Stink Or Swim? How We Can Make Our Waters Clean Again

"I’ve just swum the length of the Hudson River – 315 miles from the source in the Adirondack mountains all the way to New York City. I did it to highlight the importance of clean rivers. Rivers are the arteries of our planet. They sustain life on Earth. We cannot have a healthy planet without healthy rivers.

- LEWIS PUGH

When we pour industrial waste, agricultural run-off, raw sewage and plastic pollution into our rivers, we not only kill the river, but all life in it. And everything that goes into a river, ultimately flows into the sea and does the same thing there. Rivers and oceans should never be our dumping grounds – as they’ve sadly become in Britain.

For me this is an issue of justice. Justice between ourselves and future generations – we must leave a planet to our children which is sustainable. There is also justice between ourselves and the animal kingdom – right now about 1 million species are on the verge of extinction. We must remember that we are not the only species and we must share this planet.

The Hudson is one of the most incredible rivers on Earth. At the source the forest is thick and lush – there are beavers and vultures and black bears. And it ends by flowing to one of the greatest cities ever built. I’ll never forget swimming down the river and watching this enormous bald eagle coming out of the forest and start following me down the river. Until recently, the bald eagle, which is the symbol of America, was virtually extinct in the Hudson Valley.