Speaker: Alex Goodale and Vedant Ramesh, Climate Corps Fellows, Eastie Farm
How (and why) are you taking action on climate change solutions in, for, and with your community?
Alex Goodale and Vedant Ramesh: Hi, I'm here at Eastie Farm in East Boston, Massachusetts. East Boston is disproportionately affected by climate change, so it is more susceptible to the heat island effect. It is more susceptible to air pollution because we are near the airport and it's more susceptible to flooding and sea level rise, given that we are on the Boston Harbor. Because of all of this, our work is very focused around our community and climate change solutions which we do through our programs including our community supported agriculture bags, educating youth on climate change and things they can do to mitigate it um we also have a geothermal greenhouse um and we teach others about ways they can use renewable energy.
Describe a moment when you felt the real-world impact of your work in climate solutions.
Alex Goodale and Vedant Ramesh: One way I felt the real world impact of my work at EC Farm is when I signed people up for eco-social benefit programs. So one thing we're really trying to do is to get people to sign up for Community Cho electricity which allows people to use uh renewable energy even if they don't have solar panels, um, and this is so important in cutting down fossil fuels so when I'm able to talk to people and get them to sign up for it, I see myself making a difference.
Who or what inspires/inspired you to care about climate change and climate solutions?
Alex Goodale and Vedant Ramesh: One person that's definitely inspired me to take action against the climate crisis is my dad. So my dad works for a sustainability consultancy called Environmental Resources Management, and just growing up with him in the household, I've already learned so much about the little things and also the big picture about how we can do something about the climate crisis and also. Just before I moved to Boston, I actually lived in New Orleans and just being in school there, I got to learn a lot about how New Orleans is affected by hurricanes and how that leads to a lot of. Um, property damage and people getting displaced by these natural disasters and about how we can kind of combat that, um, location specific in New Orleans and of course Eastie Farm is another probably one of the biggest things that's inspired me to care about the climate crisis because the climate corps and the staff that work here, um, their mission is to like make sure that everything gets done quickly. And that there's no standing still and that's a huge part of making sure that we do something about the climate crisis quickly and accordingly so those were those are probably some things that inspired me to care about climate change and climate solutions.
