Boston report throws floodlight on equity, justice, and climate policy - The Boston Globe

Boston report throws floodlight on equity, justice, and climate policy - The Boston Globe

For the sake of the surrounding community, rethink Widett Circle

We commend the Boston Green Ribbon Commission and Embrace Boston for their timely and important report about climate change in Boston and the urgent need to prioritize justice in environmental and climate plans (“City needs to fix racial inequity on climate,” Metro, April 3).

We urge city leaders to reconsider the plan to redevelop the Widett Circle parcel into a railyard layover facility. This area is one of the most low-lying areas of Boston and, in fact, used to be open water — that’s where the South Bay neighborhood gets its name. A June 2019 City of Boston report found that flooding in Widett Circle “has been and will continue to be an issue,” the impacts of which are already being felt on the city’s Frontage Road section.

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We recommend turning all or even part of Widett Circle into a restored wetland; our 2017 analysis found that a 300-acre wetland in the Fort Point Channel area could also store runoff from a 10-inch storm from more than 1,000 acres of the surrounding developed area, protecting businesses and homes, including those of many low-income residents in the South End, Dorchester, and Roxbury.

Rising seas are coming. Extreme storms are coming. Let’s plan with nature for a future that prioritizes public health, public safety, and climate resilience.

Dira Johanif

Urban resilience advocate

Charles River Watershed Association

Boston

A history of racist policy choices is sadly on display in Boston’s schools

Boston’s Green Ribbon Commission and the racial justice nonprofit Embrace Boston have called for climate-friendly investments to undo centuries of racial inequity in the city. The groups’ report cited redlining in housing among a history of racist policy choices that have left Bostonians of color disproportionately vulnerable to climate change impacts. This is seen even more severely in education, with schools more segregated now than in 1965.

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Not only that, but disinvestment in education and climate resilience has left more than 90 school buildings with aging fossil-fuel heating systems and lacking adequate ventilation systems. According to Boston Public Schools, about three-quarters of its schools rely on operable windows as their primary source of ventilation. These conditions contribute to poor indoor air quality that results in decreased learning; the spread of COVID-19, RSV, flu, and other respiratory diseases; and increased asthma.

Mayor Michelle Wu’s ambitious Green New Deal will start renovating Boston public schools next year. This could start repairing our shameful history of segregation and inequity but only if the city incorporates racial equity into the planning process. Schools with the most students of color — and schools in neighborhoods with the most students of color — should be first in line for upgrades.

Suleika Soto

South Boston

Sarah Horsley

Jamaica Plain

The writers are each Boston Public Schools parents and cofounders of BPS Families for COVID Safety. Soto is the parent organizer for the Boston Education Justice Alliance.

Equity in climate mitigation efforts is a statewide concern

Dharna Noor’s article describes a report that recommends that Boston direct climate resilience and mitigation funds to low-income people and communities of color.

What’s true for the city is true for the state. Throughout Massachusetts, as in Boston, people of color and low-income people are most likely to live in neighborhoods with excessive heat and pollution. They are most likely to live in rental housing and to pay a disproportionate share of their income for energy and housing costs.

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Representative Andres X. Vargas of Haverhill and Senator Adam Gomez of Springfield have introduced An Act Establishing a Zero Carbon Renovation Fund. This bill would allocate $300 million to renovate existing buildings including affordable housing, public housing, homes rented or owned by low- or moderate-income households, and municipal buildings, including schools.

The bill prioritizes buildings that are physically located in environmental justice communities, Gateway Cities, and communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

Money for the fund is already available, in the form of federal COVID relief and infrastructure funds that have been allocated to Massachusetts and not yet spent.

Massachusetts legislators should act quickly to pass this measure — $300 million would be a down payment on the kind of equitable climate vision that gets a lot of discussion in reports but needs much more actual investment to become a reality.

Laura Spark

Senior policy advocate

Clean Water Action/Clean Water Fund

Dorchester