From the New York Times: Pete Seeger, the singer, folk-song collector and songwriter who spent a long career championing folk music as a vital heritage and a catalyst for social change, died Monday. He was 94 and lived in Beacon, N.Y.
During the late 1960s Mr. Seeger started an improbable project: a sailing ship that would crusade for cleaner water on the Hudson River. Between other benefit concerts he raised money to build the Clearwater, a 106-foot sloop that was launched in June 1969 with a crew of musicians. The ship became a symbol and a rallying point for antipollution efforts and education. (find the full article here)
From Watershed Post: Seeger was a living embodiment of the folk tradition, with a career that spanned over 70 years. For 69 of those years, Seeger was joined by his wife Toshi, who died last July at the age of 91. Together, the couple founded the Hudson Sloop Clearwater in 1966... "[Toshi] was the one who steered the boat; she had the chart; she kept off the rocks."
Seeger's environmental work will go on through the Sloop Clearwater, says an obituary on the Hudson Sloop Clearwater's website. "Ultimately, the 106-foot-long sailboat, Clearwater, will sail on as a symbol of Pete Seeger’s great legacy," the Clearwater crew writes. "Thanks to Pete Seeger, the over 12,000 school kids who sail each year will never see the river in the same way that they did before their voyage. Perhaps more importantly, they will be moved to protect the river every time they look at it."
