Earth Night 2024

MAY 9, 2024
5:30PM – 8:00PM
Fenway Park, 521 Overlook

Seize this moment with the Environmental League of Massachusetts.

ELM invites you to join us for our 2024 Earth Night celebration on May 9 at Fenway Park’s 521 Overlook.

Building on our most successful 2023 Earth Night, we look forward to gathering with you during this pivotal year for climate action. At the event, we will present the 2024 Commonwealth Environmental Leadership Awards to three honorees who are focused on the solutions that will move us forward: Attorney General Andrea Campbell, Congressman Richard E. Neal, and Douglas Foy.

Earth Night, a vibrant cocktail event, is attended by 400+ policymakers, environmental advocates, and business and civic leaders from across the Commonwealth. Join us to recognize our awardees’ achievements and to celebrate how, together, we can turn ambition into action and create a Commonwealth where our residents, economy, and natural world all thrive.

Meet Our Commonwealth Environmental Leadership Awardees

Attorney General Andrea Campbell

Massachusetts Attorney General

Presented by Lee Pelton, President & CEO of The Boston Foundation

Attorney General Andrea Campbell, Boston native and former City Council President, has been an unwavering advocate for Massachusetts’ communities for over a decade. Starting as a nonprofit attorney, she transitioned to public service in 2015 after being elected to the Boston City Council, where she assumed the role of City Council President. In 2022, she became the first Black woman to ever be elected statewide and as the Attorney General.

Attorney General Campbell has made combatting the climate crisis a top priority, specifically through the education and protection of environmental justice communities. In 2023, she led a coalition of attorneys general calling on the U.S. EPA to ensure that the benefits of the EPA’s Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program reach underserved communities as intended under the Inflation Reduction Act. That same year, she called for the EPA to adopt stringent standards protecting Black and Latinx communities disproportionally affected by particulate matter pollution. She is committed to using her law enforcement powers as Attorney General to upholding Massachusetts environmental laws.

Attorney General Campbell’s leadership has become defined by her transparency and community involvement. As Massachusetts grapples with complex issues, from the climate crisis to inequity, her collaborative approach positions her as a dynamic force for positive change.

Congressman Richard Neal

United States Representative, MA, 1st District

Presented by Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, MA, 5th District

Serving as the U.S. Representative for Massachusetts’ 1st Congressional District, Congressman Richard Neal has demonstrated bold leadership on federal climate action. He began his political career in 1972 as co-chairman of George McGovern’s presidential campaign. He then went on to serve as Springfield City Councilor and Springfield Mayor before his election to the House of Representatives.

As a current Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Committee, Congressman Neal led efforts to pass the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the most significant legislation in U.S. history to tackle the climate crisis. Ultimately, this strong advocacy led to $369 billion in investments in climate solutions and environmental justice, putting the U.S. on track to reach a 40% reduction in gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2030. The IRA also enables states to harness these federal funds, allowing Massachusetts to implement groundbreaking statewide climate resiliency infrastructure, such as the Massachusetts Community Climate Bank. As Chairman, he led the passage of the GREEN Act which leads the way in ensuring the tax code works to prevent the largest harms from climate change.

In addition to his work on the IRA, Congressman Neal has supported federal efforts to protect public land and water, address PFAS contamination, invest in clean transportation infrastructure, and recover wildlife. He has been at the forefront of conversations surrounding the possibility for simultaneous swift climate action and a strong economy and has brought strategic and pragmatic climate advocacy to Capitol Hill.

Douglas Foy

Inaugural President of the Conservation Law Foundation, Former Chief of Commonwealth Development, and environmental consultant

Presented by Cathy D. Stone, President of the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation

Doug Foy has been a leading advocate in the environment, energy and transportation fields for over thirty years. A Harvard graduate, Foy was named President of the Conservation Law Foundation, where he oversaw the organization’s work for a cleaner and healthier future for twenty-five years. In 2003, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney appointed Foy as Chief of Commonwealth Development, where he focused on promoting environmentally-conscious economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. In this position, he played a key role in crafting the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a negotiated agreement amongst Northeastern states to create a carbon trading market for regional powerplants.

Foy continued pursuing innovations in economic development and the environment after leaving public service, and founded Serrafix, an environmental consulting firm and business incubator, in 2006. He currently serves on numerous climate-focused corporate and non-profit boards, including the Environmental League of Massachusetts, Ameresco, GreenerU, and the Ocean Genome Legacy Foundation. He has received prestigious awards for his public interest achievements over the years: the President’s Environmental and Conservation Challenge Award, the national Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service, and the Order of the British Empire.

Foy’s work has left a lasting impact on the Commonwealth, from local work such as his initiation of the Boston Harbor cleanup to broader efforts to expand regional conservation efforts and continues today to push climate progress forward.

See a List of Our Past Awardees

Thank you to our Host Committee

Dr. Peter Abbott OBE, British Consul General to New England
George Bachrach and Susan Centofanti
Senator Michael J. Barrett
Victoria and Peter Bauer
Mark and Vanessa Bilbe
Gordon Burnes and Suzie Tapson
Tom Burton
Lindsey Butler
University of Massachusetts Lowell Chancellor, Julie Chen
Bob and Glenda Fishman
Rachel and Dave Forbes
Barbara and Steve Grossman
Trevor and Isabel Hardy
Bracken Hendricks
Toni Hicks and Kevin Dutt
Namrita Kapur and Tom DeWinter
Ted Ladd
Ginger Lawrence
Gina McCarthy
Nicole Obi
Luis Ortiz
Bob Rivers
Gwen Ruta
Brandon Sorbon
J. Chrisann Taras and Jerome Nocera
Mark Walsh and Bryan Rafanelli
Mayor Michelle Wu