AquaPal Emme Turns Into a Politician!

Hi all, it's Emme. In the Hudson Valley, we are in the midst of a water contamination crisis. This is what we have focused upon as AquaPals. Now, we are in an exciting and terrifying time to be activists and scientists in our community.

Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency has been considering giving General Electric a "Certificate of Completion" for their efforts in the Hudson River. General Electric is the reason that we have PCB contamination in the river and it would be catastrophic if they receive a certificate. This certificate would end the cleanups in the Hudson River which have been reducing contamination.

The AquaPals are taking a firm stand against this. I launched a letter writing campaign to send to representatives on a local, state, and federal level, demanding that our voices are heard.

This is an issue that will affect us for generations. If cleanups continue, it will be at least 55 years until a person can regularly eat from the Hudson. We used to have a vibrant commercial fishing industry from the Hudson. It is likely that will never be possible again. This is the reason why we banded together and found aquaponics as a solution. But, just because aquaponics is our solution doesn't mean that the river should stay polluted. This issue is greater than our research project and will affect my kids, grand kids, great-grand kids and so on.

What's our plan?

-Letter writing collaboration with the Environmental Awareness Club at Arlington

-Make a petition to demand that cleanups remain a part of the agreement with General Electric

-Send letters and emails to General Electric, making our voice heard by the culprits

-Meet with local environmental groups to band together in our efforts

-Go on the radio

-Go on Spectrum News

- Host an educational rally to inform our community about the Hudson River and what we can do about it

-Work with the Duchess County Legislature to send a joint letter demanding that the EPA continues to enforce General Electric's cleanups.

Please help us in our efforts! Sign our petition! Save our beautiful Hudson River and invest in our futures. Thank you so much.