans-continental railroads would cross America for the remainder of the 19th century, though Bernstein states that "the Erie Canal inspired the route the very first steam railroad in the United States" (344). I realize that my main reaction was concerned with the transport of people, not goods - I had to laugh at the Van Buren quotation on 197, where he swears, "The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed." Since then, of course, we've sent human beings at mind-melting speeds to outer space.
Ironically, Wedding of the Waters served as a catalyst for my main concerns, which appear hardly relevant to the Erie Canal, though I think they are valid: when did wanderlust become a legitimate psychological phenomenon if transportation was so slow and difficult (Wikipedia states the word entered English dictionaries as recently as 1902), when did America begin using asphalt and pavement to form roads, if the Interstate Highway System is only a development of the past 75 years how did people get around before? When did water transportation become so clearly divided between the leisurely (cruises, tours, sailing, our trip on Wednesday) and the industrial (barges, fishing boats, etc.) - no one takes a boat across the ocean anymore.
Likewise, it seems The Erie Canal's greatest achievement was not in and of itself, but rather as a symbol and ideal for other seemingly-insane projects, be they transportation/water-related or not. This is not to dismiss the hard efforts of those who planned and created The Erie Canal; but rather a deepending of the Canal's importance, since it affected much more beyond the scope of the Hudson River.

Cities Created by the Canal

2007-10-03T02:19:00.000-04:00

Peter Bernstein’s Wedding of the Waters gives a detailed account of the unprecedented engineering marvel that is the Erie Canal. Once constructed, the Canal effected virtually every aspect of American life. One of the most fascinating, though not surprising, results of the economic opportunities presented by the canal was the rapid expansion of numerous towns across central New York. Rochester provides an interesting example of one such town created by the Canal.
Bernstein mentions Rochester in two very separate contexts. First, he comments on the incredible aqueduct that crossed the Genessee River. This incredible crossing was more then 3 city blocks long and strong enough to support several tons of water; it was the largest single structure along the entire canal. The construction of the canal through Rochester illustrates the scale of this project. But there is more to Rochester then merely the impressive engineering of the canal. As a result of the canal, Rochester underwent an economic boom that caused the expansion and industrialization of massive proportions.
In 1809 Rochester was virtually unheard of and largely unimportant in the context of American history. Bernstein cites a traveler who described Rochester as, "a Godforsaken place inhabited by muskrats, visited only by straggling trappers, through which neither man nor beast could gallop without fear of starvation or ague"(272). Just 27 years after the canal’s completion, Rochester’s population had ballooned to 36,000 and had become famous for its mills and factories. Rochester had become such an industrial center that into the late 20th century it was considered a major producer of American textiles and helped transform the men’s clothing industry (360). Without the Erie canal it is likely that Rochester, and many other towns in central New York that turned into industrial centers, would never have become more then a small village in the middle of wilderness.
The implications of this expansion reached many aspects of American life. Paul E. Johnson wrote a book called A Shop Keepers Millennium that places Rochester at the center of a religious revival across America in the early 19th century. Many historians agree that roots of 19th century militant American Protestantism can be found in the rapidly expanding industrial towns of Central New York. Militant Protestantism arose in these towns because rapid industrialization put lots of money into the hands of ambitious young men and thus created an environment that promoted heavy drinking, sexual promiscuity and gambling. Religious individuals that came in contact with these areas developed methods for Christianizing immoral individuals. These methods directly informed the abolitionist and temperance movements that swept across the norther states before the civil war. Thus the Erie Canal was a factor not only in the economics of 19th century America, but also in the most important moral debates of the era.

The Erie Canal: A Linkage To The Hudson and Our Nation's History

2007-10-03T00:26:00.000-04:00

The Erie Canal is an American icon sculpted by the deft hands of early Americans, which remains a modern emblem, connecting us to our nation’s historic roots as well as the Atlantic to the Great Lakes. In his book Wedding Of The Waters Peter Bernstein recounts the difficulty of building a waterway in a lively, engaging way. George Washington had failed to use the Potomac river to create a waterway over the mountains. Later, privately owned companies tried to improve New York state's rivers, but thwarted by debt, inadequate engineering, and as Bernstein states, "the constraints imposed by nature."

In this reading, Bernstein addresses many fascinating dimensions of the Erie Canal, from its engineering, construction, and politics, to economics. The "unfamiliar history" of the Erie Canal illustrates how the United states started on its path towards becoming a world economic power. The canal led to "an historic explosion of commerce, ideas, and technological change. By bringing the interior to the seas and the seas to the interior, the Erie Canal would shape a great nation, knit the sinews of the Industrial Revolution, propel globalization--extending America's networks outside our own borders--and revolutionize the production and supply of food for the entire world."

