Sep 08, 2021

Boston’s First Zero Waste Shop Reminds Customers to Give Back to the Earth

Located in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, Uvida Shop is the city’s first-ever Zero Waste store – a retail destination that sells products with no single-use plastic packaging. Owner and CEO Maria began this venture while studying environmental science and sustainability at UMass Boston.

Uvida Shop soap bars
Sep 08, 2021

How Plastic is Made Is Harmful to People and the Environment

Plastic is everywhere – even in the places you’d least expect, like chewing gum, tea bags, wet wipes, receipts, and microwaveable popcorn bags. Yet, manufacturers continue to make more and more plastic each year – even though how plastic is made fuels a toxic cycle of production, consumption, and disposal.

trash can filled with plastic waste
Sep 02, 2021

Is New England Ready for a Hurricane Harvey? (Or Even Another Ida?)

Our region has seen hurricanes and tropical storms before, but, as we’ve just witnessed, it doesn’t have to be a storm of that magnitude to do significant damage. This year’s wet summer has shown that severe storms are becoming more common and intense, and they will only grow more frequent as the climate crisis deepens. 

Flooding in Rhode Island
Sep 01, 2021

Mass. AG Allows Fuel Tax Ballot Question

“The language of the proposed ballot question is ambiguous and will very likely confuse and mislead voters,” said Staci Rubin, Vice President, Environmental Justice, CLF. “This effort comes at exactly the wrong time. With the impacts of the climate crisis becoming clearer by the day, options should be on the table to reduce transportation fossil fuel use and prepare our communities for what’s to come.”

Clean car standards are good for our health, good for the environment, and good for our wallets.
Aug 30, 2021

“Invisible Train” of Gentrification and Displacement Forcing People Further from Their Neighborhoods

“We aren’t just seeing moves. We’re seeing forced moves that are caused by social and economic forces which create ripple effects in communities,” said Reann Gibson, Senior Research Fellow at Conservation Law Foundation and manager of the Healthy Neighborhoods Study. “It’s so important to listen to residents to deepen our understanding of their lived experiences, to identify the data that best captures those experiences, and to interpret the findings in a way that truly demonstrates the impact of displacement on health and wellbeing. We must now use this data to enact real change in these neighborhoods.” 

Aug 27, 2021

Janey Moves To Withdraw Walsh-Era Waterfront Development Plan

“The waterfront really is — legally — supposed to be a resource for everyone’s enjoyment,” Moran told GBH News. “The last time around, [developers] really drove the conversation because they came to the table with, you know, pretty much a fully baked idea of what they wanted to do. That’s why we have a plan that’s focused on two individual parcels over a 42 acre-wide district,” she said. “I don’t want to see this redo be focused on responding to, or tweaking, the existing proposals. I think we really need to take a step back and take this opportunity to think outside the box — and think about what else is possible.”

Aug 26, 2021

Mayor Janey Withdraws Boston’s Downtown Municipal Harbor Plan

“Mayor Janey made the right decision today,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “Boston’s developer-driven MHP process is fundamentally flawed, and the Downtown MHP would have resulted in less public access to one of the city’s greatest treasures – Boston Harbor. It’s time to reform the planning processes for all waterfront neighborhoods to elevate the public’s voice and right to access the water. We look forward to working with the city to achieve this goal.”

Aug 20, 2021

Boosting Local Businesses

Small businesses and entrepreneurs form the backbones of thriving communities, and right now, they’re struggling. This is especially true in the low-income neighborhoods and communities of color hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 laid bare the profound impact that our neighborhoods have on our health. People in low-income communities of color living with higher… Continue reading Boosting Local Businesses