CRWA's Annual Meeting will feature author Bill McKibben

Weston, MA – The Charles River Watershed Association’s Annual Meeting will take place on Wednesday, November 15th from 5:30 to 9:30pm at the Newton Marriott Hotel. The yearly event is metro Boston’s premiere river celebration. Attendees include developers, community advocates, local and state government employees, academics, environmental engineers, consultants, boaters and other river enthusiasts from all 35 towns and cities in the Charles River Watershed. Join them and learn about CRWA’s recent accomplishments at local, regional and national levels. Noted environmentalist and prolific author Bill McKibben will present the keynote address.

We will also honor dedicated volunteers, civic leaders, and key players in efforts to clean up the Charles River. The evening will celebrate the accomplishments of CRWA this year, including our efforts to make urban re-development more water sensitive, working with developers and communities in three areas: Harvard’s expansion in Allston, Longwood Medical Area and communities north of the Zakim Bridge. Some of the issues we address in trying to develop these areas as “blue cities” include economic development, environmental health, affordable housing, infrastructure improvements, smart growth, and community revitalization. Other CRWA accomplishments include continuing our efforts to restore fish to the Charles through the release of more than one million American Shad fry into the river, and working on the final steps in the development of pollutant limits for nutrients in river water, which will help prevent algal blooms and other problems in the river.

Our keynote speaker, Bill McKibben, published The End of Nature in 1989 while a staff writer for the New Yorker magazine. It is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has been printed in more than 20 languages and serialized in the New Yorker. In his most recent book, Wandering Home, McKibben offers insights about the environment while he describes the changing demography and economic base in rural America. This summer, Mr. McKibben helped lead a five-day walk across Vermont, which was one of the largest demonstrations on climate change to date in the U.S.

Tickets for the Annual Meeting, including a buffet dinner, are $50 for CRWA members and $75 for the general public. Contact Kevin Hudson at CRWA to reserve a space at 781-788-0007 x231. The first fifty people to make a reservation will receive a free copy of McKibben’s book, Wandering Home, so reserve you space early!