(calm music) - This lake behind me has a beautiful, almost unreal shade of green.

That's where it gets its name, but it's also hiding a secret.

What you can't see is under the surface the lake is layered.

The top layer never mixes with the bottom layer.

It's this ancient oxygen-free layer with sediments dating back thousands of years old.

What can a lake like this teach us about our past or our future?

On this episode, we'll dive into that.

Literally?

Stick around... We'll also come face-to-face with the largest burger I've ever seen in my life.

Then we'll trade the bikes for a boat and we'll learn how everything gets powered.

That's all coming up.

(upbeat music) This is Rolling Thru, a bicycle travel show.

(upbeat music) It's a cold morning as we roll out of Syracuse.

Even the sweatshirt doesn't quite cut it, which is a bummer because we're headed to some lakes where swimming can feel almost magical.

The waters there are ancient and rewind the clock even further to pre-ancient, before the lakes themselves even existed.

A little geology lesson helps explain how just outside Syracuse a slice of paradise came to be.

About 390 million years ago, during the Devonian period, this whole region sat near the equator beneath a warm tropical sea.

Coral reefs and marine life piled up on the sea floor, and over time they compressed into thick layers of limestone.

Fast forward a few hundred million years to the end of the Ice Age, glaciers moved through carving deep basins into the limestone before melting away and leaving them to fill with water.

But the rock didn't stop shaping things.

Groundwater moving through that limestone feeds the lakes with mineral-rich water so dense that layers almost never mix.

Which raises a couple questions.

What can that tell us about the past, and what can it say about the future?

Turns out the answers might be hiding just beneath the surface at Green Lakes State Park.

New York has some pretty awesome lakes, but these are different.

They're meromictic, which I have very little understanding of what that means, and I also just learned how to pronounce it.

But I want to know what the deal is with this green water.

- Well, this lake is a meromictic lake and so it doesn't mix.

So if you think about a lot of the lakes on our planet, seasonally they turn over much to the action of the winds and the surface action on the water, as well as their chemical characteristics and changing seasons.

Here, the lake is stratified.

It's layered in such a way, and it's protected by the basin, so it doesn't mix.

And globally, there's only a few dozen lakes that are that category of lake.

- [Pat] Wow!

So this is extremely rare.

- Very rare.

Yeah.

We have six meromictic lakes in New York and three within the Syracuse area; two here, Green Lake and Round Lake, just beyond the tree line.

And then we have Glacier Lake at Clark Reservation, which is about a 20-minute drive, and it's south of Syracuse.

- So can you describe the layers then?

- Yeah, so you have the upper layer is the mix.

It does still mix and it can get quite warm in the summertime.

And that's our epilimnion, so that is- (Pat stumbling verbally) - Yeah.

- I'm not going to pronounce it.

- At the surface, yeah.

- Okay, alright.

- And then the middle part is our mixolimnion, and then the bottom part is our hypolimnion.

But you do still see that mixing in upper layers cuz we do get some wind and the temperatures do change.

But then when you get to a certain depth, this lake is nearly 180 feet deep over 50, 60 meters deep.

And so it is no oxygen and no mixing.

And it's a totally different environment down there.

- So what other types of research do they do?

- We allow a limited amount of coring where they can do analysis on different element isotopes.

They can determine what the atmospheric conditions may have been or the geology of the area hundreds and thousands of years ago.

And it's that information that actually informs things that we want to know about the future of our planet.

So we can make predictions about climatic change or disturbance based on our geological record.

- So it becomes like a time capsule?

- Totally a time capsule.

- [Pat] Okay, all right.

- Yeah, for smart people to figure out.

(Tom laughs) - So the lake exceptionally rare.

What gives it its green color?

- One is the way we see light.

What we see is the wavelengths of light reflecting back to us.

And so if you think about the ocean or even a deep lake like this, the light's penetrating further and it's those wavelengths of the light spectrum, the greens and the deep blues that reflect back and we see.

The other is we have these photosynthetic bacterial populations.

They're basically contributing to more calcium carbonate being in the water.

And when that calcium carbonates floating around, then you have a different way in which the light hits those particles of calcium.

And I say it becomes, and often people say it becomes milky, a whiting effect.

And so it kind of looks milky.

And then that combination makes a very turquoise, almost emerald green blue color.

I mean, it's like being in an emerald Caribbean location when you see it.

- And yeah just in the middle of New York.

- Yep.

- I feel like you've managed to strike a perfect balance between conservation, like ecological conservation and enjoyment for recreation purposes between the two then.

This end, it just, it almost looks untouched and like a natural beauty.

And then this end, there's a great beach so you can still enjoy it and it does look so enticing and you want to go in.

