"[This nature walk] is a symbol of who we are and what we have made here on earth, like it or not — an unusually honest space in which to contemplate the nature of our city and our civilization. As much as we have created the grand cultural playgrounds of Manhattan, we have also created the wretchedness of Newtown Creek. The two worlds need each other and cannot be set apart, though much of our economic system takes great pains to encourage the illusion that this is not the case."
Read more here. (Note that the article is a bit exaggerated in its description of the nature walk's terrible bleakness. For example, there is actually a fair amount of vegetation in two separate garden areas.)
Day 18
Newtown Creek Nature Walk
January 17th, 2012
I find this odd. Do I see stairs that will kindly walk you right into the (what seems like) always dirty water? Sorry I am a Montana girl and we have fairly to much cleaner looking water.
Yes there are stairs that take you right in to the water, but there are signs that you can’t quite see that tell you not to get into the water. There are actually some really interesting little crabs that swim around on these stairs and I wonder how they survive in this goop.
I’m from MT also, and the water there is much, much cleaner. No drinking straight from the spring in NYC!
And yet, what is most interesting about NY water is that it’s actually really good straight from the tap. More than I can say for drinking water out of the tap in WY, CO, CA, OR & WA.