In the early 1970’s, The Garden Club of the Back Bay teamed with The Greater Boston Citizens for Clean Air to host a meeting at Fisher College with three speakers of note: Dr. William A. Feder of the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Dr. James J. Mackenzie of the Union of Concerned Scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Paul P. Brountas, Chairman of the Metropolitan Boston Coalition for Cleaner Air. The three men spoke on Air Pollution – What the Citizen Can Do About It.
The late Dr. Feder was an authority on acid rain, sewage sludge and pollution from cooling towers at power plants, and was a professor of plant pathology and environmental pollution. Dr. Jim MacKenzie, since 1986, was a Senior Associate in World Resources Institute’s Program in Climate, Energy and Pollution. He is author or co-author of numerous books and studies on transportation (including climate impacts, financial subsidies, electric cars, and impacts on US culture), climate change, energy security, acid rain and its impacts on trees, and global oil resources. Paul Brountas, an attorney, joined Hale and Dorr, the predecessor of WilmerHale, in 1960. He became a partner in 1968 and served as senior counsel to the firm from 2003 until his retirement in 2005. At Hale and Dorr, Mr. Brountas was chairman of the Corporate Department, chairman of the Executive Committee and chairman of the firm’s Strategic Planning Task Force.
The Garden Club of the Back Bay continues to monitor environmental issues connected with our neighborhood, most recently our concern for the street trees suffering damage from the numerous gas leaks under our streets.
