ECA Mass June 2023 Newsletter

June 2023 Newsletter

ECA Mass Meetings

DEEP DIALOGUE, MAY 22

Transportation: Air Pollution,

Climate Change, and Health

with Dr. Rashid Shaikh

We hosted Dr. Rashid Shaikh, who gave a presentation, “Air Pollution and Climate Change: A Tale of Twin Challenges.” The talk focused on the effects and magnitude of air pollution on human health, the impact of regulations, and the disproportionate burden on environmental justice and underserved communities from vehicles. He also discussed the (major) contribution of the transportation sector to greenhouse gas emissions and the co-benefits of policies to address climate change.

Dr. Shaikh lives in Cambridge and is now retired from his position as director for science at the Health Effects Institute. The Institute is an independent nonprofit, jointly funded by the EPA and the auto manufacturers, and has provided some of the most critical science to inform air pollution policies in the US and abroad.

RECORDING of the presentation is here.

SLIDES from the presentation are here.

EXPERT SERIES, MAY 23

Networked Geothermal

with Audrey Schulman & John Ciovacco

Networked Geothermal systems are an innovative solution to heat and cool buildings in a safe, non-emitting and affordable way. Instead of natural gas, networked geothermal uses interconnected ground source heat pumps. The system connects buildings with different heating and cooling needs, improving the overall system efficiency for all the connected buildings. This model is already becoming a reality. Eversource Gas and National Grid, two of the largest utilities in Massachusetts, have received permission to build a total of five demonstration projects. Seven other gas utilities and 12 states are now looking into moving forward with their own networked geothermal projects.

John P. Ciovacco, CGD, the President of Aztech Geothermal, LLC received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Union College. John chairs the educational sessions at NY-GEO’s annual heat pump conference, which is widely regarded as the largest and most comprehensive in the Northeastern US. His company, Aztech Geothermal has designed and installed hundreds of residential and commercial ground source heat pump systems since the early 2000’s. Aztech is involved in over 15 District / Networked Geothermal projects in the Northeast, several of them involving regulated gas and electric utilities.

Audrey Schulman, HEET Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director A lover of maps, she created the first-in-the-nation statewide zoomable public map of utility-reported gas leaks. Together with Zeyneb Magavi, she has developed HEET’s innovative solution to transition gas utilities from gas to networked geothermal, or systems of networked ground source heat pumps. There are several gas utilities now installing thermal networks in Massachusetts and New York. Schulman is also the author of six novels, which have been translated into 12 languages and reviewed by The New Yorker, The Economist and CNN.

RECORDING of the presentation is here.

SLIDES from the presentation are here.

Have you visited our Facebook page? Not yet? Here’s what you’re missing…

Join over 1300 ECA Mass members who have been following us on Facebook. Our Facebook page features listings of upcoming events (in-person and Zoom), news about climate change solutions, carbon saving ideas, and links to other organizations’ events, and more.

Visit the ECA Mass Facebook page and click the like button!

Phillip Sego

Budget, Briefings, Hearings & More

MA State House Update

MA Budget Priorities

Although the Boston Globe tells us our legislature is off to the slowest start in its long history of slow movement on bills, there has been a lot for your Legislative (Leg) Team to attend to over the past couple of months. We were more engaged in the annual budget process this year than ever before, supporting the Environmental League of MA green budget priorities in the House and convincing Senator Eldridge to submit an amendment to the Senate budget to increase funding for the Clean Energy Center by $10 million (sadly, not adopted). The budget bill is now in conference committee to iron out House/Senate differences. We will also track the development of an Environmental Bond Bill if it is introduced by Governor Healey.

Climate Bank & Other Funds

Our allies have been busy setting up legislative briefings on legislation that we are supporting, including bills creating a climate bank to finance decarbonization projects, a zero carbon renovation fund to retrofit buildings with heat pumps and energy efficiency measures, and a superfund financed by the fossil fuel industry to cover the costs of climate adaptation.

Our Legislative Priorities

Our Leg Team has been wrapping up a deep dive into the bills filed on decarbonizing buildings, transportation, and energy, along with legislation targeted at natural solutions. You can find a near final draft of our proposed priorities here. The Energy and Buildings Working Groups will be presenting their proposed priorities at the June chapter meeting.

