Manna Jo Greene is always busy. Really, really busy. When she finally found time to talk to me, it was a Friday evening and she was driving to a well-earned massage (no need to freak out, she was using a safe hands-free phone). For her, it had been another busy day at the end of a hectic week. The new environmental impact assessment on the Indian Point nuclear power plant had just been issued and Manna spent the day talking to reporters about it, amidst juggling several other projects and closely monitoring progress on the Hudson River PCB cleanup.

With decades of environmental advocacy and community activism behind her, Manna is a force to be reckoned with. She has worked on such diverse issues as civil rights, world peace, recycling and waste disposal, sustainable agriculture, green buildings and renewable energy. Today she serves on the Rosendale Town Board and is the Environmental Director for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. In between pauses for Manna to find her way while driving, here’s how our conversation went.

Q: Tells us about Clearwater.

We could, as a society, decide to allocate more resources to health, education, agriculture, environmental protection. And culture. That’s what we do at Clearwater. We educate, activate and celebrate.

A: Clearwater is an organization that is a little over 40 years old. Four decades ago, the Hudson River was severely polluted. Pete Seeger and some of his friends had the idea that if you can get people out in the river they would reconnect with it, care about it and want to help get it cleaned up. So he launched the sloop Clearwater to clean up the Hudson River. Our mission is to preserve and protect its ecosystem and the well-being of the people who live in the Hudson River watershed, which is about 13,000 square miles, from north of Albany all the way down to New York City. We do this through education, advocacy and celebration.

Right after the boat was built they collected over a hundred thousand signatures in support of the Clean Water Act, sailed the boat down to Washington DC and held an impromptu concert in the halls of Congress. So we feel that was pivotal in its passage.

It is estimated that more than half a million people, mostly school children, have had the Clearwater hands-on experience of going out on the river, helping to raise the sail and steer the boat, and catch the fish, learn what they are, putting them safely back into the river – having that whole hands-on experience.

Q: What is the current status of the Hudson River and what are the main environmental challenges that it faces?

A: There was a toxic legacy that we have been working now for more than 30 years to clean up. The main problem that the river faces is the almost two million lbs of PCBs that were discharged into the upper Hudson. It took until 2001 to get the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue a decision to clean up the river. It wasn’t until 2009 that the dredging actually began. Now they are getting ready to resume the clean up in the spring of 2011. It will probably take six or seven more years to complete the project. The Hudson River will be restored to a level much closer to its natural state of health as they expect to remove approximately 2.65 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment.

Another very important issue to us is the Indian Point nuclear power plant. Clearwater has always been opposed to having a nuclear power plant so close to the New York metropolitan area.  More than 20 million people live within 50 miles of the plant, from which evacuation would be impossible in the event of a serious incident or accident.  Also, we always had concerns about what to do with the radioactive waste and potential health impacts of planned releases and unplanned leaks.

A couple of years ago, when Indian Point came up for relicensing, we actually applied to become a party in the relicensing case. That in itself was a major project for us. In addition to Entergy, the plant owner and applicant, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff, there are three active parties to the process – the State of New York (which is represented by the Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Attorney General’s office), Riverkeeper and Clearwater. These are the formal parties intervening in the relicensing case. We are opposed to the relicensing of the plant because of its aging-related problems and radioactive leaks and its associated health and environmental risks.

Q: In your work as a community activist and environmental advocate you have covered such diverse issues as sustainable agriculture, protection of water resources and also promotion of renewable energies. How important is this connection between food, water and energy?

A: The three issues are absolutely interrelated. For example, the power plants along the Hudson River are the major reason why 10 of the 13 species of Hudson River fish are in serious decline. This year, for the first time, they had to stop serving shad at Shad Festivals. Catching shad had to be banned because the population is so unstable right now.

The way we get our energy is crucial. About 98 percent of research and development and infrastructure funds have been invested in fossil fuels and nuclear power. Those types of plants are primarily located on water bodies and they are seriously impacting the rivers and their ecological systems. This energy structure, which is unsustainable, is having increasingly negative impacts on our water resources.

Then if you look for example at agriculture, you will see that sustainable agriculture practices have minimal impacts on the environment and the water bodies. But the use of pesticides in industrial agricultural production seriously affects the environment. DDT, for instance, was actually affecting bird’s ability to reproduce along the shores of the Hudson and its tributaries.

Let me just see if I can give you another example in terms of food and energy… Well, here’s one that comes to mind. The emissions of coal-burning power plants include mercury. There are two reasons why there are health advisories on Hudson River fish. One is the PCBs and the other is the high level of mercury that comes from coal-burning power plants. The mercury also affects crops and it contaminates our agricultural production.

The interconnection between water, food and energy is really important and there are many points in which more sustainable practices in one of these areas would positively impact the others.

Q: Growing up, what drew you to the environmental field? What were the formative experiences in your upbringing that influenced you in this direction?

