Gubernatorial debate - for the environment

It’s an election year for the Massachusetts governor’s office. The incumbent, Charlie Baker, is not well regarded for his accomplishments, mostly because he doesn’t seem to have any. That’s particularly true on the environment, which should have been a no-brainer with broad support to act on climate mitigation and adaptation. Today, I went to debate among the three Democratic contenders, focusing on the environment, hosted by the Environmental League of Massachusetts. The three pretty much agreed on the issues and each was compelling. But each spoke on a different level. Setti Warren, former Mayor of Newton, was down at the city and neighborhood level. Bob Massie, founder of the the Global Reporting Initiative and former President of Ceres, had a systems level, global perspective. And Jay Gonzalez, former budgetary head for Governor Deval Patrick, kept things at a state level. Which made him a more compelling figure for the state Governor’s office. But it’s hard to get away from Massie’s bona fide’s in Climate. We need system change after all.