What is the relationship between climate change and social justice?
How can residents of the suburbs most effectively take action to promote greater climate equity?
Join MetroWest Climate Solutions and special guest the Rev. Mariama White-Hammond for a discussion on the intersection of climate change and questions of equity. As a lifelong resident, pastor, and activist in Boston, Rev. Mariama will explore the question of how residents of the suburbs can most effectively take action to help all communities transition to a low and no carbon region fairly and equitably. Rev. White-Hammond currently works as the Chief of Environment, Energy and Open Space for the City of Boston, appointed by Mayor Wu to that position in 2021.
Rev. Mariama was born and raised in Boston and began her community engagement in high school, mostly pointedly with Project HIP-HOP (Highways Into the Past - History, Organizing and Power), a youth organization focused on teaching the history of the Civil Rights Movement and engaging a new generation of young people in activism. After college, she became the Executive Director of Project HIP-HOP, where she served for 13 years. In 2017, she graduated with her Master of Divinity at the Boston University School of Theology and was ordained an elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 2018, she founded New Roots AME Church in Dorchester where she currently pastors.
Rev. Mariama White-Hammond was appointed as Boston’s Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space in April 2021. In this role, she oversees policy and programs on energy, climate change, sustainability, historic preservation, and open space. Over the course of her time with the City, she has supported the amendment of the Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) to set carbon targets for existing large buildings and convened a city-led green jobs program.
Rev. Mariama uses an intersectional lens in her ecological work, challenging folks to see the connections between immigration and climate change or the relationship between energy policy and economic justice. She has received numerous awards, including the Barr Fellowship, the Celtics Heroes Among Us, The Roxbury Founders Day Award and the Boston NAACP Image Award. She was selected as one of the Grist 50 Fixers for 2019 and Sojourners 11 Women Shaping the Church.