One Civic Act

Today, I wrote a letter to the editor of the Boston Herald. The Herald’s published “flood the zone” coverage lobbying against congestion taxes as a means to reduce grid lock in the city. It deserved a response.

The Green Line Extension extending rapid transit lines through Somerville is getting real. Construction has actually begun, after what seems like a decade of delays. Today, I attended a Green Line Extension meeting where the MBTA discussed the new stations, the tracks and the community path that will extend all the way through Somerville. There was so much interest that the school gym was packed.

Today, I wrote another letter to the editor. I had a sneak peak online at an editorial in today’s paper, so I started to draft it today. It’s about the Globe’s coverage of, you guessed it, climate change.

Businesses organized as cooperatives are reaching new levels of sophistication. Don’t picture long-haired hippies on a farm commune; coop founders are more likely these days to be business-school trained and technology enabled. I should know because I just met some of them. Today, I attended the launch event for Start.coop , a new accelerator program for coop entrepreneurs. And while these coop entrepreneurs looked nothing like 60’s-era stereotypes, they did share their emphasis on social equity among members/workers/owners. It’s a promising way of organizing a businesses to address inequities.

I’ve been ramping up my newspaper letter writing about climate policy over the past few months, filing four in the past two months. They’re really fun to write and the support from the 350 Mass letter to the editor editing team is amazing. Today, I went to a meetup of folks who participate. There were about 20 people in the room giving tips and talking about their experiences.

I’ve diligently been working as a Buy Nothing Somerville co-admin for a year and a half now. It’s time to bring on some more help. Today, I met with two new co-admins to answer some questions and brief them on my experiences. They’re awesome so I’m excited to reduce some of my attention on Buy Nothing Somerville, although I’ll continue to stay involved.

In his will, Alfred Nobel specified that the prizes to be awarded in his name would be for work that was “for the greatest benefit to humankind.” What greater benefit to mankind is there than the fight against climate change? Today, I signed a petition  asking the Nobel Foundation Board to create a new Nobel Prize for the Fight Against Climate Change. Today, I also wrote another letter to the editor, this time to Wicked Local: Waltham. I won’t win a Nobel for it, but hey every little bit counts.