On Saturday November 23rd my group and I travelled to Brooklyn so we could visit the Gowanus Canal. The Gowanus Canal is a Canal built in the mid 1800’s. The canal is now known for its pollution and toxic-ness; after years of pollution from surrounding businesses and factories the canal is considered one of the most heavily contaminated water bodies in the nation. No marine life should be able to survive in it and toxins that could be found in the canal are cancerous. In 2009 the EPA listed the canal as a Superfund Site, meaning that it is a site containing hazardous substances and and pollutants. The Gowanus Canal Conservancy is a non-for-profit organization that works to help clean up the canal and make the environment around it sustainable. The Conservancy schedules monthly events for volunteers to come and help clean up the canal and the area surrounding it. People volunteer to help once a month and they help by picking up trash, planting in the small gardens and bee keeping.The GCC (Gowanus Canal Conservancy) was having one of these events on Saturday November 23rd, unfortunately my group wasn’t able to volunteer since all of the spots had been taken up. So we called the organization and they said we could come and look around. We went and we were able to talk to someone who worked with the GCC, she told us about the history of the canal, how it became so polluted and what people were doing to help. It was really helpful to talk to someone who worked hands on with the Conservancy and knew about its plans like how long it would take to clean up the canal, how they were going to do it and what people were doing to help. It was also interesting to see the canal and how polluted it was, it was a different experience then just seeing a picture of it and definitely made me think. Overall I thought it was a great fieldwork, we learned a lot and got first hand experience–very helpful.
