Writing

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Helping Justice Take Root

A trip down Manchester’s Beech Street reveals a sad irony about its tree-inspired name: The farther south on Beech you travel, the fewer trees you’ll see. The same holds true of Chestnut, Elm, Pine, and Maple streets. The unofficial dividing line in the city – Bridge Street – is perhaps more aptly named. North of Bridge, you’ll find neighborhoods filled with single-family houses. Trees here are not only abundant but also tall, lush, and decades old...

Taking the Long View

Sometimes, a good idea takes a long time to come to fruition. A very long time. It also takes vision, tenacity, and skill. Take ocean planning – the idea that we can be smarter and more coordinated about how we collectively use, manage, and protect limited ocean resources. When the Northeast Regional Ocean Plan was approved for New England’s federal waters last year, it capped off a journey for CLF that began nearly two decades ago.

Stopping Childhood Lead Poisoning

For the past four years, Tom Irwin has talked to countless people about the tragedy of childhood lead poisoning. Especially before the Flint crisis put lead issues back in the headlines, he often would be met with the incredulous response, “But haven’t we solved that problem already?” It’s a fair question, says Irwin, director of CLF’s New Hampshire Advocacy Center. “We’ve known that lead is a dangerous toxin, especially for kids, for decades, even before it was banned from paint in 1978.

Measuring Community Health

A New Research Model Puts the Community in the Driver’s Seat One of the most significant ways to transform health and grow local economies is by improving neighborhoods through a type of development called transit-oriented development: high-density housing that integrates commercial, retail, and green space within easy walking distance of public transportation. Promoting such development was the impetus behind the 2014 launch of the Healthy Neighborhoods Equity Fund, a partnership between CLF

Reclaiming the People’s Harbor

It doesn’t take long for Peter Shelley to warm to his story, though he’s told it countless times before. It’s the case that has defined the career of CLF’s senior statesman, transformed the organization into a litigation powerhouse, and changed the face of Boston forever. It’s the story of Boston Harbor, and it begins like so many modern epics – with an intrepid reporter, a three-part exposé, and a life-changing phone call.

Whale Watch

Listening to Zack Klyver describe North Atlantic right whales, it’s clear how much the veteran naturalist holds them in awe. “They are magnificent,” he says. “They’re over a hundred thousand pounds and 50 to 60 feet long, with an enormous black tail that’s very symmetrical and beautiful when they bring it up out of the water. They are just amazing animals to see.” Seeing a right whale, however, is increasingly rare. Klyver has guided whale watching trips for more than 25 years, currently as hea

Local Food 2.0

Training a New Generation of Farmers in Western Massachusetts For Rafael Herrero, farming is a family tradition. Though he admits, it skipped a generation. “My grandfather was a farmer in Puerto Rico,” he says, “but none of his sons became farmers themselves.” Today, Herrero is reviving his family’s heritage by training a new generation of urban farmers in Massachusetts. As Director of Agriculture and Environment for Nuestras Raíces, a Holyoke-based community organization, Herrero is overseein

Restoring Lake Champlain

Reasons for Hope after Decades of Degradation When it comes to the future of Vermont’s Lake Champlain, Crea Lintilhac is optimistic. “We’re going to clean up our waters,” declares the long-time CLF Vermont Board member (and now chair), who has lived on the shores of the iconic lake for nearly 30 years. Given that she has witnessed the lake’s increasing degradation over three decades, one wouldn’t blame her if her outlook was a bit less rosy. But Lintilhac has also witnessed a shift in the publ

Talking Trash

On a Monday night in February, more than 100 people crowded into the Sturbridge, Massachusetts, town hall for an emergency meeting of the town’s Board of Health. Nineteen wells in the Sturbridge neighborhood closest to the massive Southbridge Landfill had just tested high for lead – a dangerous neurotoxin proven to do irreversible harm to young children. Recent tests had also revealed a possible carcinogen, 1,4 Dioxane, in six wells in the same testing area. The residents in the town hall that

Boston Harbor 2.0

The New Frontier in the Fight to Save Boston Harbor When CLF launched its 1983 lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for dumping toxic sludge and untreated wastewater into Boston Harbor, years of neglect by the federal government, the state, the city, and polluters had turned the harbor into a shameful liability. But over time, and thanks to the dedicated efforts of public and private partners, the harbor has become the pride of Boston and a centerpiece of booming economic growth, t
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