After the Big Apple came Beantown. We arrived mid-day, stopping first at the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Boston Nature Center, a refreshing spot of green before continuing on to the city's downtown. This stop set a tone for the day that reverberated through my head as we continued to explore. Perhaps Boston’s nickname was a forewarning for the seed of thought that has been planted in my mind and will undoubtedly continue to sprout through our time on the road.
As we consider what it means to be human – to develop, to live, to grow, to build, to sustain – it helps to find reflections of our patterns in nature. Issues of sustainability – environmental, economic, and social – are present at every scale and in a variety of contexts. Consider, for example, a natural ecosystem such as that defined within The Boston Nature Center. The plants, animals, micro-organisms, air, and water co-exist to form an inter-dependent and ever-fluctuating community of life.
This poses the question: What is a sustainable ecosystem?
Furthermore, what defines a native species? An invasive species? What are the right diversity, mixing, and organization of plant and animal life? When do we, as grid-laying, culture-categorizing humans, give in and let the natural order take over? How much human intervention is appropriate?
These are questions that can be applied, as well, to cities and governments around the world.
What is a sustainable urban ecosystem?
Who has a right to live there? Who has a right to move there? How important is diversity and fluctuation? What is the right organization or layout of a city? When is it right to preserve history, and when do we give in to natural organic growth and adaptive uses?
To break down these enormous questions, we can look first at the smaller components. In the case of cities, we examine individual buildings, public spaces, and uses. How is each component its own ecosystem and how can it become both independently sustainable and also contribute to the larger sustainability of a city? In Boston, we had a few opportunities to explore this idea.
First, we toured The George Robert White Environmental Conservation Center (GRWECC), located at the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Boston Nature Center in Mattapan. As the first municipal green building in Boston, it is a simple and elegant model of sustainable design. The GRWECC has been designed, built, and maintained so as to protect and conserve the natural environment. Additionally, it provides a comfortable, healthy working and learning environment for employees and visitors. To minimize its environmental impacts and maximize energy and water efficiency, the GRWECC has gone to a variety of measures. The building utilizes renewable energy technologies (i.e. geothermal heat pumps, photovoltaic shingles, solar hot water system), efficient insulation, high-performance glass, environmentally-sound materials (i.e. wood from certified sustainably-harvested forests, recycled products, local resources), strategic orientation for maximization of natural lighting, an erosion and sedimentation plan, xeriscaping, and passive-solar design. As an individual building, therefore, it is very near being a sustainable ecosystem. What makes the GRWECC absolutely incredible in the eyes of sustainability and livability, however, is its role in the larger community of Boston. Located on 67 acres of what used to be the Boston State Hospital, the GRWECC and Boston Nature Center (BNC) restore a formerly-neglected property to its natural state, then take it to a new level of sustainability in modern culture. The site is home to a wildlife sanctuary with 2.5 miles of wheelchair-accessible trails and boardwalks, as well as the Clark Cooper Community Gardens, one of Boston's oldest and largest community gardens. The GRWECC and BNC (situated within one of Boston’s highest density residential neighborhoods) are easily accessible to the local community, located only one half mile from two bus routes and two miles from a commuter rail and subway station. Bicycle racks and public showers make the building and site accessible also to bicyclists.
Our second stop was the NEXUS Green Building Resource Center, located in downtown Boston. The Center is equipped with 6,000 square feet of educational showrooms, networking space, and a resource library on green building and sustainable design. Noah Chesnin, a 2002 & 2003 Udall Scholar, gave us a tour of the space and explained many of the Center’s goals and initiatives. Similar to the GRWECC, NEXUS is a component of the Bostonian urban ecosystem which models and supports sustainability on multiple levels. It re-uses an older space in an older downtown building, utilizing green technologies and materials. Easily accessible via public transit and networking with other sustainability groups, NEXUS’s role in the larger community is critical. It educates, inspires, and provides resources for building owners, architects, engineers, designers, developers and the general public about green building and sustainable design.
Our third stop of the day was Boston’s Haymarket near Faneuil Hall. We were eager to get out in the city and explore what we first envisioned as a friendly local farmer’s market, but we came away from the experience with mixed feelings. All of the produce we encountered was imported from foreign sources and the vendors were aggressive. The produce, however, was surprisingly cheap, which was great for our hungry crew. For example, I could have bought two large boxes of green beans for $1 or three packages of raspberries for $2. The market was very affordable, but raised questions about sustainability as it relates to local farmers and vendors.
Lastly, we visited Legal Sea Foods for a late dinner and local Udall Alumni meet-up. Between courses, the head chef came to speak to us about the restaurant’s business practices and sustainability. As a seafood dining experience, Legal Sea Foods is top notch. The restaurant hires a friendly staff and uses only fresh seafood that has passed through critical quality inspection. More detail on this subject can be found on their website. We were pleased to hear that Legal Sea Foods also pays heed to endangered species lists and so avoids serving things like Chilean Seabass, choosing less-endangered alternatives for the their menu.
Our conversation with the chef got us talking later about problems that persist with fisheries, especially relating to shrimp. To learn about some of the problems that exist in the seafood industry, see these web resources: Wikipedia on shrimp farms, FAO on Southeast Asia, and an article from Mother Jones.
Within any urban ecosystem, there are very high, very low, and middle-ground contributors to overall sustainability. Our first two visits, especially, were models for what can and should be done when possible. We will keep exploring the details of such critical urban components and this seed of thought as we continue our journey across the American landscape.
By: Crystal Olin
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