One Civic Act

Today, I joined a call with an MCAN volunteer and a couple of board members to discuss development processes. We’ll need to get going fairly quickly on this.

Today, I attended a webinar hosted by the National Wildlife Federation on how I can get involved advocating for offshore wind in Massachusetts. Pretty much the only way we’re going to green our grid is through offshore wind, but development is stuck under federal review.

Today, I made a concerted effort to watch as many videos as I could, as part of the Mystic River Watershed Association’s herring monitor program . I moved myself all the way to 14th place among herring monitors, although I doubt I’ll be able to maintain that position.

Today, I listened to a zoning hearing for the Clarendon Hill affordable housing redevelopment. The hearing was actually a week ago, but I hadn’t been able to catch up until now. It’s an important development and I’ll need to advocate for the developer to bring the building up to the city’s new LEED Platinum requirement. Today, I also watched quite a few videos for the Mystic River Watershed Association’s herring monitor program . I cracked the top-20, which really means I fell for their clever gamification strategy. Today, I also finished some paperwork for the Climate Reality Project Boston Metro chapter and got organized to work on the Climate Coalition of Somerville website.

Today, I touched base with the City’s Director of Sustainability so we could plan our next Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change meeting. Today, I also spoke with a board member from the Welcome Project. I recently donated so she reached out to get to know me and talk about community engagement.

Today, I joined a kickoff workshop for the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Building Electrification Accelerator. I’m on a team of six City of Somerville representatives. I couldn’t stay for the whole meeting but was able to download the presentation afterward. Today, I also completed my application to be a mentor at the upcoming Climate Reality Project online training.

Today, I met with Climate Reality Project national to get trained on our new fundraising procedures for our chapter. Today, I also attended a Mass Peace Action webinar on “Covid’s Lessons on Climate: Listen to Science and fight Racism.”

Today, I attended a board meeting for the Charles River Watershed Association. We have our annual meeting coming up.

Today, I joined a call hosted by the Nonprofit Quarterly to talk about “Beyond the Board Statement: How Can Boards Join the Movement for Racial Justice?” It was a good conversation about the need to center around racial equity.

Today, I caught up on a Boston Harbor Now presentation from Charles River Conservancy. It was a helpful backgrounder on some activities on the lower Charles, including the new floating wetlands that are going to intalled this week.

Today, I marched with the Movement for Black Lives as part of its Juneteenth mobilization. I attended the rally on Cambridge Common and marched to Cambridge City Hall, 90 degree weather be damned.

Today, I made Kiva loan to Candace , a Mississippi caterer looking for a small loan to get her Black-owned, woman-owned business off the ground. Today, I also joined a city council meeting (online, of course), during which our Mayor presented the 2021 budget to the council.

Today, I joined webinar hosted by the New Buildings Institute . They covered Codes and Policies to Advance Zero Goals: Policies for Retrofits and New Construction, with speakers from Vancouver, New York state, Denver and right here in Metro Boston. Today, I also joined a catch-up call with We the People Massachusetts to get caught up on how advocacy for the We the People amendment is coming along.

Today, I was the emcee of a call for MCAN to introduce our new executive director, Sarah Dooling. It’s quite an exciting moment for us and I was really happy to play a role.

Today, I joined a call with other buildings advocates taking part in MCAN’s Better Buildings campaign. We got updates on the state building code process and had a chance to share experiences with one another.

Today, I joined a national mobilization call for the Movement for Black Lives . This call was geared specifically toward rallying environment justice advocates for upcoming Juneteenth actions. Today, I also recorded a passage of Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is 4th of July?” speech for a Somerville Museum/Somerville Media Center project called Reading Frederick Douglass.

I’ll be the emcee for an MCAN fundraiser next week. Today, I drafted some remarks. It turned out to be trickier than I expected given everything going on the world right now, so I’m glad I put some thought into.

Today, I spent five hours on an online strategy retreat for the MCAN board. Great for the board to get on the same page, including with our incoming executive director.

Today, I pushed out an email for the Climate Reality Project Boston Metro chapter, encouraging everyone to participate in the upcoming training, which will be conducted online for the first time ever.

Today, I listened to a recording of the latest edition of the Environmental League of Massachusetts’s Wednesday webinar series. This one was on Corporate Sustainability & Public Policy, and it featured a sustainability director whom I know.

Today, I facilitated the monthly Somerville Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change meeting online. We continued our brainstorming on how the lasting effects of the coronavirus pandemic will affect climate action in the long run.

Today, I joined a call with MCAN’s incoming executive director and another board member to go over some development plans for the next year.

Today, I joined our monthly Climate Coalition of Somerville meeting. We invited a candidate for state rep to join us and she spent an hour with us talking about her climate agenda.

Today, I attended a candlelight vigil for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others killed by police brutality and racist violence. This was a Somerville event, organized by people of color who have formed a new organization called Just Us Somerville . It ended with 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence, after which we were asked to leave the area in the silence that George Floyd heard as he cried out for help in the last minutes of his life.

Today, I attended a presentation from a developer and its architect in the Boynton Yards area of Somerville. The good news is that the developer has embraced the sustainability aspects of Somerville’s new zoning code and made sure pass along additional questions.

Today, I participated in our monthly leadership team call with the Climate Reality Project Boston Metro chapter. We had a relatively busy May; June will be a little quieter.

Today, I caught up one-on-one with a couple MCAN board members by phone, as I attempt to get to know them better despite social distancing.

Today, I joined an executive session call with the Charles River Watershed Association, to talk over a single governance issue.

Today, I did some work for MCAN’s nascent development committee to start to get things organized in advance of a retreat next week.

Today, I joined a call to learn more about traffic-related impacts on air quality, as a result of the pandemic’s sharp reduction in traffic on the highways that cut across Somerville. The Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership has been at this for a long time and they had some interesting findings to share.