NPAC: our campaign

NPAC's Campaign

As a grassroots environmental group based in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, the Neighborhood Pesticide Action Committee has been working towards our goal of a pesticide-free Boston since our beginnings. By conducting extensive research, educating and responding to local residents, and vigorously promoting public policies that support our community's concerns, NPAC encourages residents of JP and the other neighborhoods of Boston to take our right to a healthy environment into our own hands.

Recent History:

In 2006, a small group of NPAC members embarked on an ambitious project: an in-depth exploration of pesticide use as an environmental hazard in poor and minority communities in Massachusetts. We focused primarily on our home turf of Jamaica Plain, where the level of pesticide use is particularly egregious, and used it as an example of a statewide phenomenon sadly lacking the attention it deserves. The result of this exploration is Inner-City Pesticide Use as an Environmental Injustice: A Boston Neighborhood Case Study. To view this groundbreaking study, click here.

In 2009, NPAC began addressing another concern: the use of pesticides to control unwanted vegetation along public rights of way, such as highways and MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) train tracks. We believe that pesticide alternatives must be a part of the MassDOT (Massachusetts Department of Transportation)'s plan for “a cleaner, greener transportation future,” as called for in the state's October 2009 Transportation Reform Act. To that end, we have joined forces with Toxics Action Center and a number of Boston transit advocates, including ACE (Alternatives for Community & Environment), MASSPIRG (Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group), and Greater Four Corners Action Coalition. Our aim is twofold: 1) to bring the issue of pesticide applications along rights of way to the attention of local environmentalists, public health activists, and the broader public, and 2) to assist MassDOT in developing an alternative plan for controlling pesticides—a plan that would be an integral part of the DOT’s greener transportation future. Please e-mail us by clicking here if you would like to be a part of this effort.

Some earlier campaign highlights:

In the Summer of 2000
West Nile virus (WNv) is identified in a crow found dead in Boston, and pesticide spraying for mosquitoes quickly begins in many of the city's neighborhoods and public spaces. Concerned citizens in the Jamaica Plain community of Boston get together to protest the spraying and the Neighborhood Pesticide Action Committee (NPAC) is born.

NPAC members attend, as community liaisons, a series of meetings with local city and town boards of health to review policies on WNv prevention strategies.

In 2001
At NPAC's urgings, the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council passes a resolution calling on the Boston Public Health Commission to replace pesticide spraying with safer alternatives in its efforts to control WNv. The Health Commission agrees to start using safer alternatives in JP.

Boston Public Health Commission redefines its WNv policy to focus on prevention and education throughout the city of Boston. It proposes a no-spray policy that would be revisited only in the case of a human death due to viral infection.

Along with several community health centers, NPAC is awarded funding to educate thousands of JP residents about WNv, the hazards of pesticides, and safer methods of mosquito control.

NPAC conducts our "no-spray campaign": We collect 500 signed requests from JP residents asking that their property “be excluded from the public spraying for mosquitoes.” Suffolk County Mosquito Control is thus pressured into recognizing JP residential neighborhoods as being virtually off-limits to its practice of pesticide spraying for mosquito control.

In 2002
NPAC is given the Outstanding Activism Award by Toxics Action Center for being the community organization in Massachusetts with the greatest success in environmental efforts.

NPAC delivers more than 1000 signed pledge cards to the Metropolitan District Commission (now known as the Department of Conservation and Recreation). The cards urge the Commission to stop applying toxic chemicals — including pesticides and sewage sludge — to the Southwest Corridor Park, more than 50 acres of parkland that span both sides of the commuter rail from Forest Hills Station in JP to Back Bay Station in downtown Boston.

NPAC joins the newly formed Massachusetts Pesticide Awareness Collaborative (MPAC), a collection of citizens and health officers from Massachusetts who are interested in reducing pesticide use in their communities and in the state.

In 2003
The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council passes another resolution at NPAC’s urging, this time asking the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) to implement the least toxic methods of park maintenance on the Southwest Corridor Park.

NPAC and the Boston Public Health Commission call on Suffolk County Mosquito Control to cease pesticide spraying in all non-residential areas of JP. SCMC concedes.

The MDC recognizes the inherent dangers of sewage sludge and stops using it on the Southwest Corridor Park.

In 2004
Inspired by NPAC's efforts, Boston City Councillors Arroyo and Tobin sponsor a resolution calling for an end to the use of pesticides on the Southwest Corridor Park and all other public parklands in JP, naming JP as a pilot for the rest of Boston. The resolution is received enthusiastically in City Council Chambers.

NPAC investigates the feasibility of the Boston City Council resolution becoming mandated City policy. This includes consultations with City Councillors and research into IPM/OPM policies that have been implemented successfully in other cities around the country.

NPAC spearheads, along with the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the formation of Safe Mosquito Management Action Coalition (SMMAC), a statewide coalition of 22 grassroots environmental groups and organizations pushing for the reform of the state’s mosquito-control policies.

In 2005
NPAC delivers 700 additional signed pledge cards to the Department of Conservation and Recreation (formerly named the MDC). The cards continue to urge the state agency to stop applying toxic chemicals to the Southwest Corridor Park.

Wake up the Earth, an annual festival held in JP each May, adopts NPAC's slogan "JP Pesticide Free" as its theme for this year's festivities.

Boston Parks and Recreation agrees to stop using pesticides on all lands under its jurisdiction in the JP neighborhood, as part of a pilot for a pesticide-free Boston.

NPAC enters into negotiations with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) with the goal of restricting train-track pesticide spraying.

In 2006
NPAC embarks on the development of two major publications:

A brochure for Boston residents about how to grow healthy lawns and gardens without using pesticides. This is a collaborative effort with the Boston Public Health Commission.
A detailed report about the use of pesticides in Boston urban settings — specifically Roxbury and Jamaica Plain — as an environmental justice issue.

NPAC launches its new logo and website:

www.npacboston.org

Major victory for NPAC and Boston residents! The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) agrees to stop using four out of five pesticides on the Southwest Corridor Park.

NPAC submits nearly 400 postcards and letters to DCR signed by Boston residents. The cards thank DCR for using fewer pesticides on the Southwest Corridor Park. They also ask DCR to take the next important step of halting ALL pesticide use on the Park and adopt organic pest management instead.