Mother(s) out front: West Roxbury resident composts to fight climate change
“Once you really understand that food waste is a big problem, you can start addressing it.”
Mothers Out Front is a national nonprofit organization established in Massachusetts fighting for climate, racial and social justice. According to their website, “Mothers Out Front is founded on the conviction that there is no more powerful force for change than women mobilizing to protect their children.”
The organization has 21 active chapters across Mass., with four of them located in Boston. The statewide Mothers Out Front community recently joined forces in spring 2021 to advocate for electric heating and cooling systems throughout Mass. homes and businesses through their “Clean Heat, Clean Air” campaign.
To fight for a future without polluting energy infrastructure reliant on gas, Mothers Out Front releases educational newsletters and led active, in-person protests across Boston.
Although Mothers Out Front is capable of uniting the efforts of members across the state with large-scale events like protests and conferences, they also encourage members to do their part to fight climate change through manageable, bite-sized tasks.
Suzanne Mrozak, a volunteer at the West Roxbury chapter of Mothers Out Front, does her part by composting her food scraps with her partner, Brian Cartwright.
“Food waste is a big problem, and it contributes to methane going up into the air,” Mrozak said. “And there’s various ways to deal with food waste; one of them is to compost it.”
According to the United Nations Environment Program, 8 to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food waste. Mrozak explained that when food is composted, scraps break down into soil and revitalize garden plants instead of ending up in a landfill, the environmentally harmful alternative.
“The big plus about the compost is that it goes back into the soil. It makes the soil healthier, more nutritious for the plants,” Mrozak said. “It’s just a win-win kind of a thing.”
This video is a part of a climate justice series produced in Jody Santos’ course “Video News Reporting and Producing” at Northeastern University. Over the course of the semester, students will be producing news packages addressing climate and transit justice within Greater Boston.
