One Civic Act

Today, I took part in the final session for the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Building Electrification Accelerator program. Great program with lots of peer sharing with advocates from other municipalities.

I have to admit that I spend a lot of time on Zoom these days, and it’s harder to continue that pace of videoconferencing. So I didn’t join a call of Somerville Alliance for Safe Streets (SASS) last night. But, today, I did catch up on SASS’s statement of purpose today and plugged into the outreach process going forward.

On the Somerville Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change, we’ve spent the past month or so developing reports in working groups on the intersection of Covid-19 and climate change. Today, I edited the three reports into a single document.

A few days ago, the Charles River Watershed Association engaged the Mass Rivers Alliance to hold an informal discussion about how the alliance’s board engaged in development efforts. I wasn’t able to join live. Today, I watched a recording of the session and really appreciated the approachibility of the Mass Rivers Alliance board and development team members.

Today, I joined a media training held by the Climate Nexus, as part of the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Building Electrification Accelerator program.

Today, I joined the monthly meeting of Somerville’s Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change. We spent some time discussing a municipal resolution on gas prohibitions, as well as getting updates from the administration.

Today, I joined a call for the Charles River Watershed Association’s Governance Committee, where we spent some time talking about our nominating process and priorities.

Today, I joined the monthly meeting for the Climate Coalition of Somerville. It was our first meeting of the year and we took the time to reflect on our mission. Plus, we were joined by CAAS , who briefed us on the Lower Mystic Municipal Resilience Survey.

Today, I joined a call organized by MCAN that brought together advocates from around the state who have been working on our better buildings campaigns. Still working on a specific campaign for the coming year, but it’s clear there’s a lot to do.

Today, I was interviewed by a DEI consultant, for one of the boards that I serve on. It was important to share my sense for where the organization is on its diversity, equity and inclusion journey, and it gave me a lot of confidence in the work the consultant is doing.

Today, I led a call for the Climate Reality Project’s Boston Metro chapter. It was a good call, oriented toward getting more people involved as volunteers.

After months of dithering, the Massachusetts senate and house Conference Committee finally put out a reconciled climate bill, called “ An Act Creating a Next-generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy .” It’s the most sweeping climate legislation the state has come up with since 2008. But it’s now sitting on the Governor’s desk. Today, I wrote the Governor asking him to sign the bill into law.

Today, I put some time into some Somerville Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change projects, notably developing a working document on shovel ready projects for the Mayor. I also spent some time catching up on Labor-Climate summit and Climate Coalition of Somerville projects.

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 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 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 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 .