Climate Champs–Roxbury’s ACE, Eden Reforestation Projects, One Planet Plate, International Day for Biological Diversity

CLIMATE CHAMPIONS–ROXBURY’S ACE

Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE) is a neighborhood based, environmental justice and transit-oriented development nonprofit. It organizes Roxbury residents while also working with community organizers locally, statewide and nationally to build platforms and offer resources that address systemic injustice. 

We work directly within the frontline communities that are most impacted bringing critical solutions that include advocacy, organizing, legal and regulatory campaigns.  ACE is the first environmental justice nonprofit organization in Massachusetts and has defended the rights of Roxbury residents for over 25 years.

According to its website, “Systemic change means moving beyond solving problems one by one to eliminating the root causes of environmental injustice. ACE is anchoring a movement of people who have been excluded from decision-making to confront power directly and demand fundamental changes that protect in the intergenerational longevity of protected classes, so together we can achieve our right to a healthy environment.”

Some of ACE’s programs include Environmental Justice, Community Organizing & Youth Empowerment, and Public Transit & Development. Under environmental justice, ACE gives “Toxic Tours.” It’s a tour given on a regular basis in Dudley, near Roxbury in Boston.

It’s a walking tour that shows how environmental racism and classism have impacted our community and how residents have won changes for a healthy and sustainable neighborhood. Learn about environmental history, what we’re doing now, and how you can make a positive impact on our community and environment.

Under their youth empowerment banner, ACE sponsors the Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project. It’s a youth-led, adult-supported, environmental-justice, community organizing effort. We develop leadership and build youth power, membership and movement by developing the leadership of primarily youth of color from Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan. ACE  youth led campaigns and projects.

DEEPER DIVE: ACE

DINING FROM ONE PLANET PLATE

More than a third of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions are generated by the food system.

Directly and indirectly, the production and consumption of food is responsible for a majority of global greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss and ill health. The food we choose, where it comes from, and how it ends up on our plate is one of the most impactful decisions for the future of our planet, and it is a choice that we make more than three times a day.

Introducing One Planet Plate. It’s a worldwide restaurant campaign to address the inherent problems in our food system, and we’re calling on you to join the collective movement to vote with your fork. This is a chance for chefs worldwide to show how they’re contributing to a better food future, and to galvanise diners and home-cooks to think about and act upon their own food choices, too. So the ideas behind One Planet Plate include:

LOW CARBON FOOTPRINT

All of the ingredients that make up our meals have an emissions impact which can be expressed as the kilograms of C02 equivalents per kilogram of the ingredient. With this in mind, we have defined dishes as Low Carbon Footprint if they have less than 1 kilo of CO2E per dish. If all of us kept within these limits, this would equate to a 40% drop in emissions from dining in line with targets set by the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015.

We can do that by 

CELEBRATING LOCAL

Buying from local producers gives you access to seasonal fresh food, often with a smaller carbon price tag. It also provides a valuable investment in the local economy, helps establish thriving food networks and production for local food heritage. Serving locally sourced dishes in restaurants also helps give diners the traceability that they crave. For your One Planet Plate to be celebrating local, we are looking for dishes where the primary ingredients are sourced regionally,

DEEPER DIVE: ONE PLANET PLATE

EDEN REFORESTATION PROJECTS

Hey, Stop me if you’ve heard this one, it takes a village to raise a forest. That’s what the Eden reforestation project tells us. What they do is work with local communities to restore forests on massive scales, thereby creating jobs, protecting ecosystems and helping mitigate climate change.

So far, they’ve planted over 939 million trees produced, planted and protected. They’ve worked on 266 project sites in 10 countries and employed over 11,500 people. They’re working in places like Madagascar and Mozambique, Kenya, Nepal, and Indonesia. They do it through a variety of different partnerships like corporate partnerships, where a company can fulfill its carbon sequestration requirements and Net Zero commitments by partnering with the Eden reforestation project to help fight climate change and alleviate poverty.

Or there are foundation partnerships, were supporting an organization whose work has substantial tangible impact on the ground by investing in reforestation projects and expansion opportunities. 

Even we as individuals can donate and help create livelihoods for thousands of people currently living in extreme poverty by empowering them to restore and protect forests on a massive scale, while offsetting our own carbon footprints.

Find out more by checking out Eden projects.org or by surfing on over to theClimate.org and clicking on the links in the Deeper Dive section of this story.

DEEPER DIVE: EDEN

SUNDAY’S INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY 

It’s a little early but just want to get you prepared. This Sunday is International Day for Biological Diversity. It’s a United Nations–sanctioned international day for the promotion of biodiversity issues, currently held on May 22. International Day for Biological Diversity falls within the scope of the UN Post-2015 Development Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.” International Day for Biological Diversity has been around since 1993. Each year has a theme. This year’s theme is, “Building a shared future for all life”

The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity is pleased to announce the Biodiversity Day 2022 slogan: “Building a shared future for all life”.

Why does this day matter to us? Biodiversity remains the answer to several sustainable development challenges. From nature-based solutions to climate, health issues, food and water security, and sustainable livelihoods, biodiversity is the foundation upon which we can build back better.

DEEPER DIVE: Wikipedia, Convention on Biological Diversity, UN, Geneva Environment Network