While certainly spectacular, last week’s sunsets (when it wasn’t raining) were unfortunately the result of particles of smoke from the wildfires in the Western part of the county.
Last week’s air quality was acutely terrible for most of the state, but especially so in areas with already-poor air quality, including Boston and its immediate neighbors.
Many of these low-income neighborhoods are already choked by exhaust due to their proximity to highways and the airport. Chelsea in particular has one of the worst rates of asthma in young residents, a rate that continues to climb.
This is our future without significant investment in the metro area’s transportation infrastructure: air that chokes, warnings to stay inside and additional damage to young lungs.
Climate change is a massive issue in both the scope of its damage and the sources of its destruction. So much of our world is impacted, it can be overwhelming to contemplate how to make any difference at all. But while we may not be able to put out wildfires in the West, we can address how best to manage the damage we are causing locally.
Put aside for now the hesitation to ride the MBTA due to the pandemic. As oppressive as it is, the pandemic is temporary; riders will eventually return, especially if traffic continues to worsen. Which it inevitably will: The Boston area had some of the worse traffic in the country prior to the pandemic. Already traffic has returned to pre-pandemic levels, and it isn’t over yet.
Climate change damage comes from above and below; while looking to the sky, don’t overlook the rising tides.
Just a few years ago the Seaport flooded in spectacular fashion, drowning businesses, damaging infrastructure and rendering the Aquarium T station unusable. As Steve Adams notes in his story this week (see page 1), Boston’s mayoral candidates are being asked to weigh in on not only the future of access to the city’s waterfront, but how best to fund and execute resilience efforts.
There’s a lot of finger-pointing and “not my job”-ing in the halls of Beacon Hill when it comes to climate change (and everything else). Some is no doubt due to incompetence, but most is due to confusion about who is responsible for what, what needs to happen, how to pay for it and how to make it happen. Into this breach steps the new Coalition for a Resilient and Inclusive Waterfront, an alliance of 40 nonprofits and environmental groups that aims to protect and promote the waterfront.
Who will pay an estimated $4 billion to fortify our coastal neighborhoods? Who will pay for significant upgrades and extensions to our trains and buses?
Our local leaders need to aggressively lobby for solutions on the national, state and local levels. Equally important, residents need to aggressively hold their elected leaders to account. Otherwise we’ll be enjoying the pretty sunsets while laying sandbags to protect our basements, and trying not to breathe.