Other Worthy Bills

In addition to bills related to the main decarbonization sectors, there are dozens of other bills that have been filed dealing with climate adaptation, reducing plastic pollution, divestment of fossil fuel investments, recycling, and other issues. The Leg Team doesn’t have the bandwidth to take on these bills, but welcomes volunteers stepping up to advocate for them. The Team can offer guidance on effective advocacy. If you’re interested, email roger.luckmann@umassmed.edu.

It's All About Strategy

Hearings on our priority bills may be coming up at any time between now and December. Our working groups have to be ready with a strategy for coordinating oral testimony with our allies and with written testimony that offers strong evidence and arguments in support of our bills. It’s often the case that we’ll advocate for elements from two or more bills to be combined to most effectively address an issue. We anticipate that at the end of the legislative session in July 2024 there will likely be another climate omnibus bill that will reflect those pieces of legislation that survive the sausage making process.

At a recent strategy meeting, Leg Team members discussed our options for focusing our legislative advocacy and increasing its effectiveness based on all we have learned over the last several years. Soon we will be reviewing approaches to monitoring, influencing, and accelerating implementation of existing legislation by the Healey administration. This task presents some new challenges in engaging with administration staff and tracking program development and implementation. We continue to look for ways that we can best add value to the collective effort of the MA climate movement given our unique strengths, talents, and passions and being mindful of limitations in our time and energy.

Roger Luckmann

Testifying on Legislation:

A Great Way to

Make a Difference

One of the best ways to show your and ECA’s support for a specific piece of proposed legislation is by testifying to the committee responsible for reviewing it. There are committees doing this work in both the House (for House bills) and Senate (for Senate bills). They hold public hearings and it can make a lot of difference when they receive written or oral (in person/zoom) testimony in support of a bill.

Your statement should be personal and short. You only have three minutes if delivering your comments orally. I find it is good to describe my direct experience of something relevant if I can, and to cite relevant research from reputable sources. And don’t forget, our secret power as elders is to quote something a grandchild said to us about the future climate!

Finally, stay aware of which committee is reviewing the bill and register in advance to give testimony. Members of our Legislative Team can help with this if they know you’re interested in presenting. You can email me at rickmlent@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to answer questions or guide you through the process.

Rick Lent

ECA Mass Out and About

FOREST WALK & SPEAKERS WITH OUR ALLY SAVE MA FORESTS

SAT, JUNE 17, 11AM

OCTOBER

MOUNTAIN FOREST

Join our Berkshires allies to help preserve October Mountain State Forest. Event includes a forest walk, speakers, and food. Find more information here.Link

TABLING!

Tina Grosowsky hosted a table for ECA at the Westborough Sustainability Fair on Saturday May 13.

TRAVELING IN EUROPE

USING CLEAN ENERGY

After almost two weeks traveling in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy I’m very excited and impressed with the public transportation systems in all three countries.

I arrived in Berlin on Monday, April 11 and took an Uber to my Airbnb. I was immediately impressed with the fact that most cars on the road in Berlin were small and electric. I researched Berlin’s clean energy initiatives and found it had adopted a Roadmap program similar to Massachusetts. Germany’s wind and solar power should reach 80 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2040. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner says that “German renewable electricity sources are ‘the energy of freedom!’”

Berlin Low Emission Zones

Berlin established the Energy and Climate Protection Program 2030, which includes the

Berlin Mobility Act. To control emissions in the city, Berlin has created “low emission zones,” in which vehicles must be marked with a green sticker, which requires a fee. The sticker must be attached to the windshield and vehicles registered abroad also require a green sticker. Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles with a German E-registration plate are exempted from the Berlin sticker requirement. Electric vehicles registered abroad can be marked with a blue E-sticker. Failure to display a sticker results in a fine of 80 euros.This would be a great program for Boston.

All Electric from All Renewable Sources

By 2030, it is intended that all buses in Berlin will run on electricity generated from renewable energy sources. Berlin subway trains are all electric and run every two to five minutes in the day and ten minutes in the evening.

Germany’s three remaining nuclear reactors will be shut down by the end of April — ending nuclear power generation in Europe’s largest economy.

Zurich and Milan, Too

On April 17 I took a fast, electric train to Zurich. Several large wind farms stood out on the ride south. Zurich’s public transportation system is fast, electric, and extremely reliable. Every 5 minutes an electric trolley is available to get to your destination. The train to Milan was also very fast, electric, and quiet.

The US and Massachusetts have a long way to go to catch up with the electrification of transportation to meet the level of Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. I look forward to the journey.

