The environment is the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the ground we walk on, our homes, and the changing the weather and seasons. It is also what we can’t see: pollutants and toxins in the air; the water supply underground; and gases produced by industrial processes and vehicle emissions that affect public health and change the earth’s atmosphere. The earth’s population has doubled since 1950 and is projected to increase by 50% again by 2050, with most growth in developing nations. Most scientists agree on the need to improve the efficiency of renewable energy sources to support the Earth’s population without overwhelming its natural systems.

OVERVIEW

Boston’s environmental inventory includes the nation’s first public open space, the Boston Common, dating to 1630; the famed  “Emerald Necklace” park system designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 19th century and other parks, playgrounds and tot lots totaling 2,200 acres managed by the Boston Parks Department; another 2,200 acres of parks and recreational areas managed by the Commonwealth; urban wilds and marshes, and 175 community gardens throughout the city’s neighborhoods serving more than 10,000 gardens managed by the Boston Natural Areas Network. 

Likewise, Boston contains a diverse “ecosystem” of organizational assets. These include regional resources such as the Arnold Arboretum, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the New England Aquarium, Zoo New England, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Conservation Law Foundation and the Appalachian Mountain Club.

Closer to home, Boston is fortunate to have a strong and dedicated network of citywide and community-based environmental groups. They have worked tirelessly for the past two decades and more to restore the city’s parks and urban wilds and to create new parks and gardens along its shorelines and in its neighborhoods for the pleasure and health of residents and visitors alike. These include the Boston GreenSpace Alliance, the Boston Natural Area Network, Boston Harbor Associates, Save the Harbor Save the Bay, the Island Alliance, the Chelsea Creek Action Group, Neighborhood of Affordable Housing (NOAH), the Allston Brighton CDC, the South End Lower Roxbury Land Trust, the Watershed Institute, the Charles River Watershed Association and many more.

Strong advocacy groups, armed with research, such as Alternatives for Community and Environment  (ACE) — at the core of a coalition of organizations —are focusing attention on environmental justice issues such  as ailments caused by environmental toxins and pollution, the clean up and development of brownfields, and the disproportionate siting of environmental hazards in low-income and communities of color.

A 2001 report by ACE and the Environmental League of Massachusetts, Unequal Exposure, found that communities with more than 25% residents of color averaged nearly five times as many pounds of chemical emissions from polluting industrial facilities per square miles as those with less than 5%. They also found that  communities with an average median income of less than $40,000 —51% of all communities in the state —received 78% of all chemical emissions. These findings have been bolstered by EPA’s Urban Environmental Initiative and Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA). The EOEA, with the support of local advocacy groups, spearheaded passage of environmental justice legislation in 2002.

Scientific confirmation of global and local climate changes combined with the news that the average Greater Boston driver spent 42 hours stuck in traffic  in 2000 – up from 28 hours in 1990 —  attracted the attention of Metro Boston residents. In a poll conducted for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council in early 2002, “sprawl” reached the short list of residents’ concerns for the first time.  Data from a variety of research institutes confirm its negative impacts, including a sharp increase in car ownership, a rise in vehicular sources of air pollution, pressure on water supplies, rising rates of obesity, a spacial mismatch between jobs and homes, long commutes that detract from family time and a sense that Massachusetts is at risk of losing its historic character.

These documented impacts are leading to new initiatives to raise public awareness. In 2000, the Boston Society of Architects kicked off its Civic Initiative for a Livable New England. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council organized a major Boston College Citizen’s Seminar in the spring of 2002 attended by more than 400 people, marking the initiation of planning for a new regional growth strategy. The Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities released a report, “A Scan of Smart Growth Issues in New England,” in June 2002, and PolicyLink, a West-Coast-based organization, is sponsoring local forums on regional equity. And planning in a number of sectors and communities is converging to address the related issues of transportation, housing, environmental and public health and urban design.  

WHAT HAS CHANGED SINCE 2000?

The downturn in the economy and the subsequent decline in state tax revenues has reduced public investment in environmental resources. Steep cuts are affecting a range of programs from the Franklin Park Zoo in Roxbury to statewide environmental improvement programs. One consequence of the decline in revenues is a push by the Romney Administration to reorganize state government to achieve cost savings and greater efficiency. A new office — Chief of Development  — was created to integrate state plans and funding for housing, transportation and the environment. The century-old Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) is targeted for consolidation.

Boston mobilized to envision its future through a series of public convenings  — Beyond the Big Dig — sponsored by the Boston Globe , MIT, and WCVB-TV Channel 5, and funded by the Boston Foundation and the State Street Foundation. Participants gathered for a final televised forum at Faneuil Hall in the spring of 2002. Since then, contracts have been issued to three sets of designers by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority for the 25 acres of new open space that will become available. An exciting series of public design sessions have been undertaken to infuse innovation and excitement into the design process.
 
The past two summers in Metro Boston were among the hottest on record, continuing an upward trend, and generating record levels of ozone. In the summer of 2002, New Englanders set a record for energy consumption at more than 25,000 megawatts on one day in August. The previous record was set a year before, in August of 2001.

The summer of 2002 marked the high point in the trend toward cleaner beaches along Boston Harbor thanks to the continued operation of the Deer Island Sewage Treatment Plant, completed and opened by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) in 2000. The plant has reduced solid waste discharges into Boston Harbor from 160 to 30 tons per day, or more than 80%. Combined sewer overflo