In New York's City of Poughkeepsie -- headquarters of Scenic Hudson, the organization I head -- a former department store that sat empty for decades recently was transformed into apartments and offices. A dozen miles down the Hudson River, in the City of Beacon, the thrilling art museum Dia:Beacon, which wows visitors from around the world, fills a former Nabisco box-printing factory.

Luckey Platt building, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. / Wikimedia Commons

Why am I writing about old buildings? Because they're excellent examples of adaptive reuse -- rejuvenating existing structures for new purposes -- and in addition to revitalizing downtowns, such projects benefit the environment. They relieve development pressure on forests that offer recreation and sequester carbon, and on working farms supplying fresh local produce. They also lower the natural resources consumed by construction -- 35 billion board feet of lumber annually alone.

Studies show there's a pressing environmental need to concentrate growth in municipalities. The National Wildlife Federation has estimated that sprawling development imperils one out of every three rare or endangered species in the U.S. Data also indicate people solidly support such "smart growth." According to a National Association of Realtors survey, nearly 90 percent of respondents favored funding improvements in communities over new development in outlying countryside.

Why are so many empty buildings languishing, while new construction goes on apace? ...

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One gorgeous Saturday last month, I kayaked across the Hudson River's wide Newburgh Bay, as a volunteer escorting 200 swimmers taking part in a fund raiser for the River Pool at Beacon. (The brainchild of folksinger and environmental icon Pete Seeger, the pool encircles a shallow portion of the Hudson along the city's shoreline, allowing people to take a refreshing dip without worrying about dangerous currents.) As the swimmers exerted themselves to complete the mile-long crossing, I soaked up the breathtaking scenery of the Hudson Highlands, which have been dubbed "America's Rhine."

The most exciting way to experience the Hudson or any body of water is to get out on them. The "greenest" and healthiest way of doing this is in a kayak. Statistics bear out that I'm not alone in believing this. Over the last 15 years, the number of U.S. kayakers has swelled from 400,000 to well over two million. Like me, no doubt they're enchanted by how different the world looks from the middle of a river or lake, not to mention the access kayaks provide to secluded spots -- such as wetlands and islands -- impossible for landlubbers to reach. The feeling of escape and discovery when exploring unspoiled places like these is almost palpable.

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Media nationwide -- including The Daily Green -- reported on the May 15 ceremony near the small upstate New York village of Fort Edward marking the start of General Electric's cleanup of PCBs it had dumped in the Hudson River. One speaker at the event rightly called it "a historic day for a historic river."

It was a particularly satisfying moment for environmental groups in the Hudson Valley -- including Scenic Hudson, which I head. We've been crusading for a quarter century to compel GE to remove these 1.3 million pounds of toxins that made the Hudson the most PCB-polluted waterway in America. Polychlorinated biphenyls not only have been linked to cancer, thyroid disease and immune-system disorders in humans, but adversely affect fish, forcing New York State to close or impose severe restrictions on lucrative recreational and commercial fisheries all the way to New York Harbor, 200 miles downriver.

While this is a great victory, it's far from complete. ...

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One of President Obama's priorities is overhauling America's health care system, whose costs continue rising at nearly seven times the rate of inflation and currently represent about 17% of our gross domestic product. One reason for these skyrocketing figures is that people require more and more care.

Why? Because we're not as healthy as we used to be. And the prime factor for that is we don't exercise enough. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), only a quarter of Americans exert themselves at recommended levels, while nearly a third don't exercise at all. No wonder obesity is a national epidemic, among young and old alike, and a leading cause of increased incidences of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and even some types of cancer.

Not surprisingly, this inactivity leads to $76 billion -- 10% -- of our nation's annual medical costs. But there's hope. A study released last year determined that those who keep themselves fit file a third fewer medical claims than couch potatoes. And it doesn't take much to get in shape: The CDC estimates that a vigorous, daily 20-minute walk could stop the obesity epidemic in its tracks.

So how do we encourage people to take the initiative? ...

