City of Boston
Ensuring Climate Resiliency
As we approach a climate-crisis Lily and I understand our impact in ensuring Boston’s resilience against climate-change.
Our Impact:
Urban-Forestry & Food-Sovereignty
Alongside many organizations, either through employment, as volunteers, or through collaboration, Lily and I have planted over 500 trees, and watered over 2000 all-throughout Boston; we’ve engaged and educated Boston’s youths and residents about sustainability, and the importance of environmental-conservation and food-sovereignty; providing workshops and resources for residents residing in environmental-justice (EJ) neighborhoods: Hyde Park, Mattapan, Dorchester, Roxbury, and East Boston.
Certified in Green-Infrastructure through the City of Boston’s Office of Green Infrastructure, we understand Boston’s vulnerability to flooding, heat-emergencies, and pollutants; in 2025, Boston had received the highest phone calls regarding heat-illness — in 2025, greater-Boston had a flash-flood emergency in Roslindale and Hyde Park because of heavy rainfall. In 2024, during 90-100 degrees weather, we took surface-temperatures of pavements around Dorchester Center; there was a difference of 40-50 degrees when surfaces were & were not shaded by trees. Experiencing the instant cooling upon entering under a tree’s canopy is cruelly blissful — enough to radicalize you as a tree-hugger.
Through our program: Gardening for Empathy, we are supporting and contributing to land-conservation and food-sovereignty, through door-to-door efforts, community workshops, and the distribution of free growing materials (seeds, seedlings, raised-beds, tools and guides — our greenhouse is opened to residents of Hyde Park/Mattapan with limited-space).
Lily digging out the root-flare and untangling the roots of a young Dogwood before planting; this procedure ensures longevity and prevents girdling.
Advocacy:
Massachusetts Bill S.791: Nature as a Prescription
(H.E.R.O. Nurturing Center Making Nature Prescriptive Act by Judith Foster,) allows healthcare providers to prescribe outdoor time as a medical, mental health, or social rehabilitation treatment. It mandates insurance coverage for these prescriptions and waives state park fees for MassHealth enrollees. Additionally, it calls for a review of outdoor therapy programs to improve equitable access, especially for marginalized communities.
Alongside Judith, and Maria of 2 Birds No Stone — Lily and I gave our testimonies in support of the bill on October 08, 2025 at the Massachusetts State House, it was nerve-wracking, yes, but this is intrinsically important to every single resident in Boston; prioritizing nature as a remedial prescription, despite decades of redlining, worsening infrastructure, and tree-inequity in our communities, Bill S.791 will lead to beneficial developments in our urban spaces, such as: green-infrastructures (bio-retentions, tree plantings, land remediations, parks and tree-ordinances). Our health, physically and mentally, reflects our environment, supporting Bill S.791 will drastically improve the lives of many residents grappling with the health risks of air-pollution, and the urban-heat-island-effect.
