Jul 09, 2020

Why Is It Harder for Some Communities to Access the Waterfront?

Communities of color and those with low incomes not only deserve to enjoy waterfront open spaces for recreation and exercise – it’s also their right by law. And yet, through neglect and outright refusal by corporate interests, too many do not have the chance to run, walk, or even stretch near the water. We can and must do better.

Riverfront Walkway at the Encore Casino
Jul 07, 2020

Community-Based, Environmental and Civil Rights Activists Across Country Issue Statement and Unified Demands

Amy Laura Cahn, Senior Attorney, Interim Director – Healthy Communities & Environmental Justice, Conservation Law Foundation, said, ““The data is clear: COVID-19 is attacking Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities at astronomical rates. For generations, our legal system has withheld resources and legal protections from these communities while shielding whiter, wealthier areas from environmental harm. Now is the time to create new systems that prioritize the rights, health, and self-determination of those who have been denied these freedoms since before this country’s inception.”

Jul 02, 2020

What Do Environmental Justice Protections Mean for Our Communities?

Decades of environmental injustices won’t be addressed without strong legislation to drive change. Local organizations are working to reduce burdens on environmental justice communities, but it’s up to the Massachusetts legislature to redress decades of wrongs and put our state on a path to a more equitable future.

Holyoke, an environmental justice community, is working on becoming a climate-resiliency hub
Jun 10, 2020

Why COVID-19 Is Hitting Some Communities Harder

COVID-19’s unequal impact on our communities has laid bare stark realities about health, wealth, and housing. As our Healthy Neighborhoods Study has shown – and as the map of COVID-19 infections bears out ­– low-income and people of color face community-level stressors resulting from public health inequities and environmental injustices. These stressors result directly from decades of discriminatory housing policy.  

Jun 01, 2020

State Denies Equal Access to Public Hearings

“Preventing residents from commenting on a project that will have enormous impacts on their community is not only shameful but a form of discrimination,” said Amy Laura Cahn, Director of CLF’s Healthy Communities and Environmental Justice program. “East Boston and Chelsea already experience some of the worst air quality and pollution in the state and adding yet another industrial facility will only compound these injustices. State leaders need to be held accountable for silencing community concerns to push this project through.”

The waterfront site near the dangerous electric substation proposed by Eversource in the Eagle Hill community in East Boston. The jet fuel tanks and other infrastructure in the background highlight the need for climate justice in this community.
May 14, 2020

Building Stronger Communities and a Healthier Climate in the Wake of COVID-19

Even as we mourn the lives lost to COVID-19 and absorb the heavy toll it has taken on our economy, we must recognize that the old “normal” left too many communities unhealthy and especially vulnerable to the pandemic. Replicating that old “normal” will squander an opportunity to reduce climate danger while building healthier and more just communities for all.

Apr 06, 2020

Getting the Lead Out

Charlene Lovett takes on lead poisoning in her New Hampshire city.

Close up shot of an old house