Tina Grosowsky

Book Review

Under the Sky We Make:

How to Be Human in a Warming World

If there was ever a doubt that both individual and collective action are both critical to fighting climate change, Under the Sky We Make: How to Be Human in a Warming World, by climate scientist Kimberly Nicholas, conclusively dispels any ambiguity. In this beautifully written, highly engaging book, Nicholas draws on her own personal journey from having been raised in privilege on a vineyard in Sonoma, CA, to becoming a professor of sustainability science at Lund University in Sweden, to illustrate how one becomes “human in our warming world.”

As a climate scientist, Nicholas knows how desperate the climate crisis is. In fact, she is the author of the mantra, “It’s warming. It’s us. We’re sure. It’s bad. But we can fix it.” She spends the first quarter of the book on the first four statements, laying out in clear terms how carbon pollution threatens life on earth. The remainder of the book focuses on how we fix the problem, and this is where the author’s unique perspective shines through.

We have the technology (renewables, mostly), Nicholas asserts, and we even have the political framework (Paris Accords) to address climate change. Key to saving ourselves is harnessing our courage and passion, to transform ourselves and society at all levels – personally, culturally, and politically. We do this only by clarifying our values and shifting our mindsets from our current Exploitation Mindset to what she calls a Regenerative Mindset. The latter she summarizes as (1) respecting and honoring life; (2) reducing harm at its source; and (3) building resilience. This will also require redefining what a good life looks like: more fun, less stuff; maximize meaning, minimize carbon.

The author knows that this will be a heavy lift. For example, she puts a particular onus on the privileged citizens of the developed world - us! - to do as much as we can to reduce our carbon footprints, as we have used way more than our share of the carbon budget. Our inaction allows corporations and politicians to successfully argue that protecting overconsumption is more important than making necessary changes to stabilize climate. And, actions like going car-free, reducing air travel, and eating less meat will have an immediate and meaningful impact at a time when rapid decarbonization is crucial. Reading these sections of the book forced me to confront my own “inconvenient truths” about how my jet travel and meat-eating were things I should and could change.

The author also points to the moral and psychological transformations required. First, in order to motivate us to fight for our futures, we must honor what we are losing. We do this by allowing ourselves to experience the grief that comes with understanding that life on earth is in for a rough ride. Fighting for our future also requires that we find meaning from engaging in this existential struggle and that we draw energy and courage to do this by aligning our values, actions, and relationships.

This is not to say that Nicholas ignores the important political action needed to address the problem. While not discussing political strategy or tactics in detail, the book outlines several general policy principles, including the need to enact stringent energy efficiency regulations, undertake construction of a zero-carbon grid while we electrify everything, and eliminating expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure.

If this sounds overwhelming or utopian, Nicholas reminds us that social movements require only about 25% of the population to commit to new norms in order to tip majority opinion in their favor. This fact makes our actions as activists or early adopters in this next decade absolutely critical to our climate future.

Seth Evans

Check out our new website!

Members of the Communications Team, with our consultant Bob Plaskon, have been working on revising the website. You can find information there more easily now. And as before it is a great resource for looking up recordings of past chapter meetings, Deep Dialogues, and speakers at the Expert series. We will also be using it to update our legislative efforts more regularly. You can find it here: https://ecamass.org/

Explore the pages and let us have your feedback.

Rick Lent

Join the State House Standout

Interested in peacefully demonstrating?

Our ally, Extinction Rebellion, has begun a perpetual State House Stand-Out. Each business day, 2+ climate activists are peacefully and determinedly stationed outside the State House from 9am - 5pm with signs, flags, and banners. Volunteers will deliver creative postcards bearing demands to the Governor's office at the start of their shift. This will continue until the governor publicly commits to no new fossil fuel infrastructure, or the legislature passes a law that bans new fossil fuel infrastructure. Find out more here.

If you're interested in signing up for Stand-Out shifts, email fossilfuels.standout.ma@proton.me.

This Newsletter is Published for Members and Friends of the

Elders Climate Action - Massachusetts Chapter

ECA Massachusetts is a chapter of the national Elders Climate Action. We are a movement of elders committed to making our voices heard... to change our nation's policies while there is still time to avoid catastrophic changes in the Earth's climate. Visit the ECA Massachusetts website, event calendar, and Facebook page to learn more about our chapter's activities and climate news. JOIN ECA MASSACHUSETTS AND STAY CONNECTED! Subscribe to our monthly newsletter, and for more active participation, sign up to receive Action Alerts and meeting announcements. Fill out our subscription form.