Opinion | The Herald News | November 13
As a bill that will allocate federal COVID-19 relief funds is winding through the Massachusetts Legislature, a surge of support is materializing for investments in nature and climate.
The House of Representatives committed nearly 10 percent of its recovery strategy to nature during last week’s debate. We support these investments whole-heartedly, but I know we can do better. The scale and urgency of the need, and the decades of under-investment, require bolder action.
Investments in nature provide countless benefits, from protecting public health and plants and animals to supporting the economy, for everyone across the South Coast and especially those most affected by the pandemic.
Nature-based climate solutions, such as protecting open space (especially forests and salt marshes), can also directly mitigate the worst effects of climate change, with the potential to remove from the atmosphere up to two million tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in Massachusetts alone.
Visits to state parks and Mass Audubon Sanctuaries have more than doubled during the pandemic, with countless more people discovering the natural world as a source of solace and respite, this at a time when outdoor recreation already generates $2.2 billion per year in economic value.
To read the full letter from David J. O’Neill, President of Mass Audubon, please click here.