Journalists are reporting on the constant chaos, but they are not featuring the Congresspeople who are speaking up. Here are a few; there are many more.
When asked about one of the biggest, and longest running, environmental issues in the Berkshires—cleaning up the Housatonic River from PCB pollution dumped decades ago by General Electric—Gonzalez said he agrees with local communities and the EPA that the toxins should be “safely disposed offsite.”
The coalition of faith leaders had previously written a letter to the governor requesting a meeting to discuss the values that lead them to oppose construction of all new fossil fuel infrastructure in the Bay State.
More than 50 faith leaders and supporters representing at least 15 different faith traditions will confront Gov. Charlie Baker Monday, March 26, at the Statehouse about his refusal to meet with them regarding their concerns over climate change.
HeatSmart Mass is a community-based education and group purchasing program for clean heating and cooling technologies, which, via a $9,000 grant, will enable Great Barrington to reduce its carbon emissions.
"We demand TD Bank stop using our money to fund tar sands pipelines that our communities and planet cannot afford. We call on our neighbors, elected officials, and pension managers to close all accounts with TD Bank unless they immediately stop financing tar sands pipelines."
-- Divest the Globe statement
In her letter to the editor, Virginia Irvine of Windwise Massachusetts writes: "Encouraging the replacement of old energy-hog refrigerators for one-half of the households in Massachusetts could generate a substantial savings in electricity use."
In the spotlight, State Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Pacheco kept his cool as, one by one, residents stood up to complain about the sound pollution and visual impact of wind turbines.
In his letter to the editor, Dennis Irvine writes: “Establish, encourage and empower farming and food transport that reduces or eliminates fossil fuel use.”
Fossil Fuel Divestment for Everyone: A Forum on Divestment and Sustainable Reinvestment will be held on Saturday, May 21, from 10 a.m.- 11:30 a.m. at the Ralph Froio Senior Center in Pittsfield, Mass.
“This is a case of a forest of clean air machines being literally traded for the transmission of fossil fuels. Not a step in the right direction.”
-- Arborist Tom Ingersoll, on the Kinder Morgan proposal to cut a swathe through protected old-growth forests in Sandisfield to build a natural gas pipeline extension to Connecticut
Maybe all the rainbows we’ve been seeing lately have a message for us about the pots of gold, both real and metaphorical, that await us on the other side of the storm of climate change.
“In the face of the climate crisis Harvard is profiting from the same companies that are actively undermining the scientific knowledge being generated from within the Harvard community.”
-- Kelsey Wirth, co-founder of the group Mothers Out Front
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 specifically exempts oil and gas hydrofracking from the Act under the provisions of the Halliburton Amendment, so-named because Dick Cheney, former CEO of Halliburton, and, in 2005, Chairman of the National Energy Policy Development Group, advocated the amendment. Under its terms, EPA is barred from regulating any activities associated with well construction, fluids injected undergound into the drilling well, and other activities at the wellpad.
“I think you owe it to us, you owe it to Generation Y, Generation Z, whatever, Generation Omega, you owe it to all the young generations to divest from fossil fuels. You started it, and now you’ve got to help us, because you know what, I want to live to see 50.”
-- Nathan Tran-Trinh, a student at Boston Latin School.