Much like the Hudson River, the Erie Canal alleviated the challenges of traveling in the 1800's. Bernstein notes that moving people and goods was a grueling task in terms of speed and comfort. Adding to these problems, the Appalachian Mountains drew a definite barrier between the eastern 14 states and the territories of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio, which were being settled by pioneers moving west. Without the Erie Canal, the territory west of the Appalachian Mountains might break off to form a separate nation. As Bernstein notes in Wedding Of The Waters the Erie Canal linked or "married" the Hudson River to the Great Lakes, which ultimately solidified strong trade links that unified the trans-Appalachian divide and enabled early pioneers to expand westward.

Photos from Wednesday's trip

2007-10-02T17:30:00.000-04:00

I set up a flickr account for the photos I took on Wednesday. They're linked above, but in case that doesn't work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/choicesnaps/

Hope you enjoy them.

On the River

2007-09-29T08:33:00.001-04:00

Poughkeepsie

2007-09-25T07:56:00.001-04:00

Reviving Hudson Maritime Industry?

2007-09-24T09:19:00.000-04:00

War and the Hudson

2007-09-18T23:51:00.000-04:00

The Hudson River proved to be a crucial part of the quest for freedom among American colonies. George Washington realized the importance that the Hudson River and the Hudson River Valley would play in the war against the British, and he defended the region accordingly. After Burgoyne's victory at Saratoga, General Washington ordered General Vaughn to build West Point on the most narrow part of the Hudson River, which Washington called the 'key to America.' This is interesting because Washington knew that the British would try to come as far up the Hudson as they could, for the river was rich with trade opportunities. West Point took two years to build and cost $3 million, and fortress that seemed impossible to infiltrate stood on the Hudson. West Point, however, would be the center of the most infamous case of treason in American history. Benedict Arnold, an officer under Washington, sold the plans of West Point and the battle plans of the Continental army to a British officer. Personally, I did not realize that the Hudson was part of the foundation that built America. Washington's foresight as to the importance that the Hudson would play in the war saved the colonies, and his construction of West Point created a great fortress, which transformed into the U.S. army's university/college. What is most impressive about West Point is that it truly could not be penetrated by English forces. Not until an officer of the U.S. army decided to betray his country did the fort seem vulnerable to attack. This is truly amazing. Yet this story about the revolutionary war is not as well known as Gettysburg or Lexington. If Washington did not protect the Hudson, we may all be speaking in English accents and drinking tea in the late afternoon. The Hudson was one of the most, if not the most important trade regions in colonial America. The fur trade was booming, and the colonies could not lose such an important part of their new economy. The Hudson was vital to America before it became a free, democratic society - and the Hudson would shape the economic structure of the northeast and the rest of the country for years to come. Washington's efforts to protect the river from the British proved to be just as important as the famous battles that we have read about throughout High School and College.

Hudson and the Revolutionary War

2007-09-18T23:01:00.000-04:00

While reading Tom Lewis' section on the impact of the Hudson on the Revolutionary War from his book I was intrigued at how much of an impact the river had on the outcome and strategy of the war. When thinking of the Revolutionary War I think of many important battles, but i never thought about the location of the battles in relationship to the Hudson River. The Hudson River, according to Lewis, was instrumental to many of the decisions that generals and George Washington made throughout the war. George Washington knew that the river valley would be important and "kept a wary eye on the valley knowing that 'passage of the Enemy up the North River, is a point big with many Consequences to the public interest." The English were considered to have the best navy in the world, and the fact that a militia army was able to hold the river amazes me. One of the aspects of George Washington's military intelligence that impresses me is that he knew that it was imperative that the English did not control the river with their navy and he constructed a remarkable fortress in West Point. The fortress consisted of a massive chain that went across the river as well as a fortresses that altogether consisted of sixty cannons. The river now became in control of the rebels and only sabotage from the inside it seemed, would allow the English to take control of the river. The fortress of West Point served its purpose in the Revolutionary War and would continue to be a landmark in the US military. Another battle in the Hudson River Valley that intrigues me is the battle of Saratoga. The American forces were able to us their knowledge of the land and we were able to surround the British on three sides with the river as the fourth and 'cork the bottle' on the British troops and not allow them to retreat. The American army used its knowledge of the river to build a fortress at a key location on the river and its knowledge of the landscape to win an important battle at Saratoga

The Steamboat...

