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2022 recap, and support BCAN going into 2023!

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Please join us in supporting Boston Climate Action Network in 2023 as we ramp up our campaigns for more sustainable schools and homes.

While 2022 was another challenging year for many of us, it also brought reasons to hope for a better climate future. This was the year Congress passed historic climate change legislation and Mayor Michelle Wu began laying the foundation for a Green New Deal for Boston. Now is the time, and Boston is the place, to win ambitious and pragmatic policies that set precedents that can be replicated throughout our state, region, and worldwide. 

We are a small and dedicated organization and we can win strong policies only with your help! Here are five reasons to get involved or DONATE NOW:

  1. We’re fighting for climate justice in Boston. In two new campaigns, we’re:
  1. We’re growing the movement and developing new climate leaders! This year, BCAN tripled our intern capacity and welcomed new board members, introducing new growth opportunities in campaign leadership, strategy, social media, and outreach. Looking to the future, we’re hoping to eventually build our staff capacity as well, but need all hands on deck to make that happen.
  1. Our network is expanding! For the first time, climate, housing, and schools activists are in the same rooms, breaking down thought barriers and opening up opportunities for systemic change. 
  1. We’re in it for the long haul. For over 20 years we’ve been building the climate justice movement in Boston, training activists, educating the public, and forming coalitions to achieve our goals. Our efforts have helped Boston become a nationwide climate leader with BERDO 2.0 and Community Choice Electricity providing blueprints for the country.
  1. We need you! We’re almost completely volunteer-based, and we rely heavily on donations to fund our campaigns. Anything that you can give us, whether it’s time or money, will make a big difference – every dollar and every hour counts.

Our climate is changing much faster than predicted. A dollar toward activism now can save hundreds of dollars of climate adaptation measures in the decades to come. We urge you to become a sustaining monthly donor to BCAN this year, or make the most generous annual donation your budget permits. Can we count on you?

Donate here

2022 in pictures…

See all the highlights from 2022 below!

BCAN hosted the climate strike

BERDO Victory Celebration!

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In a ceremony held Tuesday, October 5, at City Hall, Mayor Kim Janey signed what appears to be the most sweeping climate action ordinance in the nation. Boston’s Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) mandates owners of large building to reduce climate-warming emissions 100% by 2050. To celebrate, we invite you to join us on Thursday, Nov. 4, from 5:30 – 7pm, across the street from City Hall at the outdoor, rooftop beer garden “Sam Adams Tap Room,” 60 State St, Boston, MA 02109. (Note that this is not the Sam Adams Brewery in Jamaica Plain.) RSVP for the party here.

The updated city ordinance sets carbon emissions limits for buildings 20,000 square feet or greater, a key strategy in Boston’s plan for a carbon-neutral city by 2050. The event was attended by the press and by members of community groups who had advocated for the amendments, BCAN included.

BCAN played a key role in ensuring passage of BERDO 2.0, building a coalition that included allies from the Green Justice Coalition and Boston Clean Energy Coalition, and turning out volunteers time and again throughout the almost two-year process. Since the May 2019 campaign launch, BCAN volunteers have created digital and print educational materials, giving dozens of presentations throughout the city, gathered petition signatures, and delivered substantive policy suggestions to City staffers working to craft the policy. In the final days before the City Council voted on the measure, we delivered over 2000 petition signatures, with more from our coalition partners, and generated 210 letters from constituents to the district and at-large City Councilors.

Boston is the first U.S. city to codify in law a decreasing set of emissions targets to achieve 100% decarbonization. Three other U.S. cities have adopted building performance standards that are less comprehensive. As pointed out by Synapse, the City’s technical consultant on the process of developing that set of targets, the City’s new policy “incorporates innovative and flexible strategies to help building owners drive down emissions, create benefits for occupants, and ensure smart oversight.” BERDO 2.0 establishes a review board staffed by community-nominated experts to enforce limits on climate-warming emissions from Boston’s biggest buildings, the source of the vast majority of emissions coming from Boston. Winning this policy change is a huge victory! 

For more coverage of the BERDO victory, click here and here.