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Back in February, I was interviewed on American Public Media's "Marketplace" to provide commentary on how environmental programs are being slashed nationwide to reduce states' huge budget deficits. The damage of such cuts can be severe. California officials were considering rollbacks in critical emissions regulations, while Florida was contemplating relaxation of rules permitting new development -- described recently in Time magazine as a "planning-nightmare sprawl of golf courses, strip malls and cookie-cutter subdivisions named after the plants and animals they replaced."

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A visit to the Hudson Valley is wonderful at any time, but a trip this year promises to be even more exciting than usual. In addition to the region's vaunted tourism mainstays -- stunning parks, outstanding museums and historic sites, and, of course, the breathtaking Hudson River itself -- there will be dozens of special events, exhibits and performances commemorating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage of discovery on the river that bears his name.

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The recently passed economic stimulus package includes $905 million for revitalizing our National Parks, many of which have suffered the same kind of neglect as other environmental causes during the past eight years of the Bush Administration. Such expenditures will both put people to work and restore public facilities at America's most magnificent natural areas – from the Hudson Valley's Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites to the Grand Tetons and Denali National Park in Alaska. The Department of the Interior estimates that the funds will create 100,000 jobs over the next two years.

This investment builds on a proven precedent during other periods of economic hardship. During the Great Depression, one of President Franklin Roosevelt's chief means of boosting employment and jump-starting local economies was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). According to a fascinating Web site dedicated to "Roosevelt's Tree Army," as the CCC was dubbed, the 3.4 million men engaged in the program accomplished $2 billion worth of work. Those are 1942 dollars; adjusting for inflation, that amounts to more than $25 billion today. ...

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When fate hands us lemons, let’s try to make lemonade
Dale Carnegie

The concurrent housing, financial and energy crises not only create a vital imperative – to divorce ourselves from attitudes and lifestyles that are largely responsible for the hardships so many now face – but present an extraordinary opportunity to ensure a sustainable future for all Americans while revitalizing the economy. The way to achieve this is by train, bus and ferry.

A substantial investment in our mass-transit systems – particularly in projects to increase their availability and make them "greener" – would create jobs, give us a competitive edge in the global marketplace and, perhaps most important, offer a bold new front in the battle against climate change. Studies show that shifting ridership from cars to mass transit dramatically lowers carbon dioxide emissions contributing to climate change. This reduces road congestion, making autos still on the highway more fuel efficient. The U.S. produces 45 percent of the world’s automotive carbon emissions, so the impact this could have is profound.

Over the last two years, I've gotten an in-depth look at mass transit's potential. As a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Sustainability of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority – North America's largest mass-transit network – I've been involved in developing a blueprint for the most ambitious greening of a regional transit system ever undertaken. (The MTA services a 5,000-aquare-mile area that includes New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley and parts of Connecticut.) Our report, released earlier this month, calls for the MTA to draw 80 percent of its operating energy from clean, renewable sources by 2050 and capture two-thirds of the four million new residents expected to move into the region by 2030.

The key to absorbing this growth is through transit-oriented development (TOD), which clusters a neighborhood-style mix of residential space, shops, businesses and services around mass-transit hubs, vastly reducing residents' needs to hop in a car. ...

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In spring, summer and fall, farmers' markets are a staple of life in communities throughout New York's Hudson River Valley, where I live. But come November, most stow away their tents and tables, victims of Old Man Winter's imminent approach.

This year, however, my hometown of Red Hook is trying something new: a winter farmers' market offering produce, meats and dairy products from area farms one Saturday a month. The heavy turnout for the first market — held December 13 in a beautifully restored 18th-century inn and stagecoach stop in the village's downtown — proves people are hungry for healthy, local produce regardless of the plunging needle on the outdoor thermometer.

A welcoming feeling of warmth pervaded the inaugural market, equally the result of its historic setting and the sense of community spirit shared by all in attendance. The offerings certainly couldn't have been more diverse. Hearty Roots Community Farm, which is spearheading the market, featured carrots and other root vegetables that looked like they'd just been plucked from the ground. Rib-sticking soups ...

