“New Englanders living in low-income and communities of color are more deeply impacted by our current environmental challenges than society at large,” says Veronica Eady. That’s why CLF, in collaboration with community groups and residents in environmental justice communities, is working to reduce the environmental hazards that threaten public health across New England.
It’s tempting to leave the problem of stormwater runoff to cities, towns, and businesses. But our houses also takes away the landscape’s ability to soak up precipitation naturally. Solutions to start greening our home landscapes, however, can be as simple as buying a rain barrel and planting a rain garden.
CLF and our partners are championing a new approach to managing stormwater. Green infrastructure is about trying to design our built environment in a way that restores the ability of the landscape to soak up precipitation and filter out pollutants before the runoff reaches our waterways.
When news broke in 2013 that Brayton Point, New England’s largest – and reportedly most efficient – coal-fired power plant would close in 2017, CLF heralded the news as a victory in one of its signature battles: the demise of coal in New England.
The Mystic River Watershed is the most urbanized watershed in Massachusetts – and one of the most polluted. So when a neighborhood group approached CLF in 2010 with concerns about stormwater runoff from a large scrap metal facility, we agreed to take a closer look.
