Jaqueline Wu works at the River Project in Manhattan. During our interview we learned all about how the River Project  doesn’t directly prevent but they instead inform the community so that the community will pollute less. The River Project has a Wet-lab in lower Manhattan which they use to test the water quality in the Hudson, and display it for the community. It is also very interesting because they have an aquarium that is directly connected to the Hudson so that people can see the native species that live in the Hudson. I was very surprised to hear how many different types of wildlife that are in the Hudson, and just that made a big impact on the way I thought about trash going into the Hudson. Most people believe that it is fine to pollute the Hudson because it is dead anyway, but The River Project wants people to know that it is very much alive and needs to be protected. This was extremely interesting for me and my group and I want to make sure we talk about it in our teach-in. After she told us about the wildlife, I immediately wanted to know what kinds of wildlife are not here any more because of water pollution? My group felt very motivated after the interview, because it was so interesting to learn that there were animals being affected by our trash so close to where we live.

The River Project allows volunteers to test the water quality at their lab.