Mayor Walsh hosts Greenovate Boston Community Summit

BOSTON – Saturday, June 6, 2015 - Mayor Martin J. Walsh today hosted the Greenovate Boston Community Summit, which brought together residents, businesses, government officials and community organizations to celebrate Boston’s sustainability movement. Now in its second year, the Summit focused on how these groups can work together to implement the Climate Action Plan Update released earlier this year.

“The Community Summit is an exciting opportunity, not only to celebrate Boston’s sustainability accomplishments to date, but also to look forward at future challenges and how everyone of us can play a role in preparing our City for this changing climate,” said Mayor Walsh. “By working together, we can make Boston the most sustainable and climate-resilient city in the country.”

As part of the Summit, Mayor Walsh presented winners of the 2015 Greenovate Boston Awards and the Boston Public Schools Recycling Competition.

The Greenovate Boston Awards, now in their ninth year, recognize sustainability leadership across Boston in businesses, community organizations, non-profits, residents, and institutions. And the 2015 Greenovate Boston Award winners are:

Local Business Leaders:

• J&P Dry Cleaners
• High Ground Farm
• The Lenox Hotel

Community Leaderships:

• Fairmount/Indigo Line CDC Collaborative
• New England Aquarium
• The Boston Harbor Association
• Boston Public Schools Department of Early Childhood
• ScienceToGo.org
• Freight Farms/BLS Boston YouthCAN
• Boston Student Advisory Council
• Greenovate Champions
• Dr. Burton Jaffe
• Elizabeth O’Day

The Boston Public Schools “Race to Recycle” competition is a three week recycling program that encourages recycling among BPS students and staff. By recycling materials from the classroom and cafeteria in a single stream, Boston schools hope to educate the community about the importance of recycling, decreasing the City’s greenhouse gas emission, and saving valuable natural resources. This year’s winners are: Curley K-8 for having the highest recycling diversion rate and biggest increase in recycling diversion rate over the 3-week competition; and Boston Green Academy for having the best recycle education plan to engage their students and staff on reduce, reuse and recycle.

“These awards celebrate local leaders who have made sustainability a priority,” said Austin Blackmon, Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space. “We are grateful for their leadership and commitment in making Boston a greener and healthier place to work and live.”

The day-long Summit featured keynote speakers including Dean Cycon, founder of Dean’s Beans and Andy Brooks, founder of Bootstrap Compost, and a variety of interactive workshops, including two submitted and voted for by members of the Boston community. For the full agenda of the Summit, visit Summit.GreenovateBoston.org.

In January, Mayor Walsh released the Greenovate Boston 2014 Climate Action Plan Update, taking steps to prepare the City of Boston for the impacts of climate change and celebrating the City’s progress towards reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 25 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. By laying out the necessary steps to reduce the causes of and to prepare for climate change, the Climate Action Plan gives Greenovate Boston a framework for building a greener, healthier and more prosperous city. Visit http://greenovateboston.org for details.