Title
Virginia’s Climate Story
Name
Virginia
Place
Navesink River, NJ 07704
How are you sensing climate change?
I spent all of my childhood living less than a 10 minute walk from the Navesink River. It was the place I learned to sail, where I skipped rocks after school, where I watched sunsets, where I spent countless hours training for crew, paddle boarding, and just thinking. I remember taking a swim test for sailing camp as a kid. I swallowed water from the Navesink and had to go home sick immediately after. The water was already contaminated with oil, sewage and other pollutants. As I got older everyone at school revered to the river as the “Navestink” because it was notably polluted. Everyone seemed to have a story about why they thought the River was ruined. Less and life existed in the river every year.A year after I graduated my crew team released notices for members to sign for practicing on the river. One year hundred of fish washed ashore our beaches. The town reeked of rotting fish for weeks. Everyone had a theory, oxygen levels, unusual freezing temperatures, acidity levels. All of these theories held the commonality of climate change.
How do these changes make you feel?
Sad and nostalgic. A place I love so much feels to be withering away.
Collection
Northeastern Region
Citation
Navesink River, 07704
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