- One of our main goals is to preserve and protect our natural biodiversity and our resources while at the same time providing opportunities for recreation.

So here at Green Lakes we have the wonderful bathing beach and all those opportunities, as we do in other parks within our system, to both recreate and enjoy going out and enjoying nature as well.

- It's an absolute gem here and thank you for talking to me.

- Yeah.

- I'm jealous of your office.

- Yeah.

- This is a pretty great view.

- Having the outdoor- - Yeah.

- For an office is not a bad thing.

- Absolutely and I think we might be late to the next interview cuz I might stay here just to enjoy this a little bit more.

- Well you're welcome to do that.

We have a 18 hole golf course that you could take in before you head out on your bikes.

- I think we can squeeze nine in.

(Tom laughs) All right, thank you.

- You're welcome.

(bright music) - GreenLake State Park shows us that even a beautiful park can be a living laboratory, that there are mysteries to be solved in our own backyard, as long as you know where to look.

We're back on the trail and pushing pedals to make up for lost time spent staring at the aqua waters.

But it's warmed up now and is a picture perfect day.

Morning.

We're well outside the city and suburbs, so things look country.

I got it.

- Yes, sir.

- And after a ride like this, one thing's becoming clear, I could really go for a burger, but I struggle with the idea because I know that beef has a complicated reputation when it comes to sustainability.

Beef production is responsible for a lot of greenhouse gas emissions, like almost 15% total.

A lot.

That's land use, water use, transporting it around the world to your table, it adds up, but where we're riding, there's another way.

And maybe the lesson isn't that we never eat burgers again.

Maybe it's about being a little more mindful when we do, because just up the road here, if we don't miss it, we're stopping in at a place that takes that idea seriously.

A farm to table restaurant where the ingredients travel just a few miles instead of a few thousand.

Just about everything on the plate is sourced right here in the surrounding countryside.

After a long ride, that sounds pretty perfect.

What is the most farm to table meal you would say you guys make here?

- Probably our Texan.

Well it's just a grass fed, six ounce patty.

- Yep.

- Topped with brisket, also grass fed, barbecue sauce.

It's inspired, my boss is from Texas.

He loves the brisket.

That's his whole thing.

Like he's everything Texas.

So that is quintessentially, that is his burger.

- Normally I'd wait until after I've ridden 67 miles, but come on, how can I resist?

Especially when it doesn't get more local than this.

- Well the really, like they, it comes right from down the road.

- Yeah.

- At Omar's farm, it's literally like two miles down the road.

- Wow.

- So it doesn't get much closer than that.

- Yeah.

So it was probably moving not too long ago.

- Probably.

- Right down the street.

- Yep, meats from down the street.

- Produce is down the street the other way.

- Yeah, yeah, pretty much.

- So all you got to do is north and south.

- Everything is pretty much like in a four mile circle.

A lot of our produce comes from like local produce stands and things like that.

- [Pat] Yeah.

- So more often than not, if you sell us something and then you come here and eat, they will probably be eating your own food.

When I first started working here, my wife's uncle used to sell the beef to them.

- Oh really?

- Yeah.

So like I was involved when it, before I even started cooking here.

And then there's also the greenhouse across the street, which is supposed to be one of the largest greenhouses in North America.

- It looked like something out of, I feel like the Netherlands, like in Amsterdam they have all those giant- - That's actually where the guys are from that built it.

- Really?

- Because when they were building it, they used to come in here every night when I was doing the night shift and I used to cook 'em dinner every night before they went home.

- So you can get like locally fresh produce year round?

That's amazing.

- Yep.

Yeah, right now they're doing tomatoes and cucumbers, but they also have the cherry tomatoes, strawberries.

And then we also, we make our own fries.

We make our own chips.

- Wow.

So you're like hand, are you hand cutting those or just like- - Hand cutting them, yep.

- Hand cutting.

- [Pat] Whether it's the produce or grass fed meat, farm to table means the land stays alive.

Better soil, more biodiversity, and a better life for the animal.

And that's just the start.

Two miles down the road there are farmer neighbors who make it all possible and open the door to building bonds.

- That's the thing too is like you can always call somebody.

Like there's a couple of farms that we just started getting involved with.

They just showed up with tomatoes and cucumbers last week.

So they're another one that I could call if I need help.

But most of the time, like the farm stands, like the Brooks down the road, they always have stuff if we need it if we can't get it from the greenhouse.

They'll call you like on a certain day if like I'm normally ordering food and I haven't called them, Hey, I noticed you didn't call this morning, is everything all right?

You need anything?

And that's usually when I'll be like, yeah, I do need something.

So like they know just as well as I like what days I need to order things and they're pretty good about having 'em ready.

- [Pat] Farm to table gets thrown around a lot these days, but here it's a lifestyle.

