The Slatest

Brave, Insane Activist Swims in Heavily Polluted Brooklyn Filth-Canal as Earth Day Stunt

The scenic Gowanus Canal is a “must-see” for New York City tourists with an interest in industrial sludge.

Spencer Platt/Getty

An environmental activist named Christopher Swain plans to swim the length of Brooklyn’s heavily polluted Gowanus Canal, a Superfund site, as an Earth Day protest/stunt/event. Reporter Noah Hurowitz of the Brooklyn Paper is on the scene, and the scene is gross*:

The Gowanus was once lined with pollutant-spewing factories in what’s now become a largely residential neighborhood. Some of the substances found in the canal have included oysters contaminated with lead, “fluorescent white gauze,” and gonorrhea.

*Correction, April 22, 2015: This post originally misspelled Noah Hurowitz’s last name.