Helping environment
About 30 people from coalition participate in nature cleanup event
Dozen help clean up the Hudson River shoreline./
They came to Hudson Shores Park with boots and buckets and a single task in mind: sweep the trash from the river and its tributaries.
“Well, there’s a lot of crap,” said Mike Mcglynn, 68, from Watervliet. In his hands was a ragged blanket, a bucket full of plastic items, a large trash bag full of smaller trash bags and another bucket with various types of “crap” like glass and cans of soda.
“But I feel great,” Mcglynn added. “It’s a beautiful day, and I’m doing something good, you know?”
He was there with the Capital Region Interfaith Creation Care Coalition, an organization devoted to mitigating the climate crisis for present and future generations.
Around 30 people showed up to the cleanup event, which had been originally planned for May but was postponed due to the pandemic. The volunteers were a part of Riverkeeper’s Annual
River Sweep, a day when hundreds of people from New York City to the Adirondacks head to the Hudon River’s shores to remove all sorts of debris and trash.
Barbara Leonard, a member of CRICCC, was coordinating and leading the river sweep in Hudson Shores Park. Volunteers brought buckets of trash to her, and she organized them on tables accordingly: glass pieces on one table, cans on the other, tires and old bicycles on the ground. The city
of Watervliet would later recycle and dispose of everything the volunteers laid out.
“Well, I’m old, and I’m concerned about the next generation,” Leonard said of her reason for being involved. “I feel like we should try to do something positive. Even if it’s something small, it’s the least we can do.”
Kevin Conley, in boots with holes around the right toe that showed some steel, was searching for glass along the mucky shoreline. Conley is the chair of CRICCC’S zero waste committee.
“Just trying to be kind to planet Earth and care for creation,” he said.
Last year, River Sweep day helped remove more than 31 tons of trash, according to CRICCC.
And this was Dan Shapley’s ninth time participating in River Sweep day.
“I’ve been to a lot of the cleanups,” Shapley said.
“Me too,” said his 8-yearold son, Ben.
Shapley is the water quality program director for Riverkeeper, a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection of the Hudson River.
“It’s very satisfying and infuriating to work on something like this,” Shapley said.
Satisfying because the positive impact was tangible. Infuriating because buckets and bags were constantly being refilled with more trash.
“Every generation alive right now is dealing with the environmental crisis, but anything we do now is going to either make it worse or better,” Shapley said. “It’s our job to make it better. Having a child certainly reminds you of that every single day.”
I’m old and I’m concerned about the next generation. I feel like we should try to do something positive.” — Barbara Leonard, volunteer