Imagine this was standard practice.

You connect with the land, your neighbors, and what you put in your body, even if it's a burger that big.

And Dan the man is there to serve it up.

Trust me, it gets hot behind the grill.

But after long days, Dan's favorite part of the job, it all charbroils down to one thing.

- The family atmosphere.

- Yeah.

- Because I've worked at a lot of restaurants where you know, you're just a person.

- Yeah.

- You're just there to do a job.

Whereas like they actually, they care about you here.

- Well listen, thank you again for, I'll give you elbow cuz I used to work at McDonald's.

I know the gloves.

And so thank you for having us back here.

I'm so excited to eat this after cycling all day.

I feel like we're going to have to put more miles on the trip just for today cuz we have to ride down, find the field and thank this cow's family cuz that's delicious.

(bright music) Fortunately we're able to relax the pace and just cruise along for a bit.

That burger still needs some time to digest, so I'm hoping mother nature works with us.

It's all coming this way.

So right now we're catching it on our front profile.

That's that headwind you're feeling.

- Right.

- Because right now we're dropped down in like gears.

Oh thank God it turns up here.

- Yep.

(bright music) - [Pat] But just when I thought we'd be home free- - Looks like my bike, the chain jumped the chain.

- Easy fix, easy fix.

- Of course Mr.

Pat is also a mechanic.

- Easy fix.

Be back on the road in no time.

Find out if he lost a finger on Rolling Thru.

Little grease never hurt anyone.

A lot of grease hurts a lot of animals.

So let's not pollute and let's keep oils out of the oceans.

Okay and let's keep it on our chain stays.

Okay, back in action.

We carry on and I'm really hoping that's the last mechanical of the day.

Taking a moment at this lock is actually a bit of a preview of where we're headed next.

A few more miles down the canal there's another one waiting for us.

Back in the day, these locks were real game changers.

Without them, the Erie Canal simply wouldn't have worked the way it did.

So we're off to meet some new friends who can show us the modern intricacies and importance of this overlooked infrastructure.

I'm wearing a personal flotation device.

Why?

Because I'm at an Erie Canal lock.

And if you don't know what that is, it's kind of like an elevator for boats.

They're really cool and it's an engineering feat.

And today I'm here to check it out.

I'm at Erie Canal Lock 20.

- Yeah, so the purpose is obviously an elevation change.

So the Erie Canal, we have 34 locks and there's about 565 feet of elevation.

So without the locks, there is no canal in its essence, many of our locks as well as the Erie Canal system is a little over a hundred years old.

Back then it was mainly commercial traffic.

Today much of our boating traffic is recreational.

But recently we've completed our bike trail and that is seeing a lot of use, whether it's transiting the entire system or just a lot of local use is, which is more so here at Lock 20.

- That's great and they can just roll up and set up their tent?

It's one night only though, right?

- Two nights you're allowed, yeah.

- Okay.

- Do you want to show me how a lock works?

- Yeah, for sure.

We have a boat up above and we can put you on the boat and run you through.

- A perfect time to put that personal flotation device to good use.

With a boat ready just for us, we climb in.

Jim caught me up on some inside baseball.

- So what you see there, you obviously see the miter gates, but to make them seal, they use white oak.

So back in the day it was abundant and now we're having trouble finding white oak in that size.

So we're struggling to find a replacement or find the trees that we need.

- I guess it makes sense that a century old system would run into supply chain issues, but that doesn't mean the Canal Corporation isn't looking to the future.

- Yeah, I always like to say canals is like the leader in technology at lock 21 that you came by earlier they have some with refers hit or miss engines.

And so back in the day, they used to use those to raise and lower the valves at Delta Lake, which is the summit of the canal and would dump water and fill the canal up.

But today, and then in the twenties, that was the leading technology.

But today we're now using drones with thermal cameras to find seeps and leaks in an earth embankment.

- [Pat] That's sweet.

- It's a 200 year old system, but we're usually right on the cutting edge of a lot of technology.

- So you're, yeah, you're like blending like old meats new.

So this lock has just kind of become a great spot.

Just hang out.

It's a very peaceful park-like setting and- - Certainly a great asset for the community too.

You have recreational boaters coming through.

You have the bike trail, you have people fishing as well.

So it's kind of like the town square almost to some extent of the canal.

- And we had some trouble docking the boat, so we had some time to just shoot the breeze.

- In my hometown we had a lock and that was like what we do.

You know, me and my brothers and my friends would just ride our bikes down there, hang out and maybe fish and there was a little gazebo.

So we'd hang out and play some cards or- - Yeah, yeah.

- Pokemon.

- There you go.

Thank you so much for this demonstration.

This has been awesome.

I think I got my sea legs about to get my bike legs back and carry on to Utica.