Mayor Kim Janey signs BERDO! (photo courtesy of City of Boston)

City Council Hosts BERDO Working, Discussion Sessions

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The Government Operations Committee of the Boston City Council held two meetings in August to refine proposed amendments to the Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO). In a working session on Monday, August 23, councilors conferred with Mariama White-Hammond, Boston’s Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space (EEOS), and Alison Brizius, Commissioner of the Environment Department. Councilors Matt O’Malley, Lydia Edwards, and Julia Mejia participated throughout the livestreamed session. (Initial trouble with the livestream link, plus a format which showed only the active speaker, made it unclear whether or not other councilors were observing.)

Councilors and EEOS staff were in agreement about requiring Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to be Class I and disallowing offsets for non-electricity-related emissions. Most also agreed that Review Board members must have relevant technical expertise, as well as being nominated by community groups in two-thirds of cases.

The Review Board’s set of responsibilities was also raised at a virtual discussion session on Thursday, August 26, where the public was invited to offer opinions and concerns. Whereas the proposal gives the board the authority to enforce penalties for non-compliant owners, groups representing the real estate industry argued that this function should rest with the Environment Department. BCAN disagrees. The proposal gives building owners time to prepare for retrofits, ways to apply for exceptions in special circumstances, and alternative compliance payments to cover over-limit emissions that remain despite honest efforts. Owners who take the standards seriously should not fear accountability to a knowledgeable community board.   

The next step in the BERDO process will be a second working session on Monday, September 13, at 10:30 AM. 

Boston: Divest from Fossil Fuels!

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Congratulations to Boston City Councilors Lydia Edwards, Michelle Wu, and Matt O’Malley for having introduced on March 17 an ordinance that would divest City funds from the fossil fuel, tobacco, and private prison industries. As Councilor Edwards tweeted: “Boston has led on divestment before. It’s an effective strategy. We need to put our money where our mouth is.” You can view of video of the City Council meeting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpgPrJlA9kU. The introduction of the proposal begins at 19:00.

All City Councilors except Councilor Baker signed on in support of the proposal during the City Council meeting.

If you live in Councilor Baker’s district, we urge you contact him in support of this divestment proposal: Frank.Baker@Boston.gov or 617-635-3455.

If you live elsewhere in Boston, check to see if your Councilor serves on the Committee on Government Operations and urge them to take urgent action to move this proposal forward.

The proposal can be found at https://meetingrecords.cityofboston.gov/sirepub/cache/2/szzfwfbwhhyhd3eladi13p4o/3194760317202107251154.PDF on page 13.

The text is also copied below:

AN ORDINANCE RELATIVE TO THE INVESTMENTS OF THE CITY TREASURY

WHEREAS: The City of Boston exercises significant discretion in investments of the City Treasury; and

WHEREAS: Investments of the City Treasury carry significant exposure to fossil fuels; and

WHEREAS: Climate change is an existential threat, requiring mobilization across every sector of government and society; and

WHEREAS: The City of Boston and Commonwealth of Massachusetts have established strict greenhouse gas emission reduction goals in order to climate change; and

WHEREAS: In 2014 and 2019, the Council held hearings related to divestment from fossil fuels; and

WHEREAS: The Council has previously voted to support state legislation authorizing and directing pension fund investment; and

WHEREAS: In February 2019, the City of Boston updated its Cash Investment Policy to promote Environmental, Social and Governance standards in local investments; and

WHEREAS: The Boston City Council has taken local action to divest the City Treasury from tobacco, to promote human rights and to combat apartheid; and

WHEREAS: Additional measures to promote sustainability and socially responsible investment are necessary; NOW

THEREFORE BE IT ORDERED:

Be it ordained by the City of Boston, as follows:

SECTION 1. The City of Boston Code, Ordinances, Chapter 6, Section 3, is hereby amended by striking section 6-3.7 and replacing it with the following:

6-3.7 Prohibiting Certain Local Investments

(a) No public funds under the care and custody of the Collector-Treasurer of the City of Boston, as specified in subsection 6-3.11, shall be invested or remain invested in the stocks, securities or other obligations of any company which derives more than fifteen (15%) percent of its revenue from the sale of tobacco products.