2007-09-18T22:26:00.000-04:00

While the concept of a steam powered vessel was not new, it was the ingenuity and perseverance of Robert Fulton and Chancellor Robert R. Livingston that would bring the first vessel to the Hudson and forever change the face of boating on the river.
Fascinated by mechanics at a young age, Fulton dabbled in the design of various machines such as a mill for cutting marble. His more interesting designs, however, followed a maritime theme. He made designs of various crafts, including submarines, and a vessel with a salmon tail-inspired propulsion system. While none of these designs ever produced a viable prototype, it was his interest in canals that brought him to France, where he met Livingston, who was serving as America's minister to France.
Both Fulton and Livingston had interest in steamboats, and each had dabbled with designs prior to the establishment of their formal partnership in 1806. With Livingston handling the financial and political business, and Fulton creating the first prototype vessel, they formed a seemingly unstoppable force. In 1798, Livingston had convinced the New York state legislature to give him a "exclusive rights to operate steamboats on the Hudson River," provided he manufacture a craft that could meet what the legislature believed to be an impractical set of requirements.
The vessel was completed in 1807, having survived both financial strain and attempted sabotage by local boatmen threatened by what they saw as the end of their era. With their monopoly in place, Fulton and Livingston's steamboat entered regular service on the Hudson River later that year, traveling regularly between New York and Albany. The steamboat forever changed the concept of maritime transportation, in that its travel time between ports could be roughly predicted, unlike sail powered vessels. By establishing a scheduled service, vast numbers of people were able to access the region and move efficiently and predictably between it's key ports.
Not suprisingly, many challenged the monopoly as Fulton and Livingston's enterprise grew, amounting to a series of legal actions that would continue long after their deaths. While neither Fulton or Livingston ever achieved the true success they both lusted for, their actions and achievements paved the way for numerous entrepreneurs and the future of the transportation industry as a whole.

Information gathered from Tom Lewis's "The Hudson: A History"

Pete Seeger

2007-09-18T12:23:00.001-04:00

Hudson River Ramble

2007-09-17T05:10:00.001-04:00

High Tech Subs to Monitor Hudson

2007-09-12T17:41:00.001-04:00

Native Americans in Shorto's work

2007-09-12T12:47:00.000-04:00

Shorto’s work encompasses many different aspects of New York’s discovery and settlement by Europeans. The author does a fantastic job of illustrating the tumultuous relations between European nations, namely England and the Netherlands, which helped shaped the small outpost into the thriving metropolis that it is today. Furthermore, Shorto acknowledges to the many Native American nations whose influence on New York is of vital importance. Often times the history of the Americas is examined through a Eurocentric lens where the influence of native peoples is largely ignored. The Island at the Center of the World not only illustrates the importance of these people but also does justice to their diverse cultural heritage and tragic down fall.
There are two separate groups of Indians that Shorto discusses at length. These groups are defined not by culture but merely geography. The tribes to the north, specifically the Mohawk and Mahican, were very different culturally and linguistically but are often grouped together by Shorto because there geography afforded them similar treatment from the Europeans to their south. The tribes to the South, specifically the Wickquasgeck, Tappan, Raritan and Hackinsack, were embroiled in conflict with Dutch settlers because of their proximity to Manhattan.
Shorto points out that there are two stereotypes that make it difficult for us to understand these people, “The one arose from the long cultural dismissing of American Indians as ‘primitive’, and the modern dogma that sees them as Noble and Defenseless” (50-51). He goes on to illustrate that neither or these perceptions is correct. His examples of Native American culture show how these people were just like us in their capacity to be benevolent, vengeful, rash and intelligent as any European. Although they may not have been technologically advanced by European standards, these people had a profound effect on the history of New York.
The southern group of Indian’s that inhabited the area served as invaluable guides in the very early years of Dutch settlement. They were involved in the exchange of land all around Manhattan including the Island itself. These peoples understanding of real estate, which Shorto explains in great detail, indicates that they were not duped into selling their land at unreasonably low costs but in fact benefited from the protection and trade with Europeans that came back to them via these exchanges. The many conflicts between these groups and the European settlers also had a profound effect on the area. Kieft’s war and the Council of Blood “became ingrained in the national psyche” (125). The opposition of many Dutch settlers to war with the Native Americans would have profound effects throughout Dutch states.
The northern group of Indians was also very important to the development of New York. Shorto points out that the trade of Beaver pelts was extremely important to the early economy of New Amsterdam. It was the Mohawk and Mahican tribes that were responsible for trapping the Beavers and shipping the pelts to the Hudson River where they could be exported. Without the contributions of these peoples, it is likely that the economic history of New York would have been profoundly different.
In reading this work I was struck by Shorto’s treatment of the many Indian nations around Manhattan. He gave a detailed account of their cultural diversity and ways of life. His discussion of the many conflicts with Europeans illustrated not only the tragic bloodshed, most notably Kieft’s war and Peach war, but also the unique place of Native Americans in helping to shape modern day New York.

