The Christian Science Monitor

How one woman in East Boston shares climate know-how with coastal neighbors

Magdalena Ayed founded Harborkeepers, which among other things has led cleanup initiatives along the wharf to clear storm debris.

On a sunny day in early May, Magdalena Ayed leans over the fence above a pebbly beach in East Boston. It looks much better than it did just weeks before, says Ms. Ayed, when she and a group of volunteers cleaned the area of trash. But even so, a few plastic bottles dot the ground, and the sea wall, which protects this neighborhood from the fluctuating tides of Boston Harbor, is leaning precariously out over the lapping waves. “If we didn’t advocate for this [area], it would stay like this for 20, 30 years,” says Ayed, who is the founder and director of Harborkeepers, a local environmental nonprofit.

Like other cities up and down the East Coast, Boston has faced a number of extreme weather events this year. Four nor’easters walloped the region with

Three groups responding to natural disasters

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