(b) No public funds under the care and custody of the Collector-Treasurer of the City of Boston, as specified in subsection 6-3.11, shall be invested or remain invested in the stocks, securities or other obligations of any company which derives more than fifteen (15%) percent of its revenue from the combustion, distribution, extraction, manufacture, or sale of fossil fuels, which shall include coal, oil and gas, or fossil fuel products. The Collector-Treasurer of the City of Boston shall divest public funds under their care from investments related to fossil fuels no later than December 31st, 2025.

An electric distribution company with corporate affiliates that combust, distribute, extract, manufacture or sell fossil fuels shall be considered a fossil fuel investment.

The Collector-Treasurer shall establish a screen for non-fossil fuel energy sources, including biomass energy, and related combustion activities, including incineration technologies such as gasification and pyrolysis, which have a deleterious impact on the human health and the environment by (1) negatively impacting climate change and/or (2) contributing to asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorders, cardiovascular diseases or premature death.

(c) No public funds shall be invested or remain invested in the stocks, securities or other obligations of any company which derives more than fifteen (15%) percent of its revenue from the operation, maintenance, servicing or supply of carceral facilities.

(d) Any proceeds of the sales required under this subsection shall be invested as much as reasonably possible in institutions or companies which invest or conduct business or operations in the City of Boston or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts so long as such use is consistent with sound investment policy.

SECTION 2. The City of Boston Code, Ordinances, Chapter 6, Section 3, is hereby amended by inserting after section 6-3.7 the following:

6-3.7.2

Report on Local Investment Within 120 days of enactment on this section, the Collector-Treasurer shall submit a report to the Boston City Council regarding the feasibility and legality of alternative investment strategies. Such report shall include:

● A review of the financial instruments and investments permitted for the city treasury

● A review of the financial instruments and investments permitted for the pension funds of the City of Boston and its affiliates

● An analysis of the feasibility and legality for the City of Boston to direct investment toward (1) land or housing; (2) community economic development, included in cooperative businesses and businesses that are not publicly traded through a stock market index; (3) public infrastructure within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; (4) public infrastructure outside of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. To the extent such investments are not directly permitted, the Collector-Treasurer shall investigate whether similar investments could be made through combined investment funds or banking or trust investments authorized by Section 55 of Chapter 44, Section 38A of Chapter 29, or other relevant sections of the General Laws.

● A review of any strategies the City currently employs to effectuate local investment

SECTION 3. This ordinance shall take effect upon signing.

Filed On: March 17, 2021

Summer Internship Opportunity

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Application deadline: April 1

Boston Climate Action Network is accepting applications for a paid internship position, Outreach Organizer, to support our campaign to cut greenhouse gas emissions from Boston’s largest buildings. More than half of Boston’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the largest 3% of its buildings. We are working with allies to pass legislation to bring these buildings to net zero emissions by 2050.

The City Council will be actively debating our proposed legislation this summer. We need to build a volunteer base to advocate for our campaign in ways that resonate with the public. As the BCAN intern, you will help build our volunteer base in every City Council district, with training and support from BCAN staff and longtime volunteers.

At BCAN, we use phone, email, video conferencing, and, to the extent that it is COVID-safe, in-person canvassing and presentations to reach out to local communities, recruit new members, and build volunteers’ skills.  We will track the campaign’s progress through volunteer sign-up rates, petition signatures, and attendance at meetings with activists, the public, and political figures.

Essential qualities of successful applicants:

  • Familiarity with Boston’s neighborhoods
  • Ability to attend events at a variety of locations in Boston on a daily basis as needed
  • An understanding of climate justice and of the climate impacts affecting Boston residents
  • Ability to work well with volunteers with diverse communication skills
  • Effective public speaker

Helpful qualities:

  • Boston residency
  • Involvement in a community-based organization within the City of Boston
  • Fluency in Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, or Cape Verdean or Haitian Creole

Hours are flexible with the expectation that you’ll work approximately 20-25 hours during the 9 to 5 weekday and approximately 10-15 hours during evenings and weekends. The start date is negotiable, but not earlier than May 1 and no later than June 15.

Applicants must supply their own computer and work space and be experienced with working remotely. Please indicate in your application your level of expertise with Google Docs and Sheets, Zoom, and Powerpoint.

Stipend: $16/hr, 35hrs/wk, 12wks. Deadline for applications: April 1. Send resume and cover letter to BostonClimateAction@gmail.com with the heading: Internship application. No phone calls please.

