Dear friends and activists,
The weather is GREAT, people are out, and so are we – with a dazzling array of climate actions. Got some free time? Now’s the moment to get involved with:
Street theater! On Saturday July 11, we’ll present our new Cantastoria show at JP Porchfest. In painting and rhyme, it takes spectators from gas leaks to fracked gas pipelines to our renewable future – in five “ooh!”-filled minutes. Catch our debut at St. John’s Church, Centre and Green Streets, at 2:45 pm; later that afternoon, at 26 Holbrook Street near the JP monument; and if you want to help paint our canvases or join the troupe this coming week, email bostoncan@gmail.com.
Community outreach. We are tabling at neighborhood events and farmers’ markets all over town. There are scores of sites – more than we can cover – and the potential for involving new people in climate action is enormous. Join a tabling crew and try it out! Tabling is fun: you make new friends, check out new neighborhoods, and learn how people connect with climate change issues. Email us at bostoncan@gmail.com for the tabling schedule, or propose a time and place in your own neighborhood.
Rattling the DPU’s cage. As we reach into Boston’s neighborhoods, we’re discovering that the gas company isn’t really fixing leaks in Roxbury and Dorchester (they patch them, but new leaks spring up). The gas company has known about some of these leaks for 30 years. And the percentage of leaks that date back to the last century is two and a half times larger in Dorchester and Mattapan than in the rest of the city. We’re planning actions that ask the state Department of Public Utilities: why are you letting National Grid get away with this? Email us at bostoncan@gmail.com and we’ll let you know when to show up.
Calling Charlie Baker on his climate policies. Instead of championing clean energy as the Patrick administration did, Baker’s administration will likely move us backward on solar metering, offshore wind, energy efficiency, new pipelines, and much more. Not only will this drive more global warming; Baker’s backward motion will suffocate green jobs, one of the fastest-growing parts of our economy. Email us at bostoncan@gmail.com if you want to get involved with this initiative.
Summer reading. Check out the Acadia Center’s excellent three-part series, The Missing Energy Crisis. It debunks the “energy shortage!” scare and points our way to an increasingly electrified, low carbon, and consumer-focused energy system.
All this activity has a time-driven focus. This fall the Boston City Council will hold a hearing on gas leaks, the state legislature will probably take up new gas and energy bills, and the “new pipelines” scare campaign will ramp up. The strength we build over the summer will shape our clout in the fall.
Got more great ideas? Email us at bostoncan@gmail.com and help invent the next stage in our far-reaching campaign for a sustainable, just future.
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