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| Cement Factory |
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| Toby with a Turtle |
Today we went to Schodack Island, today was relaxing which was reliving after spending all last week in the city. Schodack Island was established in 2002 and contains 10 miles of walking trails. This island was originally a bunch of small islands that were joined together by Hudson river dredging in the 1920s. When we first got there we found a turtle crawling, he was harmless and really cute. Once again I am in love with turtles so of course I thought he was so cute. One thing we noticed is that the turtle peed on Toby when he picked the little guy up. (haha) This is because he was nervous and we all learned this is a natural response. Then we went down the the docks to talk about the river current and a cement factory that you can see in the picture above. Toby explained that Cement factories create a lot of pollution, and and is one of the main sources of mercury. Mercury is a major concern because it can be harmful to the human body in huge qualities. It can also effect the environment around the factory. By the factory releasing mercury more animals such as birds and fish will be high in mercury. Toby also discussed how the current and tidal in the Hudson River is unique. The Native Americans referred to the river as Muhheakantuck or the river that flows two ways, however, today we just refer to this as a tidal estuary. I like this name better because it is so much easier to say. The Hudson current changes four times a day as ocean tides pulse upriver 150 miles to the Troy dam. During our half hour to explore the island I saw a sign that explained this concept. It said if you drop a stick in at Troy it will reach the ocean in about 126 days. An estuary is a place where salt water and fresh water come together. Estuaries are really good ecosystems and swimming below the Hudson is over 200 types of fish. The river has recently been threatened because of the destruction of wetlands which we saw in many places such as Lake George.
After this we walked on a trail through the woods to get to a launching dock for people who kayak. On the way, the trail was awful because there were so many bugs, they would fly in my face and all around my head. They are so annoying but Toby had an important point that if it were not for bugs we would not be a live. Insects are responsible for pollinating flowers and plants, the plants are then eaten by other animals on the food chain that we eat, this just shows how important these annoying creatures are. When we arrived at the site I was surprised it was not what I was expecting at all. The water looked really dirty and to me it looked like a pond. Toby was not shy and jumped right in, I soon after went into the water and freaked out because of the mud I sunk into on the bottom and it smelled so bad. Well I didn't really have a choice going into the water because Toby pulled me into the water before I had the chance to back out. Once again the professors were encouraging us to try things we have never done before which is something I like about this program. I get to try so many new things and from my first blog it is allowing me to grow as a person and opening my horizon more. I then helped Toby with the netting as we tried to fight the current and catch fish. I was so surprised how strong the current was and sinking into the mud didn't help either when we were trying to move. Toby was doing a great job while I am very week so I really messed it up and in the end we only caught one fish. This was one more fish than the other groups though so I can't complain. While the other groups were going I was just relaxing in the water until mud was thrown at me. This was really disrespectful. I did not mind people having a mud fight, I just did not want to be part of it so I specifically told everyone I did not want to be involved and moved out of their way. Then some people decided to throw mud at me anyway even though I asked them nicely not to. Like I stated above this is really disrespectful. Even when they began throwing it I screamed at them to stop and they wouldn't. It just goes back to a basic concept we learned in kindergarten, treat others how you would want to be treated. The worst part of it is when I was a child I had an OCD with my hair and when anything got into it I would freak. I am still like that, with my hair being down I got so many clumps in my hair. The others that were participating in the mud fight WILLINGLY, had their hair up. I was already upset over personal problems from the night before and being disrespected made me feel even worse. Some people were saying it was just mud that I shouldn't be mad. It was just mud but having long thick hair it is really annoying to go home at the end of the day and shampooing your hair 4 times and still having clumps of mud. Others were laughing at me being upset which wasn't right either and made me feel worse, you should put yourself into a situation of where you don't like something and people do it anyway. Don't just judge people before you put yourself in their situation. For your professors think of it as when you would tell your child to specifically not do something and they did it anyway. Don't you get upset and feel disrespected? After the mud situation I got right out of the water and was ready to just leave. Today was really fun other than the experience I had, however, some people just do not have respect for others and never will, and I will encounter this in everyday life.
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