Donate to win big in 2021

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You know the facts of climate change. You want to “fight like hell for the living,” as Mother Jones has told us. Boston Climate Action Network is leading the effort for city-level urgent and ambitious action on climate. Here are four reasons to join us in the fight and donate to make sure we win big in 2021. 

Donate now
  1. We put our muscle where it makes a tangible impact. As residents of Boston, we know our City Councilors and Mayor listen to us. When we move City of Boston policy, that sets a precedent for the rest of New England. For example, soon Boston residents will have 10% more regionally produced renewable energy feeding into our electricity grid, for no extra cost, thanks to the BCAN-promoted Community Choice Electricity program.
  2. We focus on issues that take big bites of the climate apple. Our current campaign – Green Buildings, Not Greenhouse Gases – aims to radically reduce emissions from the biggest source of emissions in the city: large residential and commercial buildings.
  3. We know how to  network! There are countless groups in Boston working to solve various aspects of the climate crisis and the social crises that make climate issues so difficult to resolve. BCAN brings a social and political lens to climate organizing and builds networks for every campaign.
  4. We’re in it for the long haul. For 20 years we’ve been building the climate justice movement in Boston, training activists, educating the public with theater and song, and forming coalitions to achieve our goals. 

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we remain strong. This year as policies to meet our 2030 and 2050 goals are battled out in city hall and in community forums, BCAN will continue to push the envelope. The transition to low-carbon heating and high efficiency buildings will not happen unless activist groups like BCAN turn out residents to demand ambitious measures. 

Boston will also be choosing a new Mayor in 2021. The verbiage will be flying and BCAN will be there to parse the routine ideas from the truly innovative. You count on BCAN to alert you to Boston’s climate news every two weeks and to the moments when you need to show up so City Hall understands the force of people’s desire for urgent climate action.

Can we count on you to support the key role BCAN plays in leveraging Boston as a climate leader nationwide? Please become a sustaining donor this year if you do, or make the most generous annual donation your budget permits. 

Donate now

Our climate is changing exponentially fast, and a dollar toward activism now can prevent having to spend hundreds of dollars for climate adaptation measures in the decades to come.

Thank you for your support!

Loie Hayes, Natasha Khatri, Judith Kolligian, Stephanie Komorowski, Terry Mason, Michael Weinstein, and Andy Wells-Bean
BCAN Board of Directors and Campaign Coordinator

PS: To donate, you can mail a check to: BCAN, POBox 300984, Boston, MA 02130;
To make a tax-deductible contribution online:

  • Go to the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund website, grassrootsfund.org/donate/now
  • Fill in your contact information and preferred contribution, then scroll down to “Program”
  • Click on “Fiscal Sponsored Group”
  • Write in “Boston Climate Action Network”

Boston Rolls Out Community Choice Electricity with More Renewables, Lower Cost

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The City of Boston has released the long-awaited details of its Community Choice Electricity program (CCE). BCAN is thrilled to confirm that CCE offers all Boston electricity customers a painless but meaningful way to take action against climate change. The prices are competitive with Eversource’s: in fact, you can buy greener electricity and still save money. The customer notification and enrollment process has begun, and the program itself starts in February. Read on to find out more.

How Green is CCE? How Much Will It Cost?

CCE will offer a choice of three products (electricity plans). Standard, the default option, will have 10 percentage points more renewable content than the minimum percentage required by Massachusetts law. This minimum, called the Class I RPS, goes up two percentage points per year and will be 18% in 2021, so Standard will start at 28% green. Optional Green 100 will be 100% renewably sourced. Optional Basic will contain the state-required minimum–as does Eversource’s Basic Service product. 

Prices for the respective plans will be as follows:

ProductPercentage Points Class I Renewables Above RPSTotal Percentage Class I Renewables (2021)Price (cents/kWh)Effective Time Period (2021)
CCE Standard (default)102811.409Feb.-Nov. 
CCE Optional Green 100
(opt-up)		N/A10014.764Feb.-Nov.
CCE Optional Basic
(opt-down)		01810.959Feb.-Nov.
Eversource Basic Service01811.882Jan.-June
Note: These prices are for the supplier portion of your bill–the price for the electricity itself, not for transmitting it to you. All Massachusetts customers pay additional delivery charges, and this will not change under CCE.

