When combined with traditional local agriculture, urban agriculture provides a unique opportunity to build and strengthen a robust local food system. This is especially true here in New England, where interest in local food is booming, but easy and affordable access to it is still limited, especially for low-income urban residents.
Providing more access to land for farming in our cities will help accelerate urban agriculture and support low-income, people of color, immigrant, and New American farmers in search of land on which to grow.
“Judge Wolf saw right through Exxon’s attempts to further delay this case,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “The longer this case goes on, the greater chance of a major storm exposing just how vulnerable this facility is, which would be catastrophic for surrounding neighborhoods and for Boston Harbor. This was yet another desperate attempt by Exxon to hide what it knows about the climate crisis.”
“Public transportation offers a lifeline, especially for communities with few other options,” said Staci Rubin, Vice President of Environmental Justice at CLF. “The chronic, frequent delays on the MBTA are thwarting economic growth in the region, and communities of color and low-income communities are bearing the brunt. It’s clear that the status quo is broken, and the MBTA must step up and create a system that works for all riders, not just wealthy ones.”
If you ride the MBTA to work or school regularly, then this scenario will sound frustratingly familiar. You rush to your bus stop or train station, only to find out that it’s delayed – often with little information on what happened or how long you’ll have to wait. When your bus or train does arrive, you… Continue reading MBTA Delays Undercut Access to Jobs and Economic Opportunity
Chronic delays have become the norm for riders of public transit in the Greater Boston area. But these delays hurt some people more than others. Our report shows that chronic delays reduce access to job opportunities for communities of color, low-income communities, and limited-English proficient residents at a far higher rate than for wealthier and… Continue reading Riding Toward Opportunities: Communities Need Better MBTA Service to Access Jobs
It’s the most wonderful (and wasteful) time of the year! As retailers bombard your inbox this holiday season, we challenge you to think outside the box – literally. To help you out, we’ve crafted a list of our top Zero Waste gifts to give this year.
Burying incinerator ash harms our health and environment. Yet, as New England’s incinerators limp on well past their lifespans, several ash landfills across the region want to expand.
“The public’s right to access the waterfront has been guaranteed for generations, and we must fight any attempts by unauthorized state officials to undermine it,” said Peter Shelley, Senior Counsel at CLF. “The politicized, developer-driven process that led to Boston’s harbor plan was fundamentally flawed. The lower court was correct to conclude that the state agencies did not have the authority to approve it. We’re confident the justices will uphold that decision to send Boston’s unlawful plan back to the drawing board.”
“TCI was never going to be enough to address the impacts and needs of the region’s transportation systems,” said Staci Rubin, Vice President of Environmental Justice at CLF. “Transportation is the largest source of planet-warming emissions in New England, and our current systems have overburdened communities of color with air pollution for decades. We must overhaul the way we move people and goods, and it must be done in a way that recognizes and addresses these historic inequities and brings everyone to the table in finding a solution. CLF will continue to work with impacted communities and our states to move that process forward.”
