Spotlight

Boston Green Action members frequently author articles on a range of issues pertaining to climate action. We proudly present some of our notable perspectives, along with research findings that we champion. 

CCI Report: “How Big Oil and the Plastics Industry are Promoting a False Solution to the Plastic Waste Crisis”

The Center for Climate Integrity has issued a scathing report on the disinformation promoted by Big Oil and the plastic industry. In fact, industy claims about “advanced recycling” are “undermined by their own words and experts.

“’The Fraud of Advanced Recycling’ shows how, in response to growing public and governmental pressure, Big Oil and the plastics industry are now deceptively marketing “advanced” recycling to the public, even as chemical engineering experts, industry consultants, trade associations, and plastics producers themselves quietly acknowledge its many flaws.

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“A High-Resolution Multipollutant Assessment of Health Damaged Due to the Onroad Sector in Boston, Massachusetts”

In a study published in March, 2025 in Science of The Total Environment, researchers from the University of North Carolina’s Institute for the Environment report on the impacts of onroad vehicular emissions within the Boston metropolitan area. The dramatic results point to “substantial variation in health damages per ton of emissions…observed across precursor pollutants, source regions, and vehicle classes, underscoring the need for targeted emission reduction strategies.

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Common Chemical Phthalates Linked to Cardiovascular Disease Worldwide

A new study published in eBioMedicine (April 28, 2025) draws an alarming connection between plastic polymers and chemical additives and “increased oxidative stress, metabolic dysfunction, and cardiovascular disease…”—and death. The study authors, Sara Hyman, Jonathan Acevedo, Chiara Giannarelli, and Leonard Trasande (New York University Grossman School of Medicine), have found that “plastics pose a significant risk to increased cardiovascular mortality, disproportionately impacting regions which have developing plastic production sectors.

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Evidence of a Violation by the BRA and the City of Boston in Approving the 2 Charlesgate West Project

Since 2021 when the proponent SCAPE filed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for this project to initiate the BPDA’s Large Project Article 80 Review, it has gone through a series of modifications including notably the height of the buildings involved. The height proposed has consistently been well above what is allowed (70’ within 100’ of the Back Bay Fens) under Municipal Code Section 7-4.10. The Boston BPRD (Boston Parks and Recreation Department) must give permission for the project under Section 7-4.11 of this Code. The origins of this height limitation date from over a century ago to protect Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace. In the 2021 Project Notification Form (PNF), the height was 229’, and in the project now approved by the BPDA Board on 7/18/2024, there is a building of about 300’ tall, which…is said to be exempt from the Section 7-4.10 height limitation.

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