#BUCPUA students get immersed in the latest environmental news and policy reforms
During the Summer 1 term, BU City Planning and Urban Affairs students enrolled in UA 610, Urban Environmental Issues, met twice each week to analyze local and global environmental events and related policy implications. Led by Adjunct Faculty Professor Kwabena Kyei-Aboagye, JD, students developed solutions to improve ongoing urban environmental problems. Specifically, students studied how urban water bodies become polluted from stormwater runoff and combined stormwater-sewer systems.
“I appreciated how this class made me pay attention to current environmental news. I’ve even found myself looking up articles on my own time because I’m very interested in environmental issues. I’m currently on track to graduate with the applied sustainability certificate that is offered within the BUCPUA program,” shared Erin Bastyr (MET ’17), master of city planning candidate.
Not only did the course evaluate how Boston’s impervious spaces caused polluted stormwater runoff to harm the nearby Charles and Neponset Rivers, but the students also discussed the financial and technological methods to reverse this damaging urban trend. 
For instance, a wide array of policy tools were reviewed through the lens of accountability and enforcement, including the Massachusetts Watershed Initiative, Federal Water Pollution Control Act, and the Clean Water Act.
Professor Kyei-Aboagye manages the Massachusetts Urban Environmental Program and discussed the Charles River Initiative, which aims to make the Charles River both swimmable and fishable. This program reduced sewage-contaminated stormwater flows from illicit storm drain connections. These illicit storm drain connections had been polluting the Charles River for years, exacerbating damage to its ecosystem.
Most importantly, though, civic engagement was underscored as the best tool to protect the environment. First, many citizens are uneducated about the impacts of their daily behavior upon the environment. The class agreed that environmental awareness education should start with children in the public school system. Recently, Senator Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the Climate Change Education Act (S.3074) to facilitate both environmental learning and public outreach programs.
Additionally, environmental planners must dedicate long hours, hard work, and the right communications approach to effectively protect disenfranchised citizens from pollution. Heightening awareness of environmental justice issues can ensure generations of families are not unfairly affected by pollution, especially for those living near highway overpasses or industrial plants. 
Upon the course’s conclusion, planning students understood the myriad implications of pollution and competing perspectives about climate change. However, they were also equipped with comprehensive policy strategies to help mitigate and reverse the complex causes of pollution both here in Boston and around the world.
– Courtney Thraen (MET’17)