Now I Have to Go to The Netherlands

2007-09-12T10:06:00.001-04:00

About midway through Island at the Center of the World, I had the inexplicable urge to go to The Netherlands (which I'd been calling Holland - Holland is actually just a part of The Netherlands, like a county or state), and I began researching Study Abroad opportunities. I'd been planning on going to Vienna for a year now, but I was really, really tempted to change my application destination to Leiden. I didn't in the end, but I do know I will be heading north, towards Scandinavia, for Spring Break, and not south to Ibiza.
But that's all anecdotal - there's a particular passage in Chapter 13 about the linguistic contributions of the Dutch that fascinated me. Specifically, the words "boss" (which, as Shorto points out in a footnote referencing Bruce Springsteen, is a classically American word), "cookies" (without which Girl Scout Cookies would not be the phrase it is), and "cole slaw" (essential to all good BBQ - essentially the cuisine of America). Shorto also spends a mere paragraph on the Dutch origins of the American celebration of Christmas, which, by now, has not only completely forgotten its Eurpoean roots, but is synonymous with American consumerism, since the Christmas shopping season begins about two months before thre actual holiday.
Previous to reading this book, I had never given much thought to the Dutch in general - I couldn't point out The Netherlands on a map, and I was pretty sure Dutch was spoken in Denmark. I was wrong, of course.
I'd be interested to learn if there were any linguistic similarities between the Indian languages spoken at the time and Dutch, since so much of New York is named after either. I also wonder whether there are words in our vernacular that originated in Indian languages, or if Europeans so thoroughly dessimated the culture as to ensure that even the tiniest remnant - like "cookie" - could not permeate.
Overall, Shorto's book was very lively and edifying.

Do The Dutch Care?

2007-09-12T09:57:00.000-04:00

In my American arrogance, I had always believed our country laid the unique framework for its political focus on liberty, justice, and equality from a unique balancing act of fundamental Judeo-Christian values, Greco-Roman values for the city-state, as well as the Enlightenment. We had drawn from ancient political ideals to create our distinctive system of religious tolerance, due process, and limited government that was unheard of in other parts of the world. The textbooks of today fail to mention a society with “American ideals” appearing before us.
The chapter titled “The Lawman” discusses the many components of the Dutch Republic’s ideology that appear remarkably similar to the American political ideals I conceived were our own. The town of Leiden was a sanctuary of religious freedom where “Brownists, Baptists, Walloons, Huguenots, Fifth Monarchy Men, and Ashkenazic Jews came … to live and worship” (95). The magistrates of the town voiced their openness to William Bradford and Pilgrims who had no choice but to escape discrimination in England, declaring the only requirement to live in the city was [honest behavior and submission to all laws]. Even the 1579 Dutch provincial de facto constitution guaranteed that “each person shall remain free, especially in his religion” (96). The Framers of the American Constitution believed religious diversity would strengthen the state, however, the common conception that they discovered this idea is incorrect.
In the Dutch Republic, the “age of the individual was at hand” and the “modern concept of a state as an independent political entity was coming into being” (98-99). Privacy became an unwritten right as the home redefined itself as a “personal, intimate space.” People even understood the strength of the people and the importance of the common man. One of Grotius’s followers, Piet van Cunaeus, established the idea that a “republican form of government was morally superior to a monarchy, and that enterprises like the West India Company enriched a wealthy few to the detriment of both the state and ordinary people” (100). These ideas molded the Dutch generation, but are also fundamental to American politics today.
These components imbedded in our political ideology have gained immeasurable amounts of exposure as America’s distinct values, while people ignore the Dutch history that clearly displayed these principles 200 years before. With the loss of this recognition and the lack of acknowledgement for their role in Manhattan’s growth, the Dutch surprise me. I wonder what is going on in their minds. Few Americans understand the role they have played in the physical and ideological foundation of our nation. Do the Dutch care?

FDR's Secret Friend

2007-09-07T06:59:00.001-04:00

Holly Hill

2007-09-07T06:54:00.000-04:00

Monitoring Hudson

2007-09-07T06:52:00.001-04:00

Bass Fishing Tour Comes to Hudson

2007-09-01T17:47:00.000-04:00

Desalination Plant Proposed for Hudson

2007-09-01T17:46:00.001-04:00

Networking the Hudson

2007-09-01T17:44:00.001-04:00

An Environmental Technology Complex

2007-08-16T00:22:00.000-04:00

Rock Snot

2007-08-08T07:14:00.001-04:00

Development in Yonkers

2007-07-30T16:47:00.000-04:00

Testing the Waters

2007-07-30T10:13:00.000-04:00

Sugar Town

2007-07-30T09:52:00.001-04:00

Nyack

2007-07-30T09:49:00.001-04:00

Restoring oysters

2007-07-30T07:07:00.000-04:00

Ferry Landings Development

2007-07-11T06:37:00.000-04:00