The Beacon Sloop Club

The Beacon Sloop Club

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Protecting the Hudson through
environmental advocacy

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Environmental Advocacy

Ever since people encountered the Hudson River, it has provided a means of transportation, a place to live and work, a source for food, and a sense of beauty and a spiritual aspect of existence. But today the population along the Hudson River has grown to the point where not all of these attributes can be realized. Growth has lead to extensive development along the river including factories, warehouses, and residential property.  Industrialization has brought chemical pollution. Residential development has increased the amount of human waste and sewage that is dumped into the river. Nuclear Power plants are leaking radiation into the river. Water runoff from farms, lawns, and golf courses brings large amounts of pesticides and fertilizers into the river.  Boats leak oil and gasoline into the river. And the natural landscape of the river is being altered by clear cutting and extensive development.

Beacon Sloop Club was organized by Pete Seeger and others to increase public awareness of what was happening through educational sailing trips and to organize a response to this environmental destruction. Providing an experience of the river through sailing as well as knowledge about the Hudson River environment remain our two most important missions. The Hudson River is experiences through sailing, singing, art, as well as through workshops, demonstrations and talks. Here one can become re-acquainted with the natural rhythms of life through the rhythms of the river and rhythms of music. Come down to the Riverfront in Beacon the first Friday of any month and join in our discussions, playing and singing or take a sail on the sloop almost any night from late spring to early fall.

This part of our website is dedicated to the providing information about the environment. We provide a calendar of environmental local events, links to other environmental sites, a listing of environmental resources, photos, and commentary on various environmental issues. We hope you find this site useful.

 If you would like to see a discussion of particular issue or contribute a commentary or photographs please send your comments and or contributions to David Eberle at Davideb@aol.com . We cannot promise that every contribution will be published but we will try to cover a broad range of issues an