Climate Mitigation & Resiliency

Since colonization of what is now the United States, our country has been built on the dispossession of native populations and economic and racial exclusion of lowincome and BIPOC communities. This exclusion and oppression have continued over the centuries through governmental policies and programs and through our economic systems. From slavery and Jim Crow to contemporary labor, environmental, housing, and educational systems, the rules of society have been intentionally designed to create the disparities that exist in wealth accumulation and health along demographic and, especially, racial lines.

The economy of the United States has never been particularly favorable to lowincome workers or BIPOC individuals. More recent trends in Greater Boston have further exacerbated wealth differentials, as high paying jobs in sectors such as finance, higher education, biotech, and healthcare have fueled growth in high income jobs. Meanwhile, declines in middle-income jobs such as manufacturing and accompanying union membership along with housing options affordable to middle-income households disappearing across Greater Boston, these households and jobs are being pushed to lower cost parts of our country.

Growth in low-paying and undervalued service and personal care industry jobs and jobs in the so-called gig economy that do not provide benefits like sick, vacation, and retirement are a growing share of our economy.

The high cost of housing, energy, transportation, food, and sometimes student debt and childcare in Greater Boston consumes a large share of an average household’s income, for lower-income households nearly all of it.

The social safety net, which includes income, food, medical, and housing supports, has never provided enough support for low-income individuals and households to thrive and live their lives without the stress and stigma of poverty.

Prospects for moving into higher income and wealth brackets are limited, even for the next generation. While the rags to riches story of the American Dream sometimes come true, in reality, it is more myth. Inter-generational wealth transfers tend to help maintain the relative position of higher net worth families, which are predominantly White, over time. Appreciation in home values is a primary wealth building mechanism, yet one that is inaccessible to many in Greater Boston.

The industrialization and urbanization of the United States since the late 1800’s has been powered largely by fossil fuels. These fuels continue to account for most of our energy generation and transportation fuels, generating unsustainable levels of GHGs and other air pollutants. Our entire modern infrastructure is heavily reliant on fossil fuels – from how we heat our millions of homes to how we power most of our cars. Converting infrastructure dating back more than a half century to renewable and non-polluting sources will take massive investments and behavior changes.

The way Greater Boston has grown, urbanized, and suburbanized has also contributed to increased emissions and a reduced capacity to minimize the negative impacts of climate change. Low-density, auto-dependent suburban growth requires more energy per household and is often farther from public or active transportation. Converting undeveloped lands and filling wetlands to accommodate development has increased impervious surfaces and reduced capacity to absorb and infiltrate stormwater, contributing to increased heat and flood vulnerabilities and water pollution.

We have also built a region that is not particularly resilient. Many aspects of our built and social environments lack the ability to adjust under stress. The levees in New Orleans were not designed to handle the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which led to catastrophic failure. Had the coastal wetland system been left intact, New Orleans would likely have been spared the worst of the hurricane. Closer to home, the New York metropolitan area of 2012 was poorly prepared to absorb and recover from the impacts of Hurricane Sandy.

Here in Greater Boston, we also have lost or damaged our coastal wetland. Nor is resiliency built into our electric grid and delivery system design. If one part of the system is knocked out of commission, downstream customers also lose power.

Social resiliency also varies dramatically by wealth, race, age, and geography. The COVID-19 pandemic bore out the worst of these disparities. During the pandemic, some people with means temporarily relocated out of the city, and others had the option to drive into work or to work from home. But these options were not available to all. Often, lower-income and BIPOC service workers had no choice but to go to work in person and were among those most hard-hit by COVID-19.

Individuals and communities with the highest barriers to bouncing back after a disaster (due to poor infrastructure and maintenance, less access to information because of the digital divide, and poor public disaster response systems) and those most at risk of severe health complications during disasters (due to age, social isolation, pre-existing health risks, crowded housing conditions, or exposed working conditions) bear the most risk to the impacts of climate change.