Dear Future Boston…

by: Liana Greenberg-Nielsen

Program Coordinator

That’s a wrap on another season of Wicked High Tides in Boston! This fall, the Stone Living Lab Education Team had the pleasure of speaking with Boston locals, tourists, and students about the natural phenomena and how we can use it as an opportunity to think about the future of our city. With the theme of the future in mind, we piloted an activity that gave folks the chance to write a letter to “Future Boston”. The activity allows visitors to imagine a future that they would like to see: one that preserves the history and beauty of Boston’s coast while also protecting the community members that call it home.

After visitors wrote their letter, they were able to drop it into our high tech tube, powered by seawater and seagull feathers (patent pending), which has the magical ability to send the note to the future. The tube is marked with sea level rise height predictions for the City of Boston, providing a visual for what the future may hold. Thinking about the future of Boston is something that researchers at Stone Living Lab do every day. The letter writing activity was a great opportunity to open a dialogue with community members about what they would like to see for their city.

Thank you to everyone who came out to Long Wharf this fall! We were joined for the first time by the New England Aquarium and members from their education team. We had the opportunity to talk with visitors from California, London, and beyond. Thank you to everyone who wrote a message to the future, your thoughtful reflections are so appreciated and the conversations that came from them were motivating!

Here are some of the letters submitted during our programs over the past three months!