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The electrifying redemption of America’s revolutionary declaration that all human beings are born equal sets the stage for the renewal of United States leadership in a world that desperately needs to protect its primary endowment: the integrity and livability of the planet.
— Al Gore, The New York Times (Nov. 9, 2008)

The results of the recent election promise a sea change in how the U.S. confronts the most daunting challenge facing us — reducing greenhouse gas emissions. President-elect Obama has made it clear he intends for America to lead by example in efforts to halt climate change and its potentially disastrous consequences, including extreme coastal flooding, sweltering temperatures and cataclysmic storms. As he said during the campaign:

“The issue of climate change is one that we ignore at our own peril. There may still be disputes about exactly how much we’re contributing to the warming of the earth’s atmosphere and how much is naturally occurring, but what we can be scientifically certain of is that our continued use of fossil fuels is pushing us to a point of no return. And unless we free ourselves from a dependence on these fossil fuels and chart a new course on energy in this country, we are condemning future generations to global catastrophe.”

Part of this catastrophe — the acidification of our oceans — gets very little attention. That should change shortly. Hudson Valley filmmaker Barbara Ettinger and her husband, Sven Huseby, are putting the finishing touches on an eye-opening film (which I originally wrote about Sept. 18, 2007) showing how the huge amount of carbon absorbed by our seas is decimating fish, shellfish and coral reefs. Without immediate action, experts predict more than one million aquatic species will become extinct within the next century. ...

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We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.
- Wallace Stegner

A couple of months ago I wrote how the slumping real estate market has proven a boon to land-preservation organizations, allowing us to protect magnificent properties that once seemed well beyond our monetary reach. While the dollar value of an acre of forest or farmland may have dropped across the country, the intangible value of that acre has never been higher — and it’s rising every day.

The landscapes we safeguard remain a constant presence despite life’s uncertainties. And in these extremely turbulent times, we desperately need places where we can retreat, however briefly, from fears about paying college tuition, shrinking retirement accounts and job security. Whether hiking through a 10,000-acre Montana wilderness or sitting in Manhattan’s Central Park, open spaces give us the chance to feel kinship with the wider world. Amid nature’s grandeur, we experience great calm, solace — and, yes, even hope. As Rachel Carson wrote, “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” ...

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Recently I took a journey to a place of importance in the history of American and international art and in the geography of my soul.

The occasion was a trip to Williamstown, Massachusetts, where a dear friend took me to see a superb exhibition at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute—one of America’s great small art museums. The main galleries of the Clark are nestled at the foot of Stone Hill, while a recently completed art conservation annex sits on its flank. The bucolic hill itself, part forest, part open farm meadows, with meandering wood roads, provides inspiring views of three mountain ranges—the Berkshires, Taconic, and Green Mountains. Its romantic landscape serves as the backyard and escape for many college students and local residents. My memories span the seasons with skinny-dips in a stream at its base, cross country ski trips and toboggan rides through its snowy fields, and long runs through autumn leaves of fiery yellows and reds. Any trip onto the hill promised to blur the lines between the real and spiritual worlds, to offer escape from the cares of the day and refuge in the beauty of nature’s most discrete and secret realms.

No better venue could be found for the spectacular art exhibition entitled Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly. This show displays and offers insights into a brief but important movement in American art at the turn of the 20th century. A small group of landscape painters, including George Inness and James McNeill Whistler, moved away from hard-edged realism, instead filling their canvases with luminous, hazy depictions that captured the mood or spiritual essence of a place. The exhibition’s title comes from a quote by Whistler, who said “Paint should not be applied thick. It should be like breath on the surface of a pane of glass.” ...

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Earlier this summer Rand Wentworth, president of the Land Trust Alliance, noted that the open space protected by land trusts in the United States last year exceeded the acreage lost to development. This statistic may be a result of the growth and increasing effectiveness of land conservation organizations across the country, the slumping real estate market or a combination of the two. In either case, those committed to safeguarding our working farms, habitat for endangered species and places of beauty for parks gave a cheer upon hearing the news.

So what effect is the depressed real estate market having on land preservation? The answer is a mixed bag.

First, the good news: Land-conservation organizations are having banner years acquiring properties once considered beyond their budgets. From Hawaii to Florida, developers are selling off prime land at a loss, preferring to make back a portion of their investments now instead of waiting for the crisis to abate – whenever that may occur. One conservation leader has called this a “green lining” ...

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