Mayor Michelle Wu and Gov. Maura Healey arrived at UMass Boston March 27 alongside other environmental leaders to attend the Climate Resilience Summit, one of a series sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. According to the Chancellor, over 300 political officials, environmental researchers and other climate leaders were in attendance, and at least 100 more participated over Zoom.

Wu, Healey and Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco signed the Planetary Call to Action for Climate Change Resilience last May at the Vatican Climate Summit hosted by Pope Francis. The document commits to mitigating and adapting to climate change and developing collective strategies to protect the enviroment. The Chancellor will also be involved in other international summits in 2025 as part of the Vatican’s Climate Resilience Initiative.

Police closed off most of the third floor of Campus Center and stood by entrances throughout the event, which was hosted in the third floor ballroom from 8:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Additional signs posted by the hallway stated that the event was invite-only and banned noise makers, air horns, megaphones, promotional materials, signs, flags and banners, among other items.

Protestors at the Chancellor’s campus update meeting last Wednesday criticized the Chancellor for the event, highlighting the police presence and the fact that very few members of the UMass Boston community were invited to attend the event. One said, “Who from campus was invited to that? It caught so many of us off guard … not only that, but we were all intimidated by heavy police presence, as somebody raised earlier, immediately after a very sensitive moment in Boston’s history.”

The chancellor responded, “The College for the Environment — the dean, faculty members, students — students presented at the gathering; we had a visiting sitting African governor; we had a former attorney general from Latin America,” before moving on. Of the 64 speakers listed on the agenda, including keynote speakers, moderators and panelists, six were from UMass Boston, one of whom was a student.

Healey announced at the Climate Resilience Summit that she had filed a transportation plan that includes a $200 million fund proposal to upgrade culverts and small bridges across the state. She explained that half of the state’s 25,000 culverts are not big enough to manage water flow during heavy storms. “When rain falls and things start to swell, these culverts get filled up and then they overflow. And this has been some of the cause of some of the worst damage that we’ve seen around Massachusetts,” she said.

While holding her 2-month-old daughter Mira, Wu emphasized that combatting climate change is important to establish a better world for younger generations.

“The urgency that we all share to move fast, to build the world that they deserve sits very heavily on my shoulders,” Wu said. “It’s not just the urgency to deliver a world that is free of the kinds of challenges and harms and suffering that we already see in so many communities because of unmitigated climate change. But it’s also that sense of joy and wonder that can only come from Mother Nature that you see most often in a child’s eyes.”

Wu also mentioned that Boston is the first city in the United States to pass net zero carbon zoning for new commercial construction. Wu said she wants to address the need for housing expansion in Boston, but reduce building sector emissions in the process. “Starting this summer, every single new big building built in the city must be net zero before they cut the ribbon and open their doors,” she said.

Healey and Wu closed out the summit addressing the importance of working together to take on climate change. “Everyone out there has a vested interest in climate resiliency,” Healey said. “I believe that we’re working more collaboratively than ever before, and we are not slowing down, because today, partnerships are more important for the United States than ever before.”

“Every family and resident, every public official and private partner — every single one of us needs to be ready to roll up our sleeves and pitch in to protect all of us,” Wu said.