Not a “Third World” Problem

by Aaron Hersum Environmental justice has many faces - I, for one, define it in many different ways. Sometimes it appears as a public health issue, as was the case in Flint, Michigan. Other times, it takes the shape of combatting rising sea levels, as coastal communities attempt to update their infrastructure, utilities, and homes …

The Leading “Edge”

By Jessica Halvorsen Massachusetts has played an important role in carbon law (if there is such a field) in the United States, being the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit Massachusetts v. EPA, that ultimately ruled in 2007 that carbon dioxide is a “regulateable” pollutant, and led to Federal efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Now, …

The Reality of Carbon Realities

By Aaron Hersum A Boston Area Sustainability Group event headlined “Carbon Realities” was bound to be fascinating- full of depth and charged with the emotion that comes with debating carbon emissions. Once again, most of us did a lot of learning. First-time attendee Marissa LaFave, a senior at Boston University also working in socially responsible …

The Right Hook

By Jessica Halvorsen At this month’s BASG event, we spent time learning and thinking about the intersection of two areas of large investment: buildings and human health. As Grey Lee, Executive Director of the MA US Green Building Council chapter, noted, changing how we build and operate buildings, which are among our biggest investments, is one …

The Inertia of Green Building

By Aaron Hersum According to Newton’s First Law, an object will remain at rest or in its current motion unless acted upon by an external force. Listening to Grey Lee, Executive Director of the USGBC MA chapter, speak about how LEED certification is advancing sustainability in our built environment, I couldn’t help but think of …

The True Cost of Coal and the Clean Energy Transition

By Aaron Hersum, with contributions from Jess Halvorsen, Tilly Pick, and Eric Grunebaum photo credit: Paul Corbit Brown The Last Mountain, a 2011 Sundance Festival film, illuminates a stunning trend in the energy sector that I did not anticipate when I decided to attend BASG’s “Clean Energy Transition” event. We are spending billions of dollars not to transition to a clean …