On this Earth Day and Beyond!
Earth Day, April 22nd, is the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement, which began in 1970. It came about due to the decades of Americans seeing their air, land, and water in their communities become dirtier and dirtier, consuming gas from inefficient cars and trucks, due to the industries continuing to belch out and dump pollutants maintaining polluting factories with no consequence, and due to the lack of realization of how detrimental pollution is to our health, our children’s future, and of course the Earth. After a massive oil spill in California in January 1969, Senator Gaylord Nelson decided to do teach-ins on college campuses to national news outlets in order to spread awareness of conservation.
Through a young activist, Denis Hayes, Earth Day became a national day of impact and change. The first Earth Day had 20 million Americans demonstrating against the harmful pollution caused by industries over the last one-and-a-half century. All conservation activists now had a day where they could make their voices heard and their voices carried all the way into Washington. The first Earth Day sent such a strong message that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created and major legislation such as The National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and The Clean Air Act, had all been enacted by the end of 1970.
Today, as we observe Earth Day, we see many young activists rising up to make sure that their concerns for their future with climate change are not unheard of, effective legislation is passed, and there is finally a connection between environmental protection, global warming, sustainable development, environmental justice, and how we as a society can move forward together, protecting everyone’s health.
It is our responsibility to live up to the expectations of these young activists, like Ayan, who is working on my campaign. This is why I am pleased to see that last week, the Massachusetts Senate overwhelmingly passed the Senate Bill (S 2819 An Act Driving Climate Policy Forward), co-authored by State Senator Mike Barrett, which builds upon the Next Generation Roadmap, increasing the state’s commitment towards electrifying the grid, dramatically increasing the number of electric vehicles on the road, expanding the capacity of solar and offshore wind development, and strengthening the green building code to target carbon emissions from homes and buildings towards achieving the net-zero target through addressing greenhouse emissions from transportation, electricity, and buildings.
The new legislation would also establish a $50 million fund to build out EV charging stations in communities across Massachusetts, and create a $100 million Clean Energy Investment Fund, to help incentivize the adoption of electric vehicles. I am also very proud to note that the bill includes a pilot program for 10 communities to go all-electric, which is in large part due to the leadership of Acton and Concord voters and municipal officials putting forward Home Rule petitions to ban new fossil fuel infrastructure. Bravo! , and build out electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Over the years, since I moved to Acton, I have taken the initiative to understand the environment-related challenges we face such as gas leaks, that are being tracked by the incredible Mothers Out Front, Toxic Chemicals in our water like PFAs, expenses for maintaining the Superfund sites, trash in our streams, construction so close to our wetlands and the various efforts by different local and state Actors to remedy these.
My vision for a climate-resilient 14th Middlesex aligns with the bold legislation and I will work to ensure that the gains made are not rolled back, and work to make sure that strategies are inclusive and equitable for people in low-income households and communities who have historically been left out of the legislation. I want to strengthen legislation in ways that everyone can see themselves in it. This is why, if elected State Representative for the 14th Middlesex District, I would advocate for the following bills and campaigns:
The HERO (Housing and Environment Revenue Options) bill I support the Affordable Housing & Climate Resilience (S.1853 / H.2890) An Act providing for climate change adaptation infrastructure and affordable housing investments in the Commonwealth, to establish a dedicated revenue source to help communities become more climate resilient and build affordable housing on their owns terms
Support Mothers Out Front Clean Heat campaign https://www.mothersoutfront.org/project/future-of-clean-heat/, to make a dramatic shift away from fossil fuels heating our homes and where we work, to 100% clean energy heat
Support Senator Eldridge and Representative Uyterhoeven’s S.2170/H.3372 – An Act investing in a prosperous, clean Commonwealth by 2030 (IPCC-2030), to more aggressively move to a 100% clean energy future. Fact Sheet: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5dee8c40dfaed423632dbd07/t/61dca05e179998054695e68e/1641848926714/Enviro+Fact+Sheets+%283%29.pdf
Advocate for the next Governor to fully implement the Environmental Justice provisions of the Next Generation Roadmap, including fully appointing and staffing the Environmental Justice Advisory Council, which the Baker-Polito administration has yet to do
We as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have the tools needed to set a standard for the United States and the world for addressing the global climate crisis and protecting the earth.
It is up to us to change the future through small household practices that protect the environment and through electing leaders who have a lived experience of the impact of climate change.
There are over 190 countries that actively engage in Earth Day every year with over 1 billion humans, that’s one in every seven humans, participating in some way to make sure we have a safer future. We can do this. We have to do this. We only have one Earth. Happy Earth Day