In this chapter, McCully begins by describing what the waters surrounding New York were like prior to centuries of pollution. It is almost hard to imagine the abundance of species and estuaries that were here prior to European settlement. McCully describes how each of the variety of aquatic species had an important role in the functioning of the ecosystems, and that the wealth of aquatic life provided food for other animals (79). She explains the specific functions of specific species to show that every single species is crucial to the balance of a greater system, which is something we have spoken about in our class. It is crazy to think that the fish were so plentiful “that a man can walk across the river on their backs” (80).
As usual, McCully talks about the destructive practices of the European colonists. She goes on and on about how intrusive and disruptive the Europeans, specifically the Dutch, were to the waters of New York beginning in the 1600s. The attitude of the European settlers is expressed and shows, once, again, their lack of respect and appreciation for the ecosystems that was here before. They could only focus on the potential pasturage and cropland and they viewed the marshes and wetlands to be gross and useless. On page 82, a Dutch man’s survey of the land is quoted saying, “Where the meadows are boggy and wet, such failings are easily remedied by cutting and breaking the bogs in winter and letting off the water in the spring” (82). It is interesting how he uses the word “failings” to describe these meadows. We have a very similar attitude problem in society today. People consider swamps to be gross and useless, because they are not aesthetically pleasing, and they do not realize the how necessary these ecosystems are.
She continues to talk about the amount of pollution and destruction that accumulated over the past four hundred years and its impact. Endless pollution, over crabbing, and dumping of sewage into the waters of New York, led this once flourishing marine ecosystem to become almost unrecognizable. It was extremely disturbing to read about how many tons of garbage were dumped right offshore of the city over the years. After all the garbage dumpings, chemical wastes, oil spills, and over-harvesting, I am shocked that there were still some species that were able to survive and live in the waters.
What I liked about this reading was that there was a very big focus on the legislation and efforts to fix the water pollution problems. It is worth noting, however, that a lot of this legislation came too late and only because it was beginning to affect the health of humans. (I do not think that the majority of people actually cared about the animals being killed; they just cared about their own health.) Many acts and regulatory groups made significant progress in reversing the problems, however, as mentioned in the chapter, “government regulation alone cannot remedy conditions unless public sentiment is ready to demand a strict enforcement of the necessary law” (87). While there have been great and effective efforts by the government, it all comes down to public opinion. For example, the New York State Conservation Law of 1911 prohibited the pollution of streams by oil refineries, but it was vastly ignored. There were also antienvironmental Republicans in Congress, and I found it very disturbing that people we elected are against conservation efforts. Another big issue was that major companies, such as GE, were releasing PCB’s from their plants into the water, and it was very difficult to control these industries.
On the other hand, there were a lot of people who did care about the pollution and did end up making a difference. In the 1970’s, people, including fishermen, environmentalists, and concerned citizens formed a coalition known as the Riverkeeper. They began suing the major industries responsible for polluting the Hudson. People were outraged about what was going on, and this public sentiment is what was able to make a difference. It gives hope that there are people who do care about the environment. Robert F. Kennedy represents these people very well by saying that they felt they owned the Hudson and that it was being taken away from them. He makes a comparison to a truck unloading PCB’s on your backyard (89). Even though it is not a large percentage of the population who have these views and are involved environmental efforts, it is nice to see that there is a great community of people who are succeeding in making a difference and restoring some of the species that used to be here.
