Dear BostonCAN friends, our April newsletter features:
- ways you can help our 2015 campaign, whether you have a minute or more
- an urgent call for help to block the West Roxbury gas pipeline (and an initial victory!)
- Stand Up for Solar! next Tuesday, the Rootskills conference April 10-11, welcome to BostonCAN’s new coordinator,
- and a terrific column on natural gas by ex-DPU Commissioner Anne Berwick.
You can help us stop gas leaks – and build the local movement we need
A record 48 people turned out for our Gas Leaks Campaign kickoff meeting (see photos here), and – even more exciting – almost a dozen community organizations want to work with BostonCAN and stop gas leaks.
This is a rare moment of opportunity when we can reach out and build the broad climate movement we need in Boston. And it will take dozens of us. Please get in touch if you can help:
-Work with our new community partners in Dorchester, East Boston, Mattapan, Roslindale, Grove Hall, across Boston and help them organize their own gas leak campaigns.
-Table at farmers’ markets and other community events this spring and summer, starting with Wake Up the Earth on Saturday May 2.
-Make art that makes gas leaks real.
-Take on limited but crucial campaign coordination tasks: managing materials, lists, gas leak data…
-Call the Department of Public Utilities, our state legislators and city councilors when needed.
Contact us at bostonclimateaction@gmail.com and tell us what you want to do.
Stop the West Roxbury Pipeline
This month the bulldozers are scheduled to move in and start building a gas pipeline and metering station 200 feet from an active blasting quarry in West Roxbury. SWRL (Stop the West Roxbury Lateral pipeline) is urging elected officials to oppose any fracked gas pipelines or fossil fuel infrastructure in this state until health studies prove they’re safe.
This week SWRL met with aides to Senators Warren and Markey, Representative Lynch, Attorney General Healey, Mayor Walsh, and City Councilor O’Malley – and made progress. Yesterday Mayor Walsh, Rep. Lynch, and others called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to revoke its recent approval of the pipeline.
SWRL is returning to elected leaders’ offices on Tuesday April 7 to keep the momentum going. Please contact David Ludlow if you can join this crucial lobbying campaign.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Stand Up for Solar: Solar power is growing fast in Massachusetts, creating thousands of jobs and shrinking our dependence on fossil fuels. But some of our most important solar programs are under attack. Stand Up for Solar at the State House on Tuesday, April 7, from 10 to 2 (in Gardner Auditorium). Sign up at http://tinyurl.com/StandUpForSolar and check out http://solarisworking.org/ to learn more about solar power in Massachusetts.
Rootskills Conference April 10 and 11: Join the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund in New Bedford for two days of networking and skills-building! RootSkills is uniquely focused on the needs and interests of community volunteers working on environmental sustainability and community resilience across New England. http://grassrootsfund.org/tools/training/agenda
Wake Up the Earth: On May 3, BostonCAN and our community partners will unleash our 2015 gas leaks campaign on the world (well, on the Southwest Corridor Park). We are imagining a wild, serious, connecting contingent with maybe giant flames and pipes, vivid costumes, the Utility Billionaires, gas leak maps of your neighborhood… Join our Wake Up the Earth planning team and we’ll let our imaginations run riot!
Welcome BostonCAN’s new coordinator: Becca Tumposky will start in mid-May. Her deep background in urban planning and sustainability, anti-racist work and coalition-building will bring important new dimensions to our challenging and fast-moving 2015 campaign. We’re thrilled!
Don’t forget to
Like our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/BostonCAN.
Check our calendar for meeting dates, https://bostoncan.org/events/.