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Panel from "Steel Life on Chelsea Creek," completed and installed in 2008.
Chelsea Creek, located on the threshold between the Mystic River and Boston Harbor, could be a model for healthy urban coastal ecosystems. Instead it is lined with oil tanks and salt piles. There is no reason why local industry and thriving coastal ecosystems can't co-exist. For more than two decades people of East Boston and the Chelsea Creek Action Group have called for the 7-acre former Hess Oil Terminal lot to be turned into a salt marsh. A Boston Globe editorial called for putting up a factory instead, denying locals their opportunity to have a salt marsh.
We want to see snowy egrets, oystercatchers and sand pipers, ducks and ospreys. This salt marsh would become a staging area for herring populations preparing to migrate up the Mystic, shelter for schools of "bait fish" avoiding striped bass and blues.
This is more than an environmental issue, it's social injustice. It's just not fair to give some communities access to their natural coastal assets, while denying others, such as the locals of Chelsea and East Boston. You can make a difference for local ecosystems and communities by writing in support of this salt marsh.
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October 20th marked six months since the BP’s oil drilling disaster in the Gulf of Mexico began. Reforms are still urgently needed to prevent future disasters and to ensure restoration and recovery of Gulf communities and ecosystems.
Representatives of forty-six community, social justice, environmental and fishermen's groups met in Weeks Bay, Alabama and drafted a set goals and principles to guide the recovery and restoration of the Gulf of Mexico. The Weeks Bay Principles for Gulf Recovery call on the government to:
- Make coastal communities whole again;
- Commit to cleaning up and restoring the Gulf;
- Hold BP accountable;
- Ensure local participation in decision-making;
- Conduct short and long-term monitoring; and
- Invest in economic opportunities to support locally-driven, sustainable recovery that restores and enhances America’s Gulf coast.
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Sunrise by Little Brewster Lighthouse, Boston Harbor photo: R Moir
State Representative Denise Provost and Somerville Climate Action present:
A Sea Change
followed by a discussion with Dr. Rob Moir
Ocean River Shields of Achilles with
Chelsea Creek Action Group
Co-sponsored by
Ocean River Institute and Mystic River Watershed Association
Wednesday, Oct 27th
6:30 pm
Third Life Studio
33 Union Square, Somerville
Free Admission!
IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT FISH. It seems inconceivable, but top scientists warn that such a catastrophe may in fact play out in coming generations unless widespread awarenesss is raised to stop ocean acidification. Chock full of scientific information, the feature-length film is also a beautiful paean to the ocean world, and an intimate story of a Norwegian-American family whose heritage is bound up with the sea.
"Ocean River Shields of Achilles Explores Chelsea Creek" is a 20 minute video that features the work of East Boston's Chelsea Creek Action Group. Rob talks with Melinda Alverado-Vega, Community Organizer, about their efforts to create a salt marsh. A student with the Chelsea Collaborative Environmental Justice Group on the other side of the bridge describes a most original initiative to get residents and merchants to care for the environment.
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Support ORI While Do Your Holliday Shopping!
October is a busy month, as people are winterizing their homes and begin their holiday shopping. This year, why not get all the things you need and support healthier ocean river ecosystems simultaneously. The Ocean River Institute is now a nonprofit partner with the online shopping portal, MarketAmerica.com. When you search for an item this site brings up products from a selection of 1000s of stores. Market America sells lots of green products that meet all your needs!
Every time you go through the portal to make a purchase, a percentage goes toward ORI’s efforts. All you have to do is visit ORI’s MarketAmerica.com website. If you sign up on the site, besides supporting ORI, you will also receive cash back on purchases!
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Discover how, with the knowledge of Rachel Carson and the courage of Achilles, individuals are making a difference for healthier oceans, rivers, watersheds and skies. Choose from thirty-one podcast episodes of Moir's Environmental Dialogues, Ocean River Shields of Achilles. Also available free on iTunes, search "Moir's".
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Ocean River Institute
12 Eliot Street | Cambridge, MA 02138 | 617.661.6647 |
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