Here is what you would pay for electricity supply if your usage is a typical 600 kWh per month: 

ProductPercentage Points Class I Renewables Above RPSTotal Percentage Class I Renewables (2021)Monthly Supplier ChargesMore or (Less) than Eversource Basic
per Month
 
CCE Standard1028$68.45 ($2.84)
CCE Optional Green 100N/A100$88.58 $17.29 
CCE Optional Basic018$65.75 ($5.54)
Eversource Basic Service018$71.29 

So . . . with CCE Standard, you get electricity that is substantially greener than Eversource’s, for $2.84 less per month! If you can afford $17.29 more per month than you would have paid Eversource, you can opt up to 100% green and help fight climate change even more. Or, if every penny counts in your household, you can opt down to CCE Optional Basic and save $5.54 a month compared to Eversource, while still supporting a program that cuts carbon emissions citywide. We hope that you will choose the greenest CCE product that fits your budget. 

For full disclosure, we must explain that these prices are only for the time periods shown in the first table, and that prices for future periods cannot be guaranteed. During the life of the program, there may be times when Eversource’s rates are lower than CCE’s. The City, which makes no profit from CCE, aims to offer electricity that is as green as possible while keeping rates favorable over the long run. According to the Energy News Network, similar programs founded over the past few years in other Massachusetts cities and towns are saving their customers lots of money.

What Do I Have to Do?

If you are a Boston electricity customer and Eversource is your supplier, you will be receiving a detailed mailing from the City. Read it carefully. 

Meanwhile, here are the basics:

  • If Eversource is your supplier, you will automatically be enrolled in CCE. (You may opt out if you wish — though we’re not sure why you would.) Our previous blog post explains how to determine who your current supplier is. 
  • If you already have a supplier other than Eversource, you are not eligible for CCE while that contract is active. If you want to switch to CCE, go to the City’s “Protect Your Electric Account” page and scroll down to “How Can You Switch Your Electric Supplier?” to learn how to change without financial penalties.
  • New CCE enrollees are automatically signed up for the Standard product. To choose Optional Green 100 or Optional Basic instead, use this online form, or call the CCE supplier, Constellation, at (833) 930-3161.
  • If you join CCE, Eversource will still be your electric utility. They will still bill you and maintain the power lines, so customer service and system reliability will stay the same.

More Questions?

The City is hosting explanatory webinars starting December 14, with time for Q&A. Register here.

Correction, December 4, 2020. An earlier version of this post incorrectly cited typical electricity usage as 600 kWh per year, instead of per month. Comparisons of monthly supplier charges for CCE products vs. Eversource Basic Service have been recalculated accordingly.

“Say Her Name”: BostonCAN in solidarity with Black Lives Matter Boston

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BostonCAN helped to swell the crowd during the “Say Her Name” march and rally, sponsored by Black Lives Matter Boston, on Saturday, July 4. The event was organized to “center and uplift the lives of ALL Black womxn [with] radical joy and dancing because, as Audre Lorde wrote, ‘it is better to speak/remembering/we were never meant to survive.’ Womxn hold up half the sky all over the world and have always been essential, yet Black womxn are too often overlooked, erased, and devalued.”

BostonCAN volunteers at the Say Her Name rally.
BostonCAN calling for justice for Black women

Solidarity Strengthens our Movement: Black Lives Matter

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Boston Climate Action Network understands that solidarity strengthens us rather than weakens us. Standing with movements that are not primarily focused on climate change expands our ability to envision and actualize a more equitable, sustainable world. As an organization focused on organizing City of Boston residents to speak out for climate justice, we know that anti-Black racism is one of the barriers we face to achieving our mission of climate justice; we also know that climate change continues to disproportionately affect communities of color.

In this historic moment when the flames of racist violence are being fanned by figures of authority, we join the majority in demanding societal recognition that Black Lives Matter and an end to systemic racism.  We invite you to join us in learning from the many Black activists speaking out about the links between police brutality, anti- Black racism, and environmental sustainability. Here are a few to get you started.

