BALTIMORE ● Blue+Green+Just
An Alliance of Environmentally-Minded Non-Profits and Community Activists Holding a Common Vision for Health, Safety and Prosperity for all Baltimoreans in This New Epoch of Climate Emergency
An Alliance of Environmentally-Minded Non-Profits and Community Activists Holding a Common Vision for Health, Safety and Prosperity for all Baltimoreans in This New Epoch of Climate Emergency
Our Vision
Healthy Environment for Every Child We envision a green, thriving, healthy and just city where every resident enjoys safe, nourishing green spaces, tree-lined streets, clean air, and clean water. Our Blue+Green+Just infrastructure plan encompasses Baltimore’s Green Network Plan, The 2019 Baltimore Sustainability Plan, the Baltimore Climate Action Plan and the Greenway Trails Network Plan. Safe and easy access for all residents to existing parks, forest patches, community gardens and farms, street trees and waterways is central to our vision.
Benefits of Green Infrastructure Proven Our Vision mirrors successful strategies used in Philadelphia and Washington, and cities across the country where data-driven green-infrastructure actions help to ensure climate resiliency. Green infrastructure investment provides a return-on-investment (ROI) that exceeds costs, and leads to reduced crime, a healthier population, higher investments in neighborhoods and increased property values, and new resources for the city. A Foundation in Equity At the core of our Vision is equity, justice and security, especially where decades-long disinvestment has left many communities burdened with vacant and abandoned properties. Our most vulnerable neighborhoods have the fewest trees, the most intense summer temperatures, and the highest rates of asthma and incidents of emergency-room visits. These contribute to higher crime, poor access to living-wage jobs and under-performing schools. Our Vision calls for public-private partnerships to convert blighted properties into green assets, offering residents improved access to nature and entry into the green economy. Focused for Bold Action Like any major city, Baltimore faces a web of complex challenges. Addressing multiple challenges simultaneously from a Blue+Green+Just perspective is critical to reinventing Baltimore as a thriving, sustainable and equitable place to live, work and own a business. Our coalition is focused on promoting significantly increased green infrastructure investment through the prism of justice across all Baltimore neighborhoods. Cities whose leaders prioritize a Blue+Green+Just Vision—welcoming and collaborating pro-actively with community groups and public and private sources of funding—are experiencing neighborhood renewal that provides substantial benefits across boundaries for all residents. |
What Is Green Infrastructure?“Green infrastructure is an interconnected network of natural areas and other open spaces that conserves natural ecosystem values and functions, sustains clean air and water, and provides a wide array of benefits to people and wildlife." Source: Green infrastructure: Linking Landscapes and Communities, M. Benedict, E. McMahon |
Learn more from Jenn Aiosa, Executive Director of Blue Water Baltimore, in this video |
Read more about the process of developing our Vision here |