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NOW THIS IS WHAT A NEIGHBORHOOD CLIMATE CONVERSATION LOOKS LIKE

By October 19, 2019 No Comments

ACE’s (Alternatives for Community and Environment) Climate Justice workshops are challenging residents from all corners of Boston to ask what it means to be resilient. Over food and with neighbors, community members discussed how their bonds and relationships will enable them to weather the threats of climate change. They also heard from the environmental justice organization “Uprose,” who recently launched their own Climate Justice and Community Resiliency Center in Brooklyn.

Describing Resilience

“Coming together, local self-determination, neighborhood networks, shared resources, creativity, having the information needed to respond”—these are the words participants used to express what resilience requires in the face of storms, unpredictable weather, and extreme heat.

For ACE member Genea Foster, the workshop was important because “it broke down this topic that seems so complicated and inaccessible to the communities that will suffer the most from climate change. It’s helping people understand the risks they’ll face and how to come up with solutions and be resilient, as a community.”

ACE’s climate justice workshops are an important part of the climate conversation in Boston. By connecting environmental and social justice issues to climate change, the international climate justice movement, and to actions communities can take locally to be prepared and build resilience, ACE is broadening the focus and reach of the climate conversation. The third and final climate justice workshop will be held Wednesday, June 25 at 2201 Washington St at 5:30 pm.

As Boston works this summer to update its climate action plan, we seek input from community members on how the plan can positively impact neighborhoods and residents. Contribute to the conversation at engage.greenovateboston.org and attend the next Preparedness Strategy Committee meeting on July 8 at 12pm, 98 N. Washington St Boston 02114. For more information, contact CAP2014@cityofboston.gov.