Synopsis
‘Hope on the Hudson’ is a series of nine short films focused on good news from our Hudson Valley. ‘City on the Water’, ‘Restoring the Clearwater’, ‘Seeds of Hope’, ‘Source to Sea’, ‘Undamming the Hudson River’, ‘Growing with the Grain’, ‘Keeping Carbon’, ‘A Living River’ and ‘Farmscape Ecology’ – are a follow-up to Jon Bowermaster’s previous series, ‘The Hudson, A River at Risk,’ with a distinct pivot to optimism. “I screened the ‘River at Risk’ films, which looked at the problems of PCBs in the Hudson River, the leaky nuclear power plant Indian Point, the transport of crude oil by train, barge and pipeline through the Hudson Valley, and I got bummed out. We live in a beautiful part of the world and felt like that needed to be emphasized,” says 30-year Ulster County resident Bowermaster. For many years, the Hudson River, like so many waterways across the U.S., was treated like an infinite waste barrel, a receptacle for poisonous chemicals, hazardous waste and trash of all descriptions. During the past forty years, thanks to a committed group of environmentalists and their agencies, the river has become markedly cleaner, a far more welcoming place for small business and community investment.