Dealing with climate change and protecting the environment were prominent themes in speeches at the season opening of the Science Barge operated by Groundwork Hudson Valley on the Yonkers waterfront. The barge serves as both an educational tool and a practical demonstration of what can be achieved through sustainable practices. It hosts school groups as well as being a destination that’s free to the public on weekends.
Solar panels, wind turbines and biofuels generate the electricity used on the barge. A greenhouse is stocked with hydroponically grown plants that are irrigated by rainwater and purified Hudson River water. Fresh produce such as tomatoes, melons, peppers, and lettuce grown on the barge is provided to a women’s shelter and a church group.
The start of the 2024 season for the barge was marked with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 1. Groundwork Hudson Executive Director Oded Holzinger, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, and State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins were among the featured speakers.
Holzinger thanked funders including Yonkers, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Stewart-Cousins, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Con Edison, Sarah Lawrence, and individual donors.
“We all understand that we live in a unique time of urgent need to address climate change,” Holzinger said. “We don’t need to read any U.N. reports to know it. We all see it and feel it … through every intense rain event and every intense heat wave and the wildfires we’ve been experiencing.”
Spano said, “We know here in Yonkers, Yonkers, New York, that if we do everything were supposed to do we probably won’t solve climate change but we also know that if we don’t do everything we’re supposed to do we’ll never deal with the issue because we all have to be partners. This planet is a little injured. It was the humans who injured her and it’s up to us to repair it.”
Stewart-Cousins said, “It’s our responsibility to take care of our planet. We know better now, so we have to do better. We treasure our Hudson River, we treasure our planet and we treasure our children. We have to teach them and that’s what happens here with the Science Barge.”