Dominique Thomas, 350.org Northeast Regional Organizer: “Black people in this country are being systematically suffocated, whether that’s with police officers using their knees to suffocate us, through the coronavirus attacking our lungs, or whether that’s through the fossil fuel industry…”

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson: marine biologist and founder of the non-profit think tank Urban Ocean Lab: “…If we want to successfully address climate change, we need people of color. Not just because pursuing diversity is a good thing to do, and not even because diversity leads to better decision-making and more effective strategies, but because, black people are significantly more concerned about climate change than white people (57 percent vs. 49 percent), and Latinx people are even more concerned (70 percent). To put that in perspective, it means that more than 23 million black Americans already care deeply about the environment and could make a huge contribution to the massive amount of climate work that needs doing….” 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/06/03/im-black-climate-scientist-racism-derails-our-efforts-save-planet/

Mary Annaïse Heglar, writer in residence at Columbia University’s Earth Institute and co-creator of the Hot Take podcast: “…it’s not just time to talk about climate — it’s time to talk about it as the Black issue it is. It’s time to stop whitewashing it. In other words, it’s time to stop #AllLivesMattering the climate crisis. It’s time to talk about how extreme heat exacerbates police violence and increases deaths from tasers. It’s time to talk about what happens in prisons, which often lack air conditioning and heat, as temperatures skyrocket. It’s time to talk about climate gentrification. It’s time to talk about the use of tear gas — which hurts respiratory systems during a pandemic that is already disproportionately affecting Black people — as environmental racism….” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/climate-crisis-racism-environmenal-justice_n_5ee072b9c5b6b9cbc7699c3d

Boston Climate Action Network is a member of Boston Clean Energy Coalition. We endorse its statement, posted to Facebook on June 12, 2020.

Statement of Solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives

The Boston Clean Energy Coalition (BCEC) stands in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives and all those working towards racial justice. BCEC was established in early 2017 to address the growing existential crisis of climate catastrophe, with a particular focus on grassroots organizing.

The destabilization of our global climate has its roots in the same exploitative and extractive foundation of our nation and the heart of our economic system, and to this day is inexorably entwined with the culture of white supremacy. While we have always understood this underlying connection between social and environmental injustice, the current moment requires us to step up our anti-racist efforts. Systemic racism demands systemic solutions that are based on listening, learning, empathy, solidarity, and action. No matter what lane we occupy in building a sustainable future, we can and will find ways to center and support racial justice.

We know that systemic racism is directly tied to an undue burden of environmental pollution and public health risk factors. We have seen the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on folks identifying as black, indigenous, or people of color, and remain concerned about the environmental disparities that have contributed to this outcome. When “I Can’t Breathe” is again the horrible rallying cry against institutional racism, we also know that it is the awful daily truth for those who live in the most polluted areas of our city, in the sacrifice zones. We join the demand for justice for the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and many others. We state loudly and publicly that Black Lives Matter.

Earth Day Challenge: Sign Our “Green Buildings” Petition

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“When you’re up to your a** in alligators, it’s hard to remember that your objective was to drain the swamp.”

This saying really sums things up for climate activists these days! Fighting one global emergency is hard enough, and now another one threatens to distract us from our mission.

How do you remember your purpose in the midst of hard times? Annual events can help. The first event was wildly successful, drawing thousands to live rallies in many major cities and calling widespread attention to the issue. This year, the coronavirus pandemic has failed to interrupt the 50th Earth Day celebration, whose official calendar lists over 1,300 online events worldwide.

For us at Boston Climate Action Network, Earth Day reinvigorates our dedication to our “Green Buildings, Not Greenhouse Gases” campaign. BCAN decided in 2019 that, of many possible climate mitigation strategies, we would advocate for deep energy retrofits of Boston’s largest, most carbon-polluting buildings. Retrofits are also a priority for the City’s Office of Energy, Environment, and Open Space, which is planning to update current law with an emissions performance standard for large existing buildings. However, government plans can lose steam without support and demand from citizens. We need Bostonians to insist that the standard be set high, that enforcement be strict, and that the City allocate enough resources for implementation.

To that end, we are issuing an Earth Day challenge! We have written a petition to the Mayor and the City Council, and we aim to collect 500 signatures by 100 days after Earth Day, July 31. Please sign the petition yourself, and ask friends to do the same. Yes, let’s still drain the swamp, regardless of the alligators!

Green Buildings not Greenhouse Gases Petition