>> It's inspiring for me to see how people
in San Antonio are so aware of the need
to protect their source of drinking water.
Most people growing up in the Hunts Point section
of the South Bronx didn't even know
that there was a river flowing through our community.
And if we knew about the Bronx River,
we avoided any contact with what had become an open sewer.
But in 1998, we joined together
and created Hunts Point Riverside Park.
The first waterfront park in the South Bronx in 60 years.
Creating that park changed how the community saw itself,
and sparked a movement to restore the river and the people
in the communities that it flows through,
but it all began here, at Hunts Point Riverside Park.
>> Quite a few organizations are working
on Bronx River restoration.
I think the singular focus of Rocking the Boat's work and,
perhaps, what makes us somewhat different
than the others is, is our purpose is really
to restore the people of the South Bronx and through
that restoration restore the rivers.
[ Table Saw Sounds ]
Our whole idea is to use real life to teach
and to learn through.
We do it all through boats and water,
and so we build real wooden boats from scratch.
We then teach kids everything they need to know
in order to use those boats.
From navigation to sailing.
These are not things that any of them have ever done
in any other aspects of their lives.
[ Water Sounds ]
[ Music ]
>> In my neighborhood, there's drug dealers,
there's drug users, there's drug abusers,
and there's more liquor stores
than there are schools in Hunts Point.
And you got hookers up
and down the block when, when you see them.
So it's just like, you know,
it's not a place to raise a family.
You know, Rocking the Boat came to my school and they,
you know, they offered their program, and I was like, oh,
rowing a boat, okay, that's nothing.
I just thought it was rowing boats.
So, guys, get in the ready position.
That, that's what you got to do.
So, now she push forward
and now you're going to push forward.
Soon as I got in open water,
it was like a whole 'nother world.
You don't even recognize Hunts Point, from the water.
It looks beautiful when you're on the water.
You're more relaxed.
When the first, first time I got on the water I was relaxed,
I was, you know, I was not as hyper, as I usually am,
I was just, you know, calm.
That's when I realized, like, nature to me is just like,
it should be my partner.
>> I got it!
>> All of the science and restoration we do
on the Bronx River is run through a filter
which asks is this work dynamic, powerful,
medium to do youth development work with middle school
and high school age kids?
If it's not, we don't do it.
>> So you got to be very careful pulling this up.
>>We are growing mussels and seaweed,
both of which eat nutrients and filter nitrates.
We're working with the University of Connecticut
and growing what's called [inaudible], a species of seaweed.
And the purpose of these is
to treat sewage once it's been released, in this case,
from the Hunts Point Waste Water Treatment Plant,
which releases water far from clean.
>> So you put it down until you don't see [inaudible].
And then put it up very slowly, with the liner.
[Water sounds]
>> So who wants to start?
We got two calipers, so maybe you can take turns going 0,1,
2, 3.
>> 1, 2.
>> We are also working with the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration to grow the mussels from a 20
by 20 raft with lines hanging down.
The mussels are growing along those lines.
>> Oh...look at that.
>> Carefully.
>> We'd like to get some numbers
for what an individual mussel is capable of filtering
out of the water, and how they grow,
dependent on what's in the water.
>> And it'll grow mussels and then nothing happens.
>> Right. And then, we also have many thousands of mussels
on the raft, so we can use some extrapolation techniques
to see, well, if one mussel
or a hundred mussels can do this,
maybe a thousand mussels are able to do this.
And if we were to set up multiple rafts,
how much could that impact on water quality issues.
>> Have a good life!
>> So we've really learned to become mussel farmers.
My wife jokes that we're just getting the mussels
to do all the work for us.
And she's actually not wrong about that.
That's exactly how it works and that really is what,
what green research is all about.
[ Motor Boat sounds ]
>> This is my fifth year in Rocking the Boat,
and while my time in Rocking the Boat,
it has changed my perspective on where I want to go.
I want to be a law enforcement agent,
but for the environment.
Environmental protection basically.
To make sure that, you know,
people are treating nature the way they want
to treat a person.
Good.
[ Music ]
>> From the creation of that one park
in Hunts Point has grown the Bronx River Greenway,
a necklace of waterfront parks on the Bronx River.
Now, people all along the river can work together
to restore, preserve, and enjoy this rich, natural resource.
>> [Cheering] Are you ready?
Go! [Cheering]
>> Today is our 14th Annual Amazing Bronx River Flotilla.
>> Team Number 1 is getting in the boat!
>> We had our very first canoe relay race
on the Bronx River today.
We had 9 teams out raising funds for our work,
to bring out young people and families
on the river this summer.
We raised about 35,000 dollars, which is really critical
for us to be able to do more and more of this kind of work.
>> The Bronx River Alliance emerged out of the movement
to create Hunts Point Riverside Park,
and led the effort to remove tens of thousands of tires,
tons of garbage, and even cars from the Bronx River.
[ Drums ]
>> The Flotilla this year is taking place at Starlight Park,
which we're really thrilled
about because this is a park that's right in the middle
of the Bronx and has always been a critical link
in the Bronx River Greenway.
[ Cheering and Laughter ]
>> We had to go far away to find trees
and grass when I was a kid.
And now you can go to Starlight Park
and see a beautiful soccer field,
and see trees, and see benches.
Before it was a park, it was a mess.
Like so many others, they were either wastelands,
one was a cement plant, there were dumping grounds,
but mostly, they were forgotten areas of our neighborhood.
>> I never thought that this was going
to be possible for our river.
>> And now they're beautiful parks
that the community takes care of.
