News > Events > All Events > Hope on the Hudson film screening and panel discussion

When:

December 5, 2018: 6:30PM to 9:30PM

Where:

Nyack Center – 58 Depew Avenue, Nyack, NY 10960 map

To Attend:

RSVP

Join us for a special screening of “Hope on the Hudson,” a series of three short films by National Geographic filmmaker Jon Bowermaster that highlight some of the uplifting stories in the decades-long struggle to save the Hudson River and the communities who cherish and depend on it. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with representatives from Riverkeeper, Clearwater, and the Hudson Valley Farm Hub, the organizations featured in the films and are leading the fight to protect the Hudson River and the Hudson Valley.

This is a free event but RSVP is requested >

We will also be joined by local partner organizations who will host informational tables including, the Nyack Seed Exchange, Rockland Water Coalition,  Cornell Cooperative Extention of Rockland County, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Sparkill Creek Watershed Alliance, and the Hudson Valley Farm Hub.

Films:

Restoring the Clearwater
For nearly a year the historic sloop ‘Clearwater’ was out of the water, on land, enduring what wooden boats have historically endured forever: Restoration. The OCEANS 8 film crew carefully documented the restoration and the return of the classic ship to the Hudson River. Built under the visionary leadership of musician/activist and Hudson River resident Pete Seeger, the ‘Clearwater’ continues to fulfill the original mission he envisioned, to help educate and share the plight of our local Hudson River environment as it luffs its sails and roams America’s “First River.”

Seeds of Hope
From planting to harvest, follow the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe at Akwesasne, the Hudson Valley Farm Hub and Seedshed as they honor Native American seeds that are at risk of disappearing. Can they preserve their rich agricultural heritage and the stories that each seed holds?

Source to Sea
On its 315-mile journey from Lake Tear of the Clouds in the heart of the Adirondacks to meet the Atlantic Ocean in New York Harbor, the Hudson River and the tributaries that feed it give life to our communities. Decades of progress have vastly improved water quality in the Hudson River, but much work remains to make the river and its tributaries safe for swimming, healthy for wildlife and fit for drinking. The Water Quality program at Riverkeeper and its army of volunteer citizen scientists provide the data to answer the question, “How’s the water?” and the people power to fuel continued restoration efforts.

Panel:
Maija Niemisto – Education Director, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater
Brooke Pickering-Cole – Director, Hudson Valley Farm Hub
Dan Shapley – Director of Water Quality Program, Riverkeeper
Moderated by Jon Bowermaster, filmmaker, Oceans 8

 

Brooke Pickering-Cole, Director, Hudson Valley Farm Hub. Prior to becoming the Farm Hub’s Director, Brooke was the Associate Director for Community Relations for the Local Economies Project of the New World Foundation, serving on the team that developed the non-profit Farm Hub from its inception in 2013.  With a background in community development and local government, she is a former town supervisor and town board member in Marbletown, New York (Ulster County) where she has lived for the past twenty years.   Brooke serves on the board of the Near Eastern Art Research Center, the Coby Foundation, the O&W Rail Trail Commission, and the Live-Well Kingston Commission.  She is a graduate of Oberlin College.

 

Maija Niemisto

Maija Niemisto, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater’s Education Director since 2016, is a scientist and educator.  She holds a Masters degree in Marine Sciences from Stony Brook University with a research focus on HudSONAR, a biological acoustic survey on the Hudson River Estuary.  While in graduate school, she was a teaching assistant for Physical Oceanography, an alumni website management assistant and worked with Riverkeeper in 2016 as a data analyst before joining Clearwater as Education Director.

Her scientific research has focused on fish and zooplankton distribution on the Hudson River using biological acoustics.  She has also studied how climatic temperature variability impacts fish and plankton population dynamics on the Hudson River Estuary.  From 2008 to 2014, Maija served as Clearwater’s Onboard Education Specialist and then Director of Shipboard Education. She now leads a team of professional educators in delivering Clearwater’s award-winning environmental education program.

 

Dan Shapley, Water Quality Program Director

As director of Riverkeeper’s Water Quality Program, Dan Shapley and the water quality team coordinate the largest community science water quality sampling project of its kind, sampling hundreds of locations throughout the Hudson River and its tributaries, primarily to show when and where water is safe for swimming. The data gathered is the basis for advocacy to stop water pollution, by catalyzing needed investments in water infrastructure and watershed management, including protection of drinking water at its source.

He is a founding board member (since 2015) of the Wallkill River Watershed Alliance, and a board member (since 2018) of the Hudson River Watershed Alliance. He also serves on the Joint Environmental Committee for the Village and Town of Rhinebeck.

A graduate of Hartwick College, he started his career as an award-winning reporter, columnist and editor focused on the environment for the Poughkeepsie Journal and TheDailyGreen.com. He lives in Rhinebeck, N.Y., with his wife, son, and dogs.

 

Jon Bowermaster, Filmmaker
Writer, filmmaker and adventurer, Jon is a six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council. One of the Society’s ‘Ocean Heroes,’ his first assignment for National Geographic Magazine was documenting a 3,741 mile crossing of Antarctica by dogsled. Jon has written eleven books and produced/directed more than thirty documentary films.

Jon lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. He is the Executive Producer of Oceans 8 Films and President of One Ocean Media Foundation, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation and a Board Member of Mark Ruffalo’s Water Defense.

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