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Pete Seeger may be best known as a folk music icon, but his history as a political activist is as important as his musical legacy. The activism gets pride of place in Pamela Timmins' documentary Clearwater Nation, which will be shown Monday, April 5, 2010 at 6pm at Jefferson Market Branch.

The 26-minute film spotlights Seeger's involvement with the environmental organization Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, which was established in 1966 in an effort to reclaim the polluted New York waterway. Timmins, a landscape painter, photographer, and video artist/filmmaker, will be on-hand for an audience discussion following the screening. She will also show her short film Fire and Ice.

The special focus of Clearwater Nation is the organization's Next Generation Legacy Project. This educational initiative for school-age children and young adults will train and prepare them "to create a sustainable world with green jobs," according to a press release issued in February 2009. The film also includes musical performances by the 91-year-old Seeger, whose compositions include the songs "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "If I Had a Hammer."
 

If you're interested in exploring Seeger's vast work as a musician, a writer, or--did you realize?--an author of such children's books as Abiyoyo: Based on a South African Lullaby and Folk Story, be sure to check out the New York Public Library's holdings.