During our June 24th water testing session, Dr. Emilly Obuya–Sage College professor of chemistry and long-time NATURE Lab contributor–joined our fellows, mentors, and visiting artist Ipi Fernandez for a conversation on water justice and the scientific method. We talked through the stages of observation and being curious about our environments, forming a hypothesis, or educated guess, collecting and interpreting data, and how that data can be interpreted and used for positive change. We also visited the 123rd boat launch in Lansingburgh to sample water in the rain. Of course sewage contamination levels came back high on Sunday because rain contributes to combined sewer overflows. Want to know more about that? Listen to last year’s interviews with Charles Remmington and Scott Kellogg!
![Five people relax around the table in the downstairs kitchen of the NATURE Lab building with drinks and snacks.](https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IMG_0720-1024x768.jpg)
![A Sanctuary youth fellow takes notes in the NATURE Lab as two other people look on.](https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IMG_0571-1024x768.jpg)
![An outlining of the scientific method drawn in colored pencil.](https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IMG_0728-1024x928.jpg)
![A dark-skinned person jots down scientific findings on the round table in the NATURE Lab.](https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IMG_0944-1-1024x726.jpg)
![Dr. Emilly Obuya leads a discussion with six other people around the table in the NATURE Lab.](https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IMG_0943-1-1024x768.jpg)
![A Sanctuary youth fellow uses a pole to collect a water sample from the Hudson River.](https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IMG_0927-2-1-1024x768.jpg)
![Two youth fellows and two mentors smile for a photo on the shore of the Hudson River on a rainy day. The youths are wearing vinyl gloves and carrying water sampling equipment.](https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IMG_0935-1-1024x768.jpg)