One Civic Act

Today, I met with the director of organizing for the Community Action Agency of Somerville to see how I could help, either individually or as part of the Climate Coalition of Somerville. I also made a donation.

Today, I donated several hundred grocery bags to Project Soup, the food pantry run by the Somerville Homeless Coalition, and to Somerville’s Community Fridge. Really, I was redirecting the bags, because they were all donated to the Somerville Stands Together Food Drive I volunteered at earlier this month.

Today, I made a donation to the Environmental League of Massachusetts. We missed out on Earth Night this year, but still want to support them.

Today, I connected with the lead for Climate Reality Project’s Massachusetts South Coast chapter to discuss medium term plans to seed new chapters in Massachusetts.

Today, I joined a new coalition, the Somerville Alliance for Safe Streets, which is advocating for the City of Somerville to be more forceful in turning its multiple visions for the city’s streets (Somervision, Vision Zero, Somerville Climate Forward, etc.) into reality when it actually works on the city’s streetscapes.

Today, I made a donation of books to More Than Words , which is so much more a used book store. More Than Words works with youth in the foster care system, court involved, homeless, or out of school to get them involved with different aspects of running a business. Great organization.

Today, I made a donation to MCAN , on whose board I sit. Incredibly grateful that the organization has found a way to shift gears during the pandemic and position itself with new campaigns for the future.

Today, I made a donation to Food for Free , an awesome organization that “rescues” food from grocery stores and restaurants, and distributes the food to those in need.

Today, I made a donation to the Better Future Project , the parent organization for 350 Mass and Communities Responding to Extreme Weather.

Today, I made a donation to the Environmental League of Massachusetts. Check out the conversations they hosted around their 2020 Commonwealth Environmental Leadership Awards on Youtube .

Today, I caught up with the managing director of Oxford Climate Policy, who has been instrumental in connecting parties for the Least Developed Countries Fund bill.

Today, I renewed my membership to the Somerville Museum. It’s a small but important community resource that stays particularly connected to the community through its community curator program .

Today, I made a donation to a City Councilor’s re-election campaign for 2021. The election is along ways off, but that’s how the election cycle works around here.

Today, I listened in on a recording of the town hall that the Climate Reality Project hosted for Al Gore. The actual town hall was on Tuesday, but I couldn’t join it live.

Today, I joined the latest call for the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Building Electrification Accelerator program, representing the Somerville team.

Today, I joined a webinar to hear how the Mystic River Watershed Association is helping to coordinate activities across the watershed. Today, I also joined a call with the Oxfam America team that is driving forward on the Least Developed Countries Fund bill.

Today, I joined a three-hour strategic planning meeting for the Charles River Watershed Association. Actually, we had a great working session that went well enough that we broke 15-minutes early.

Today, I joined our monthly Climate Coalition of Somerville meeting. Not a lot of people joined, so close to the holidays, but we still had a great discussion.

Today, I made an important donation to the Brattle Film Foundation . The Brattle Theatre, like all movie theaters, has been hit particularly hard in the Covid-19 crisis with movie-going essentially going down to zero. Looking at Box Office Mojo data for April through September, box office receipts nationally fell 98%. That’s not a misprint — theaters took on just two cents for every dollar they took in last year. It’s not looking bright for the first couple quarters of 2021 either.

Today, I helped out with a food drive run by Somerville Stands Together. I brought over about 400 grocery bags plus several cases of food. I was going to volunteer, as well, but there were plenty of others helping out.

Today, I joined our monthly planning call for the Least Developed Countries Fund bill. We’ll have another one next week, for sure.

Today, I took part in a six and half hour training run by Race Forward, called “Building Racial Equity: Foundations.” It was a long time to spend on Zoom, but it was valuable to build a level starting point to engage on racial equity going forward.

Today, I joined our monthly meeting as a member of the Somerville Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change.

Today, I facilitated a meeting for the Boston Metro chapter of the Climate Reality Project. It’s been awhile since we’ve held a meeting actually, so it was good to try to get some momentum going again.

Today, I joined a webinar on “How To Join The Biden-Harris Administration Or A Key Commission.” It was held by RespectAbility, a partner of www.InclusiveAmerica.org . Actually, I have no intention of seeking a federal government position but it was interesting to learn about the process.

Today, I worked on a briefing document for the Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change’s “shovel ready” working group. I also met with my working group partner to brainstorm how to move it forward.

I’m helping out with an upcoming food drive run by the labor-centric Somerville Stands Together. Today, I picked up donations of grocery bags from about 15 households in Somerville. I also sanitized and organized all the donations to make them easier to transport.

Today, I had a call with the Climate Reality Project Boston Metro chapter leadership team. Actually, it was a chance to meet our new liaison with the national Climate Reality Project.

Today, I met with a Somerville Representative to explain the Least Developed Countries Fund bill that I’ve been working on through the Climate Reality Project and Oxfam America.

Today, I took part in a Somerville team meeting for the Rocky Mountain Institute Building Electrification Accelerator program. Today, I also listened into a webinar on reforming ISO-New England, the quasi public body that governs the electrical grid in New England. And today, I joined a call with the Gas Leaks Allies to discuss some research being pulled together that will bolster our point about the need to transition from natural gas infrastructure.