Wallingford’s Environmental Champion Mary Mushinsky

The town of Wallingford has sponsored a Spring and Fall Community Cleanup for years. The need unfortunately is continual. Recently the Ct Community Initiative has pitched in with yearly events centering on the Quinnipiac River.

I love these Community Cleanups. They bring together people with a common cause to help the environment. Civically they are a great activity but to truly enact lasting change we must act on a larger scale.

Fortunately Wallingford has an environmental champion who goes beyond words and small gestures. She is a trained biologist who has put her scientific knowledge and training into legislation that goes beyond the local to encompass the ecological systems that effect the region and world. Her name is Mary Mushinsky, our state representative for the 85th District.

Over her years of service, she has brought a deep understanding that we cannot have a healthy environment (or economy) if we do not address our air quality, our water quality and the plants and animals that occupy our planet. They are all connected and are not restricted by town, state or country boundaries.

She has been a proponent and champion of RGGI (The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative). This program has brought multiple states together to reduce greenhouse emissions. This program has also brought local benefits financing renewable energy projects at Gaylord Hospital and Choate. https://www.nhregister.com/connecticut/article/Former-Connecticut-DEP-Commissioner-Gina-McCarthy-11413620.php Her work on strengthening this program continues with introduced legislation HB6451 in 2019 (not enacted yet).

It is said “Water is Life.” Since 2001 Connecticut has pursued a state water plan as a vital need. It passed in 2018-2019 with the tireless efforts of Mary Mushinsky who advocated for this plan since day one. Her efforts on this were acknowledged by an award from the Rivers Alliance of Ct. (see Patch article: https://patch.com/connecticut/wallingford/after-18-years-connecticut-finally-has-state-water-plan )

These two laws compliment her work making the Quinnipiac River and its trail an asset for the community rather than the liability it was. Many hands over the last decades have contributed to the ongoing comeback to health of the Quinnipiac River. It is hard to imagine that progress without the activism of State Representative Mushinsky. That activism encompasses the cleanliness of the water, restoration of fish and plant life, animal life as well as making the river a healthy haven for recreation for her constituents.

There is much work to be done. Climate change continues to put ecosystems in jeopardy. Mary Mushinsky recognized this decades ago and was recognized nationally by the premier environmental group started by John Muir, The Sierra Club for her pioneering work. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiZ0ODKyaXrAhVmRN8KHTMtChkQFjACegQIBhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcontent.sierraclub.org%2Fpress-releases%2F2015%2F09%2Fsierra-club-announces-annual-awards&usg=AOvVaw0UveOEd17MjBZ_DbuLjowx It would be hard to imagine Wallingford not having this environmental champion continuing her work in Hartford. It would be hard for Connecticut to not have her working on its behalf. Let’s support and make sure her work for us all continues.