Sustainable Solutions Lab at UMass Boston

The Sustainable Solutions Lab (SSL) is an academic center at UMass Boston dedicated to understanding and addressing the disproportionate impacts of climate change on marginalized communities. Based in Greater Boston’s only public research university, SSL is a partnership among five colleges and four institutes within UMass Boston: the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Management, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, the School for the Environment, the Institute for Asian American Studies, the Institute for New England Native American Studies, The Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy, and The William Monroe Trotter Institute for the Study of Black History and Culture.

As climate change impacts increase, Boston and cities across the world must prepare for extreme weather events and rising seas. Although these changes affect all people, the effects of climate change interact with economic, racial, and social inequities. Understanding these interactions is critical to preparing for climate change and taking action against increasing inequity for racial, ethnic, and economically marginalized communities. In partnership with the communities that are most vulnerable to climate change, SSL works as a multi-faculty engine of research and action to clarify the financial, environmental and social challenges that climate change presents and develop sustainable and equitable solutions.