Vivien Li has not only witnessed the growth of the environmental movement in the United States since the 1970s, she’s participated in and helped shape it right here in Boston.

As a waterfront and climate expert, Li has been involved in the cleaning of the Boston Harbor and the creation of more than 40 miles of public walkways and parks alongside it. She also advocated for the tidying of beaches from Boston to Quincy so they’re fit for swimming.

In recognition of her decades of activism for the environment, she’s now being awarded the Justine M. Liff Spirit Award by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy later this month.

In a conversation with the Sampan, Li reflected on the decades of work that has led her here.
It began when she was in school at Barnard College, working part-time in New Jersey on urban environmental issues, Li said. This was the early 1970s, and Li saw firsthand how problems such as air pollution, poor water quality, and lack of sanitation affected the urban poor. Parents were concerned that their young children would get exposed to rat bites or lead paint. All of this made Li keenly aware of the issue of environmental justice.

In the late1970s, Vivien was recruited to the National Urban League, a major civil rights organization in New York.

“We got money from federal agencies to do a conference in Detroit that brought together civil rights and labor leaders, to talk about an urban environmental agenda,” Li recalled. That particular conference shaped a lot of “what we now know as environmental justice.”

She then joined the board of the Sierra Club in 1986 — the first person of color to do so — which helped advance her environmental justice work.

“When I was elected, I chaired their internal committees that looked at environmental justice issues,” Li explained. “I gave grants to local chapters so they could do education programs, work with elected officials, create awareness. Looking back, there’s clearly been progress. Sometimes you have bumps in the road, but you can’t change the awareness, can’t change the commitment.”

In 1991, Li started at the Boston Harbor Association, where she would spearhead the effort to clean up the harbor and activate the waterfront for the next 24 years.

“When I went there, there were already efforts to work on cleanup,” Vivien said, though everything was still in preliminary stages. There were a “lot of vacant lots, land used for surface parking but nothing else. People didn’t see the need to go to the harbor.” But Vivien and her colleagues thought there was real potential for the harbor to become clean and to become a real resource for Boston residents.

“I monitored with other organizations who brought lawsuits to clean the harbor,” Li said. Over decades, they were able to do so. She attributed their success to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Judge David Mazzone, and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, which was the public agency responsible for the cleanup and the building of the Deer Island treatment plant.

But there was another problem. President H.W. Bush had famously labeled Boston Harbor the “dirtiest harbor in the country.”

“How could we change the stereotype?” Li asked. “How could we make the waterfront interesting enough that people would want to go there?”

Her predecessors had already thought of a solution: a Harborwalk public access system that would connect the six waterfront neighborhoods in Boston. “I really worked on pushing with developers to make the Harborwalk a reality,” Li said. She worked tirelessly to convince judges, developers, and property owners that it could be accomplished.

“We’re fortunate that cleanup extends to both Democratic and Republic administrations. It’s a privilege to be able to work together with public officials and key property owners. Everyone is on the same page to activate waterfront. Now we’re up to 43 miles,” Li said.

“For residents, there’s a real opportunity to get onto the waterfront.”

Ten years ago, Li was recruited to head up RiverLife in Pittsburgh, to accomplish what she had done in Boston to Pittsburgh’s three rivers. She remembers a particularly interesting story from her time there, when she pushed for public restrooms with the private developer in charge.

“We’re talking,” Li recounted, “then he says: Have you gone over to see our Water Steps in the North Side? I say: I love that, it’s well done. He’s beaming. Then I say: have you ever thought of where the children go to the bathroom there?”

The developer caved.

“It’s most important, to encourage the developer to think about the public amenities and how they can connect to other things happening in the community,” she said. She did this in Boston. “Same goes for Pittsburgh.”

When asked about her upcoming award, Vivien revealed that she actually personally knew Justine Mee Liff, who had started the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and whom the award is named after. “I knew her when she was parks commissioner working for the mayor,” she said. “She passed away a number of years ago, but her daughters are there to give out the award. I’m so proud to see this award in her name. To receive it is a great honor and means a lot to me.”

Li is also “familiar with the good work” of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, which includes Boston Common, Public Garden, Back Bay Fens, the Riverway and beyond. They’re “sort of my backyard,” she said. “As a family, we use that.”

But she also sees the wider impact of these urban green spaces. In her volunteer work at food pantries in Boston, “we have a lot of guests coming through the Commons, the Public Garden, to the pantry. They walk that way because there’s shade and because it’s beautiful.

“Those open spaces are so special to Boston residents. People almost go out of their way to visit these treasures that are part of the Emerald Necklace.” Pick a month out of a tourist guide, she promised, and “inevitably some part of the Emerald Necklace is on that list.”

Li reflected, “Looking back over 50 years…. None of us do our work to get awards. Most of us do it behind the scenes in our quiet way. Occasionally, to be recognized, does mean a lot. I’m hoping this award will make others aware of the treasure and the jewels that comprise the Emerald Necklace. All of us should be so proud.”

Tickets to attend Party in the Park to support the Emerald Necklace Conservancy can be purchased through www.emeraldnecklace.org/party-in-the-park/.

CORRECTION: The name of Justine Mee Liff was corrected in this version of this story. We regret the error.