Feed Your Mind: Education and Science on the Hudson
This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend and help out with CISC’s Hydroponics and the City: New Food for a New Age event in Yonkers. The event took place on the Science Barge, run by the lovely people at Groundwork Hudson Valley, and was cosponsored by Gotham Greens and DoTank: Brooklyn. Participants were treated to a tour of the barge, learned about hydroponic growing techniques, and helped construct a hydroponic window farm that was raffled off at the end of the day to one lucky family. It turned out to be a very well spent hot and sunny Saturday.
If you have never been to the Science Barge (I hadn’t before Saturday), it is definitely worth the trip. The Barge is a zero net carbon emissions floating urban farm, powered by solar, wind and biodiesel. Staff at the Barge grow a variety of produce, including leafy greens, strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes and melons. Most of the produce grown there is done so through a closed hydroponic system, meaning that it uses a fraction of the water that conventional agriculture would use to grow the same amount of food.
However, the main goal of the Science Barge is not food production. Rather, it is education. Groundwork Hudson Valley is committed to community empowerment, and views ongoing community building efforts as the path to a sustainable future for individuals, communities and the planet.
As part of this mission, Director of Science Barge Education Gwen Hill runs a range of programs for youth both on and off the Barge, teaching them about urban agriculture, ecosystems, and sustainability. In addition to running educational programming at the Barge, Gwen is also finishing her Master of Geography at Hunter College. She is currently writing her thesis on distribution networks for local, sustainable meat in New York City.
Gwen is one of the many CUNY students pioneering new professional tracks in the sustainability field that would have been hard to imagine even a decade ago. Her work encourages youth in Yonkers and the surrounding area to rethink food and sustainability through the interactive educational experiences available on the Barge. However, as you’re never too young to keep learning the Barge is open to visitors of all ages on Saturdays and Sundays from 12-6pm during the growing season and is easily accessible from the Yonkers stop on the Metro North Hudson line. For detailed directions, check out the Groundwork Hudson Valley website.