But thank you.

Good talking with you.

- Thank you.

- Leaving Lock 20, it's easy to forget how vital something like this once was.

A piece of infrastructure most people never think about.

One that quietly changed how an entire region evolved.

And in a lot of ways that kind of invisible infrastructure still shapes our lives today.

Most of us don't think twice about what it takes to turn on a light or plug in a phone, but beyond that simple act is an enormous system of generation, transmission and engineering and it powers nearly everything we do.

Just like how the locks of the Erie Canal transformed how we move, the systems that power our homes are now going through a transformation of their own.

Across New York state, the energy grid is evolving, shifting towards renewable power and new technologies designed to meet the demands of a changing climate.

And just up the road in Utica, there's a place where people can actually learn how that system works.

But first I've got one more climb to tackle.

This is steep.

Bro, we just climbed that.

Oh no, no.

It's up there.

Turns out understanding power sometimes starts with expending all of your own.

Oh, okay, you can go ahead of me.

- [Greg] Oh man I really wish I could do that with my regular bike though.

I ain't going to lie.

- I wish I could do it right now.

Here we are.

Oh my goodness.

Okay.

Yeah, here we are.

Where does our electricity come from?

What powers your phone?

What powers Greg's e-Bike?

I'm at the New York Energy Zone to find out how that electricity gets to our outlets.

- The New York Power Authority generates about 25% of the state's overall electricity needs.

80% of which comes from clean, renewable hydropower.

So we provide low cost hydropower to businesses across the state.

- Yeah, we were just down at lock 20 and they were talking about the old hydropower they used to have back in the day and now biking up here up that incredibly taxing hill, it's really cool to see hydropower and just really all energy in the modern day.

- Yes, yeah, yep.

So the canal is very interesting because that's kind of where hydropower got its beginnings, like lock mechanisms that you're talking about.

We're kind of like those early water control mechanisms and that's what we've leveraged.

And the New York Power Authority is responsible for 1,550 circuit miles of transmission across the state.

So whereas like the Erie Canal is like the first kind of super highway transmission is like the current super highway getting energy where it needs to go.

- With the current energy mix I know that there's this push to become carbon neutral.

What's that looking like?

- So the New York Power Authority has issued a strategic plan to help support that goal of the states.

And we have about seven gigawatts worth of new solar and wind projects and battery storage in a pipeline for helping New York state to achieve that transition.

So that is still the goal is carbon neutrality.

It's going to require lots of investment, lots of, you know, there's a lot of players in that transition from the individual right up through the generator.

Like the power authority is the utilities as a personal level you can opt into those programs through your utility.

You can opt into green energy as part of your own mix.

But then of course there's opportunities for communities solar being able to embrace it on a municipal level like that.

Another part of the path is ensuring that nobody is left behind.

And so as part of the transition, we also need to consider upskilling or changing careers for folks and as well as our environmental justice communities, making sure that they have opportunities to participate in the green economy.

So NYPA this past fiscal year pledged $25 million to that effort to support local labor efforts across the state as well as upskilling and training in the green economy career.

So, and we will continue to do that every year.

Moving forward is another $25 million that we will commit to local programs to support that transition.

- When talking about power and demand, these concepts can get really dense really fast.

So inside the New York energy zone, they built an entire room to show you.

- So this is the microgrid table.

So what you'll do here is take a generator, like a wind turbine.

Maybe some small scale solar plus storage.

And then tie them to something that needs demand.

So you're going to connect them to power up your demand.

And also you can tie back to the main grid to be able to support the need the load of that.

- Field trips has gotten so much better.

That's a full system.

- That is a full system.

- We've built a city, oh wait, hold on, the hospital is dark.

- Yes.

- Let's connect the hospital.

There we go.

We've saved lives.

- What you do is, this is a big competition here.

- Okay.

- So you have to try and balance your generation and deal with the demand issues that come with the storm response.

- We need to make sure that everyone who needs power gets it.

It's all about - Still in the dark.

Oh no.

Nobody can charge their phones.

Oh.

(bright music) Yeah, I feel like we're in the future.

This is cool.

This is cool.

If there's a theme for today's ride, it might be the power of things that we don't always see.

Ancient waters that hold clues to our past, farmland that quietly connects a community, the living architecture that moves us along on our way and an invisible network powering nearly everything we do.

These systems shape our lives in ways we rarely stop to think about, but perhaps we should.

Understanding the hidden things that sustain us is the first step towards improving them and building a better future for the planet we share.

From historic public works to the clean energy grid, the past informs the future.

It's these infrastructure projects that can move us forward.

Next time on Rolling Thru, we arrive in New York's capital and discover how the place where laws are written can spark ideas that shape an entire state.

(bright music)