>> So I want to thank you for being a part of this vision
and for getting us motivated to keep on and to continuing,
make sure that this will be here for our children too.
>> We're so excited because this fall we're breaking ground
on River House, which will be the future headquarters
for the Bronx River Alliance,
we'll finally have our facilities right on the river,
so we'll be able to really dramatically expand our
programming and educational opportunities right
on the river.
It'll also be a boathouse,
and a community educational facility,
but it has a very cool,
green design that we're very proud of.
It's gotten a LEED platinum certification,
so it's capturing storm water, they'll be solar panels
on the roof, ground source heat,
vines growing up the exterior of the building.
>> We're taking water from the site,
water that otherwise would just run right into the river.
We capture it in the underground storage tank
and then we use that water to supply a lot of the functions
in the building, but then these vertical walls are irrigated
with rainwater.
In hot weather, the water goes in through the roots,
evaporates transpires through the leaves,
and it'll create a microclimate,
it could reduce the temperature around our building
by 5 degrees or more.
And it wouldn't be maybe such a big deal
if this was happening in Lower Manhattan or in Greenpoint,
Brooklyn, or some of these places that have become
so very gentrified and very expensive,
but the fact that we are devoting this kind of attention
to this community I think is really exciting
and totally appropriate.
>> Every day is like a discovery and I come here
and I photograph, and I find something new!
And I feel, you know, like a kid!
I like to start from Starlight Park here
and take the Greenway and all the way
down to Long Island Sound.
And as I go through each park,
I try to document all the migrating birds
that are inhabiting the river.
Just this past year, I've seen the biggest increase
in biodiversity.
The ospreys came, the herrings came,
the egrets came, [inaudible].
This is very important.
The restoration of the human community
around the river is even more important
than the biodiversity.
They're both important, but they go together.
It's a huge effort by lots of different agencies and people
that have resulted in what's happening right now.
>> People need to understand that we're no different
than people in the suburbs who are preserving that lake.
That we're no different than people out west
who are preserving the grazing lands,
who want the open spaces kept open.
We're no different.
It's just that we are in cement and asphalt,
and we're trying to do something out of that.
[ Music ]
>> Nearly half the population
of the South Bronx lives below the poverty line.
And the unemployment rate is over 25 percent.
As part of an effort to restore our community,
we created one of the first green collar job programs
in the nation.
>> Face where you're hitting.
>> Sustainable South Bronx offers hands-on training
to individuals who are looking for a way to find a job
and to give something back to the community.
>> I say I'm a tour guide.
>> Watch how he's doing it.
>> I guide the students through these different projects,
like here at New Roots, we're doing the rain garden,
but we're actually helping them establish a farm.
The last couple of weeks we planted some raised beds,
there's going to be a greenhouse here.
[Laughter]
>> What we're going to do,
we're going to build a rain garden,
which is going to stop the flow of the water and we're going
to catch the water so that the water's able to absorbed
up into the soil and is used for the plants
and that's what we're doing here.
To actually be able to do hands on and be able to help
with the labor and stuff like that,
that's what so cool about it.
That's why we're like, we're all so excited out here.
>> You can see, I sort of drew that,
with that being the, the drain inlet.
They are very inspiring people.
They didn't necessarily grow up in, you know, greenery.
Everything's concrete and runoff,
but they want to get engaged in it now and that's awesome.
The challenge after will be finding them gainful employment.
>> Right now I'm on public assistance.
Trying to take care of my daughter,
trying to make life better for her.
She's going to be 16-years-old next week,
so I'm just trying to make things better.
>> The program does have a job development sector.
This is one boundary.
Where we help people with their resumes
and workforce development skills,
and we do try to match them up with the jobs
that are appropriate for their skill level.
>> Once we graduate, we'll have certifications.
It's one thing to know how to do something,
but when you're certified, it puts a little more meat in,
you know, for you to be able to go to an employer and say,
look, this is what I can do.
>> We come into a site and it's a bare lot.
And then we leave at the end of the day
and they can see the results of what they've done.
That sense of pride that they have afterwards,
that's the best part for me.
And I know that they're going to pass it
on to their families and that's how we change the community.
>> I'm just happy to know that I'm working now,
because I haven't worked in over a year.
So you want us to bring them to the elevator?
Today we're in Brooklyn,
and we are applying the coating to the cool roof.
We're going to do this building and two other buildings,
which is across the street on Quincy Street.
The reason why we do coating, and why it's white,
because it acts as an insulator in the winter,
and keeps the building cool in the summer,
which will help people to conserve energy and electricity,
and they'll see that there'll be more energy-saving costs
for them.
Being unemployed was really rough for me.
Sustainable South Bronx came about and it just
like brightened my world.
It allowed me to be able to work,
and I'm so happy to be on this roof, and to be able to work.
So it's like a blessing.
It really is.
[ Music ]
>> Bronx River was what started it all.
Then all these other programs grew out of the fact
that the river was there, it was getting clean,
there were federal dollars involved,
and everybody was involved.
It's not a river, it's hope.
>> And row.
>> It's not a river, it's
about a community saying we're here and we want
to make ourselves better.
[ Music ]
>> On our journey across the country,
we have met unlikely pioneers in an unheralded revolution.
They come from all walks of life, but each one,
in their own way, is taking action to protect rivers
and vital sources of drinking water while improving the
quality of life in their communities.
While their green solutions emerged in response
to the water blues of Philadelphia, Portland, San Antonio,
and the Bronx, we can draw inspiration from their examples
of working with, rather than against nature,
to help us create a sustainable water future
for our own communities.
I'm Majora Carter.