The Stone Living Lab welcomed more than 350 people for our third biennial conference, “Nature-Based Coastal Resilience in Urban Settings,” on April 16-18 at UMass Boston.
The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) released the ResilientCoasts Draft Plan for public review and comment on May 15, 2025, and a final plan is expected to be released during the summer of 2025. Stone Living Lab Co-Director Joe Christo, Boston Harbor Now President and CEO (and Stone Living Lab Executive Committee member) Kathy Abbott, and UMass Boston Professor Paul Kirshen served on the External Task Force for the plan.
The Stone Living Lab team joined our partners at the Museum of Science for their Rise Up Boston: A Climate Event program on Saturday, April 26, 2025. The day was full of activities, enlightening live presentations, climate conversations, and much more, with a focus on informing, empowering, and inspiring action.
Read about our work highlighted in the Urban Ocean Lab's new policy paper, "Nature-Based Solutions in Boston’s Harbor: Policy Insights for Coastal Cities!"
We are just one week away from our second in-person conference!
In March 2025, the Stone Living Lab released findings from three projects funded by grants to three external organizations. These publications all explore nature-based approaches (NbA) through lenses of public health, open space access, economic opportunity, and climate justice. We’re also proud to celebrate Emma Brooks, a master’s student with the Stone Living Lab and supervised by Professor Bob Chen, who successfully defended her thesis: Harboring Change: Legacy Contamination, Plant-Metal Dynamics, and the Fate of a Boston Marsh.
The Stone Living Lab team was thrilled to host Water Envoy for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Meike van Ginneken, on Friday, February 7, 2025. The group discussed climate resilience along Boston Harbor and what nature-based approaches are being considered, as well as key insights on solutions that address the world’s pressing water needs as it relates to building sustainable research partnerships.
We are now accepting applications for our 2025 Summer Teacher Institute!
Registration is now open for our 2025 conference!
The Stone Living Lab is excited to announce the hiring of Dr. Katie Dafforn as Co-Director of the Lab and as the Distinguished Professor of Coastal Resilience at the School for the Environment at UMass Boston.