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A Model for Ecological Citizenship

Unlike the Hudson River, the Bronx River has not been memorialized by a school of painters or group of writers. It is not as majestic, enchanted, or sublime as its Western neighbor. You are unlikely to hear legends about bowling pins and headless horsemen or tales of reminiscence by the old-timers still fishing its renewed waters. Yet the Bronx River has a history worth telling and Maarten de Kadt tells it with a matter-of-fact clarity that is both educational and engaging. The book ‘‘. . . focuses on economic democracy, grass-roots organizing and community building, as well as on the environment’’ (11). De Kadt’s primary concern and the dramatic force behind his narrative is the interface between economics and the environment. This topic has been taken up by other environmental historians, most notably Carolyn Merchant (1992) and Donald Worster (1993). Both are sharp critics of the growth imperative inherent in capitalism and of the devastating ecological consequences of the conflict between industrial production, human population, and ecological reproduction. With the publication of The Bronx River, de Kadt makes common cause with those who decry the destructive forces of capital accumulation. Using the Bronx River reclamation projects as instances of economic democracy in action and as a high school classroom, he provides a model for other communities that wish to reclaim their humanity through stewardship of nature.