TownGreen is pleased to announce the launch on September 1^st of a climate vulnerability project in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Cape Ann has been selected for an EPA “Building Blocks for Resilience” technical assistance program and TownGreen2025 has successfully raised the funds for a Harvard GSD study of climate threats and solutions in the region.

The future of Cape Ann will be shaped, in large part, by the effects of climate change. These effects will reach well beyond sea level rise and increased storm events. They will ultimately challenge and disrupt the housing, transportation, public services, and economic health of these communities. In light of these challenges, three local organizations—TownGreen2025, the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation, and the Cape Ann Climate Coalition—are joining with the Harvard Graduate School of Design to begin to envision a sustainable future for the region. In recognition of the reality that Cape Ann’s interwoven ecologies, geographies, and economies transcend municipal boundaries, the scope of the project will include the entire region: Essex, Gloucester, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Rockport.

The future of Cape Ann will be shaped, in large part, by the effects of climate change and how we respond to its challenges. These effects will reach well beyond sea-level rise, ultimately affecting transportation, public services, housing, and the economic health of our communities.