In Place of Walking Across Graduation Platform
UC San Diego Student will Paddle Mississippi River
Graduating Senior Opts for Project to Illustrate Water Quality Decline
Pat JaCoby | June 23, 2008
Kristian Gustavson taking a dip.
While his fellow Thurgood Marshall College graduates received their diplomas at UCSD commencement ceremonies Saturday, Kristian Gustavson was in Chicago preparing to launch a 17-foot aluminum canoe on a 1,000-mile research trip down the Mississippi River.
The 23-year-old political science major will embark Sunday on a trip from central Illinois to Louisiana—providing flood-affected areas permit his journey. His goal, he said, is “to illustrate the dangerous decline of water quality in the largest river system in North America, and the impact on the ocean.” Along the way, he will give presentations, film a documentary and meet with various environmental support groups.
“At this point I am going to stay on schedule,” Gustavson said. “The Mississippi is very high and I am told I should proceed with extreme caution. If it is unsafe to proceed at that time, I will respect the river’s strength and walk away. My contingency plan is to wait until fall and travel the river when it is generally lower.”
Gustavson says his trip was inspired by an identical voyage taken in 1966 by two of his uncles, who journeyed from Pekin, Ill. to the delta in the same aluminum canoe he will paddle. However, for his trip he incorporated as a non-profit entity focusing on marine research and called it “Below the Surface.” Support has come from the Surfrider Foundation and its Blue Water Task Force.
“The health of America’s heart and soul is represented by current conditions in the Mississippi River," he says. “If the Midwest is the Heartland, then the Mississippi is its pulse and primary vessel.”
Gustavson relaxes at the beach.
Gustavson notes, however, that the Mississippi River carries more collective water contamination from human activities into the ocean than any other source in the U.S. Its drainage basin is the third-largest in the world; practically all of the water between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains is channeled into the Gulf of Mexico by the Mississippi.
Gustavson’s goal, through water samples, is to inform the public that the Mississippi impacts the ocean more than any other form of water pollution in America. “Many symptoms take time to develop; hopefully this effort will shed light on the gradual decline of water quality before it’s too late,” he said.
While at UCSD, Gustavson worked as a surf instructor for Clayton Claiborn in the recreation department and studied with professor Paul Dayton at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
For more information visit www.belowthesurface.org which Gustavson will keep updated with findings and photos.
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