CONSERVATION MATTERS THE JOURNAL OF CONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION | www.clf.org NAVIGATING A NEW NORMAL 2020 2021 YEAR IN REVIEW LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT THE LAST YEAR HAS SHOWN US JUST HOW PRECARIOUS OUR NORMS ARE. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted, derailed, and disoriented our lives. But it also unearthed racial injustices and systemic failures that have been hiding in plain sight for far too long. Watching as we all shifted our priorities and re-imagined how we manage our lives both personally and professionally, I have been amazed at the ability of CLF’s talented staff and volunteers to pivot, refocus, and reinvent how we move our work forward. And, we have been buoyed by the continued passion and dedication of our donors in continuing to show up, speak up, and step up to ensure that we had the resources to keep going through such uncertainty. Now, as vaccination rates continue to rise, we appear poised to go back to life as usual. But should we merely pick up where so many of us left off almost Business as 18 months ago? I would argue that no, we should not – especially if “usual” means once again Unusual. burying the reality of the injustices that have plagued our country for centu- ries and still overburden communities of color today. Now is not the time to be complacent. Our responsibility – our obligation – is to create a new normal for and, most importantly, with the people we serve. We can overcome the challenges threatening our communities, from rooting out injustice, to exposing broken systems that leave so many of us vulnerable to harm, to ensur- ing a just transition to an equitable clean energy economy that lifts all New Englanders. Fulfilling that commitment means that we must listen more than we talk, set more chairs around the table, and change the balance of power so that those with the most at risk have the loudest voice in shaping solutions. The past year has already shown us what we can accomplish when faced with unprecedented upheaval – you’ll read about just some of those successes in the pages of this annual report. Now, as CLF helps to push forward a new normal – one that recognizes the right of everyone to live, work, and play in a healthy and thriving community – your continued engagement is critical. Together, we can and will confront broken and unjust systems. I am honored to have you by our side. BRAD CAMPBELL President PHOTO: PORTLAND, MAINE; ©ECOPHOTOGRAPHY Conservation Matters Summer 2021 LETTER FROM THE CHAIR FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS, CLF HAS TACKLED THE ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES THAT OTHERS HAD DECLARED too big, too tough, or simply impossible to solve. That tenacity, experience, and reach across New England has ensured that we made dramatic progress in solving those challenges where others could not. Now we are focused on driving forward a future that is equitable and healthy for all – while also confronting the most urgent environmental threats in the here and now. The work we do together in the next five years will lay the foun- dation for the 50 years that follow. That work is grounded in four core goals: • Establishing New England as a national climate leader and accelerat- ing a clean energy transition that is just. • Reducing environmental risk and improving environmental health, You make the accessibility, and resilience in vulnerable communities. • Protecting and restoring New England’s endangered landscapes, impossible wildlife, and waters. • Revolutionizing and reinventing the systems and laws that fail to possible. protect New England’s people, environment, and economy. Inside, you’ll read stories of how CLF is pushing to meet these goals across New England, from helping to shape Vermont’s plan for how it will meet its ambitious climate goals to holding New Hampshire accountable for illegally approving landfill expansions for years; from forcing the EPA to hold the Charles River’s biggest polluters respon- sible to creating a new model for financing health-promoting businesses. It’s only with your support – and your commitment to a healthier and more thriving New England for all – that we will reach these ambitious goals. We cannot achieve so much without you. I hope you’ll find as much inspiration as I do in these stories of the work that you helped make happen. SARA MOLYNEAUX Chair, Board of Trustees PHOTO: TIM BRIGGS 3 CLIMATE CHANGE Charting Vermont’s Future BY BETHANY KWOKA FOR 17-YEAR-OLD VERMONTER IRIS HSIANG, CLIMATE CHANGE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PART OF HER LIFE. “I don’t know if I can pinpoint a moment when I got involved in climate activism,” she says. The Essex Junction teen and her younger sister attended climate marches with their parents and have classmates and neighbors who immigrated as climate refugees. And last year, she joined Vermont Public Interest Research Group as a junior organizer. She sees a clear connection between the changes in her local environment – a home that floods with increasing frequency, certain roads that always get washed out during storms, a pattern of eroding riverbanks – and the climate crisis. Recently, Hsiang’s activism took a new turn when she became the youth representative on Vermont’s Climate Council – the group tasked with creating a plan to implement the recently passed Global Warming Solutions Act. The new law – a priority for CLF last year – calls for Vermont’s climate-damaging emissions to drop to zero by 2050. The council has until the end of 2021 to develop and collect feedback on its Climate Action Plan to reach that 2050 goal, as well as interim emissions targets set for 2025 and 2030. The council process builds on the work of other New England states that have also passed ambitious climate laws, including Massachusetts and Maine (and, most recently, Rhode Island – see HIGHLIGHTS on the next page). And, as in those states, a critical concern for council members is how to reach Vermont’s ambitious emissions goal without leaving anyone behind. “We need to make sure the Climate Action Plan is not just perpetuating the harms that are being done to people of color and other marginalized communities,” says Hsiang. Low-income and of-color communities are disproportionately affected by environmental burdens and climate impacts. They’re more likely to live near a power plant that spews pollution into their air, a major highway that belches exhaust fumes and noise, or a landfill that leaks dangerous substances into their soil and groundwater. And they have fewer resources to bounce back after disasters such as heat waves and severe storms. “Centering racial justice in climate advocacy is really important PHOTO: ECOPHOTOGRAPHY and often gets overlooked,” continues Hsiang. She might be the Conservation Matters Summer 2021 “We’re already seeing the impacts of climate change in Vermont. We are seeing changes in snowfall patterns. We are seeing “ warmer winters. We’re seeing more dramatic precipitation events, more tick-borne diseases, more hot days in the summer. And that is really just a glimpse of what is to come. And so I worry about not taking action, the kind of aggressive action that we need both to improve the health of our communities right now “ and to ensure that Vermont’s beautiful natural resources, this special place, is protected for my kids and future generations.” – jen duggan, clf vermont youth representative on the Climate Council, but her focus is For both Hsiang and Duggan, the council process provides a space broader than an age demographic. “I think that another important for Vermonters to envision what they want for their communities force I bring is just a young Vermonter of color.” – and the path to achieve that vision. “My hope is we can have a conversation about how we can rise to together to realize all the Her goal for her work on the Climate Council is to bring her benefits from the kind of community-level investment the Climate experiences – and those of her friends and community in Essex Action Plan will create – not just around climate, but public health, Junction – to push for an equitable transition away from fossil well-being, water quality, and all of the good things that everyone fuels. “That means listening to the people who are most affected wants for their families,” Duggan says. and thinking about them when you are doing this work… [and] bringing those voices into this decision making at the very The ultimate goal is to being everyone forward, together. “Equity beginning.” is sometimes misconstrued as something that’s pushing some people down and others up in order to create a level playing field,” Jen Duggan, vice president of CLF’s Vermont office, describes Hsiang says. “Really, equity means bringing everyone up. But a just transition as a power shift – moving away from an some people have further to rise to get to the same level.” economy built around extracting resources and pushing the consequences onto others – to one that is sustainable and Climate change, she continues is forcing us “to re-create how makes up for past harms. we’re functioning. And, if we’re not going to use [this process] to re-create how we are treating each other as well, we’re failing.” “If we’re doing that in an authentic way, it will result in real benefits at the community level,” says Duggan, who worked tirelessly over the past two years to pass the Global Warming Solutions Act. “I’m thinking about providing good jobs, reducing u Learn more about how CLF is pushing every New England state pollution, and building infrastructure in communities that have to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 – with a priority on been historically sidelined.” a just and equitable transition.