On August 31st, Water Justice Lab hosted a joint event with Riverkeeper and the Lewis Pugh Foundation at Ingalls Avenue Boat Launch in North Troy, to mark Lewis Pugh’s halfway point in his #HudsonSwim2023 journey from the Adirondacks to New York City. Our Water Justice Lab media intern Aljahraun Wright interviewed Lewis Pugh about his experiences so far and about water advocacy in the Capital Region and beyond, then we took a water sample at the boat launch, for processing at NATURE lab! As we learned, Pugh has done most of his swims for water advocacy in oceans. He’s done four river swims, and acknowledged that rivers are more heavily polluted than oceans due to their proximity to urban areas, agriculture, and industry, and that the people he’s met in the communities along the Hudson are passionate about its protection and health. Listen to Aljahraun and Lewis’ interview here! The event was covered by other local news outlets, including the Troy Record and News Channel 13.
Above: Members of the Water Justice Lab team (including L to R: volunteer & mentor Doug Reed, Community Science Educator Ellie Irons, NATURE Lab coordinator Kathy High, Media Mentor Alÿcia Bacon, and Media Intern Aljahraun Wright) pose with Lewis Pugh (far right) at the Ingalls Avenue Boat Launch, with a view of the Hudson River behind them. A banner in the background reads “Hudson Swim 2023”.
Above: Aljahraun processes the water sample taken at the boat launch during the Lewis Pugh event.
