A self-guided walking tour* of Boston landmarks in a changing environment
Boston on Foot:
A Climate Tour of the City
*plus one quick trip on the East Boston ferry, because what’s a trip to Boston without an adventure on the first combined regional transit system in the United States?!
Welcome to Boston:
The hub of America’s revolutionary history, home to great sports teams and even better clam chowder.
Framed by mountains in the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, it’s a vibrant city known for a mix of architectural and natural beauty — picturesque seasons, coastal charm and vast public green spaces.
This harbor town is the beating heart of New England. But, as climate change progresses, Boston faces a future where these beloved qualities become unrecognizable, altered by severe storms, flooding and more. In this future and in the present, global natural phenomena such as sea level rise, warming temperatures and biodiversity loss have a profound local impact, made worse by anthropogenic drivers like pollution or urban development.
Unfortunately, many of these changes are hard to visualize.
Sure, when a nor’easter storm passes through in the spring, it’s impossible to miss the way the sea floods the harbor, swallowing the streets in saltwater. But in many cases, the change is more subtle: sand slowly eroding from the country’s first public beach, or a neighborhood slowly heating up.
As climate-conscious citizens, how can we truly understand the path of climate change in our communities?
By walking it ourselves.
What is the Boston Climate Tour?
On this self-guided walking tour, you’ll explore some of the area’s most beloved natural and cultural landmarks, from the Back Bay neighborhood to nearby East Boston and Revere.
You’ll discover why these places are important to our community and identity of the city, and you’ll also hear insights from local environment leaders on how these places are changing, altered by the impact of climate change and human activity.
You’ll encounter the Charles River, where pollution fueled by excessive development throws the watershed off-balance. You’ll meet the Chinatown Gate, the iconic symbol of a neighborhood where temperatures are reaching city record highs. Near the end of your tour, you’ll visit Long Wharf and the Boston Harbor, an area severely impacted by storm surge, sea level rise and coastal flooding. You’ll stop in at the New England Aquarium, an institution working to restore biodiversity in the Boston Harbor, before hopping on the ferry to East Boston, home to Boston Logan Airport and the city’s most vocal environmental justice community.
When your tour of the city is done, we hope you’ll leave with an appreciation for the beauty of Boston and a closer look at how the global environment crisis manifests itself in our backyard. We also hope you get a sense of the solutions that exist, from innovative scientific research to non-profit conservation efforts.
Most of all, we hope you feel informed by what you learn on this journey and empowered to make climate-conscious decisions in your community.
Thanks for joining us.
Let’s get walking!
To access the tour, open the Google Map below, or follow this link.
Then, click on the numbered points on the map to open their information cards and learn more about that location. We’ll start with Point 1 — the Charles River Esplanade.
Most stops are walkable, but to get to Point 6 and 7, we recommend taking the MBTA. The blue line from Aquarium Station or the East Boston Ferry will get you to Lewis Mall Wharf across the harbor, where your tour will continue.
We encourage you to take photos and interact with your surroundings at each location. Got pics to share? Send them to theclimatewalk@gmail.com to be featured on our website.
For the best experience, open the tour map on your Google Maps app on mobile.