The Commons Brooklyn

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Pre-registration is required!
YOU MUST EMAIL expeditiongowanus@gmail.com TO PRE-REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT.
The exact location on the Gowanus Canal where we will meet will to disclosed with your pre-registration.

Sliding scale donations accepted at the door, suggested $7.

Expedition Gowanus is a series of workshops focused on DIY sustainability techniques that will culminate in the final design and installation stages for an off-grid, regenerative, floating structure scheduled to set sail on the Gowanus Canal this fall. For more project information, or to be added to the email list of future Expedition Gowanus events, email expeditiongowanus@gmail.com.

Phytoremediation is the use of plants to pull pollutants from the environment and render them harmless. In polluted bodies of water, gardens of water plants can be attached to buoyant structures, thus creating ‘floating restoration devices’. Scott Kellog, co-founder of Albany’s Radix Ecological Sustainability Center (www.radixcenter.org) and co-author of the book Toolbox for Sustainable City Living: A Do-it-Ourselves Guide, will lead the workshop. He will introduce basic concepts in phytoremediation and some of the techniques for applying these concepts to the remediation of polluted water (living machines, constructed wetlands, etc). After an introduction, you will be lead in the construction of a mini ‘floating trash island’. Made out of construction debris and old soda bottles, the island will be planted with wetland plants, and then given the ultimate challenge; an inaugural float on the infamous Lavender Lake (aka Gowanus Canal).