I cut my teeth as an activist in the civil rights movement. I was in my late teens when the civil rights bill was before congress and I had the great honor and privilege of being part of the team of people who worked on  this landmark legislation. I was in the room with Dr. King and Jessie Jackson and Ralph Abernathy and all the great civil rights leaders the day it was passed.

The experience of working in the civil rights movement was very empowering. We took a very difficult problem, offered a solution and had that solution become institutionalized and permanent. So you can never tell me you can’t fight City Hall or you can’t change things.

The main thing that got me into actively working in the environmental field was my experience working as a nurse. I would watch people come in with health issues of which some were accidents, and some were unintentionally self-inflicted (like cigarette smoking). But some of the issues were environmentally caused. I started to become aware that a lot of neurological problems, cancer, endocrine problems were caused by environmental exposure. I would say that one of the key turning points in my life was reading the book Our Stolen Future. I was still a nurse when I read it and it made me realize that we needed to do more than just treat symptoms — we needed to prevent unnecessary illness by protecting the environment.

Then I learned about PCBs and radioactivity and the work of Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, and Lois Gibbs‘ work in Love Canal . I continued to practice as a nurse for more than 20 years, but I got involved in solid waste and recycling to prevent dioxins and toxic chemicals from being released into the air from waste incinerators. As a matter of fact, Judith Enck and I (at the time both of us were young moms), worked together on that issue in an organization called Work on Waste. And I went on to become the Environmental Director for Clearwater and Judith became the Regional Administrator for EPA Region 2. That was my first volunteer work in the environmental field.

Q: You are extremely busy all the time. How do you manage the stress and the craziness of your busy schedule? You are now on your way to massage and that may be part of your answer, but do you have any special relaxation techniques?

(Laughs). Well, I would say, if I am going to be honest and candid, that it is a constant struggle. I have a very eclectic spirituality that has taken different forms over the years but I think that the evolution of consciousness occurs when you pay attention to what takes place around you.  Self-reflection is very important. I don’t actually meditate, I have a hard time meditating unless I am doing yoga or tai chi or some form of moving meditation.

But I want to tell you a funny story. Some ten years ago I was sitting on the Clearwater boat with Pete Seeger for a photo shoot and Pete was telling me all these wonderful stories about the historical victories on the protection of the Hudson River. And then he said: “Manna, you work for Clearwater and you publish the Hudson Valley Green Times. How can you do so much? Are you sure you are getting enough exercise?” And I thought to myself: “You know what Pete? You nailed me.” Exercise is really the first thing I need to do. When I am feeling stressed out, I really benefit from going to the gym or hiking or going rock climbing (my son is a rock climber, once in a while he will take me rock climbing). But sometimes I forget and get carried away with work.

I am trying to do less but I have almost given up struggling and trying to keep my life in balance. Some people will say I care too much, some will say I am a workaholic. If I see something wrong and I know I have the ability to do something about it’s almost like I can’t not do it. I can’t quite explain it. But I don’t recommend it. I tell my peers to set their boundaries, to put their families first, take vacations and so forth.

And let me also answer that in a slightly different way and say that I think it’s a symptom of a society that is not in balance. When there aren’t enough resources to protect human health and the environment, when DEC is being cut back, then the burden is heavier on the few who are available to do this work. If there were enough resources Clearwater could have a full-time staff person to work on the PCBs, and another full-timer to work on Indian Point and so on.

And why would a rational society not want to resource those important things that are going to benefit the commons? Unfortunately we really have to struggle. We could, as a society, decide to allocate more resources to health, education, agriculture, environmental protection. And culture. That’s what we do at Clearwater. We educate, activate and celebrate. We revere culture and its power. The power of song, the power of art and music and dance. We could have heaven on earth.

So, it seems to be my task, this time around, to be deeply committed to healing the earth. I am 65 years old. I have committed the next five years before I retire to empowering the next generation of environmental leaders. Clearwater has a profound commitment to work with youth and it has been very successful.

Today, during this crazy busy day, I made sure I would set aside a half hour for a young Marist student. He wanted to interview me and I had been putting it off because I was so busy, but I set aside half an hour today because he is the next generation. The fact that he cared enough to do a documentary about hydrofracking and wanted to understand Clearwater’s position is just as important as talking to the Associated Press that reaches the whole country and the whole world. That’s “paying it forward” you know?

Q: If you ever are in doubt, if you ever are pessimistic, if you have a bad day and it seems things are going the wrong way, what do you think about to make you trust the future and to make you believe that ultimately everything will end up well?

Let me say that I do struggle. I alternate between feeling despair and empowerment. I am always very frightened by the immensity of the problems that we face.  I go through cycles, through ups and downs, and I am concerned about the legacy that we are leaving to the next generation. But I got my start in the civil rights movement and as a very young person I learned in every fiber of my being that if your cause is just and you are persistent you will eventually triumph.