Cambridge City Council Forum on Energy & Environmental Issues - Wednesday, Nov. 2nd at 6:30 PM

Green Cambridge, formerly known as Green Decade/Cambridge, is again organizing an Energy and Environmental Issues Candidate's Night for this year's city council race.  Cambridge Somerville for Change is a co-sponsor of this event, which will take place on November 2nd at 6:30 pm at the YMCA Theatre in Central Square.  Please join us to learn more about the positions each of the candidates is taking on these important issues.

Follow up to Climate Legislative Panel Discussion - June 10th

June 3rd’s panel discussion of climate legislation, moderated by Rob Garrity from the Massachusetts Climate Action Network, was both informative and lively. An audience of close to 50 heard Peter Shattuck, Carbon Markets Policy Analyst for Environment Northeast, talk about the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and lessons learned. Michael Dorsey, Assistant Professor, Dartmouth College, promoted a civil society, bottom up approach to forcing changes that would reduce green house gas emissions. Sonia Hamel explained her rationale for supporting the American Power Act, also known as the Kerry-Lieberman bill, despite its serious flaws.

Please join us on Thursday, June 10th from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Central Square (Cambridge) library at 45 Pearl Street to help us plan political actions to address the climate emergency.

Climate Legislative Panel Discussion--June 3rd!

Please join the Cambridge-Somerville for Change Energy and Climate Team, Green Decade Cambridge, and the Cambridge Energy Alliance for a discussion on federal climate policies currently on the table to regulate greenhouse gases and the potential impacts of these bills. Rob Garrity, the Executive Director of Massachusetts Climate Action Network (MCAN) will moderate a distinguished panel of experts who will break down potential climate bills, legislative regulatory tools, and how these bills would impact greenhouse gas emissions.

Come expand your literacy about current policy mechanisms such as:

• Cap-and-trade
• Carbon tax
• EPA
• CAA

Sign up for this free event here!

Save the date for a follow up meeting on Thursday, June 10th at the Cambridge Public library, 6:30 - 8:30 pm.

Climate Forum Next Tuesday, 1/26!

Cambridge-Somerville for Change’s Energy and Climate Team and Green Decade Cambridge will host "Copenhagen and Beyond," a forum on Jan 26th, 7:00pm at Cambridge Central Square Library, 45 Pearl Street to discuss the recent U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen. Key speaker Cambridge City Councillor Henrietta Davis, one of the National League of Cities’ two official representatives, will highlight her experiences at the conference and discuss what our cities can be doing to stop the coming climate emergency. Kate Anderson, Senior Policy Advisor to Senator Kerry, will also discuss the Senator’s proposals on energy and climate change.

The Energy and Climate Team hopes to use the event to help build momentum for a campaign for national action on global warming. The goal of the forum is to discover lessons we can learn from Copenhagen and actions can we take to move America forward on global warming and clean energy. Please come and share your ideas!

Please RSVP at http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpc9vq

Come to The Energy and Climate Team Community Event on January 26th!

The Energy and Climate Team met tonight and has put together final plans for an upcoming community forum on climate change, entitled "Copenhagen and Beyond: Bringing It Home." The

Along with Green-Decade Cambridge, we will host Councillor Henrietta Davis for "Copenhagen and Beyond: Bringing It Home" about her experience as a delegation the U.N. Copenhagen Climate Change Conference and how we can help promote strong national global warming and energy policies. An aide from Senator John Kerry's office will also be present to discuss principles of climate change legislation currently pending in the Senate.

This will be a great opportunity to ask questions about efforts to stop global warming and get involved in the Energy and Climate's teams actions in the coming year. You can sign up online here.

Send a note energy@cambridgesomervilleforchange.com if you would like to learn more!

Next Energy and Climate Team Meeting--January 12th

Thanks to all those who came out to the Winter Community Meeting!

We need your help and ideas to help get our energy and climate effort going. So please come to our meeting on January 12th, at 7pm, at 154 Auburn Street in Cambridge. We will be planning our kick-off action forum, currently set for February.

We also encourage you follow the Cambridge's Climate Congress, which is trying to promote widespread community action to dramatically reduce the city's greenhouse gas emissions. The Cambridge Chronicle did a write up of the first Forum meeting, held on Saturday.

And if you have any questions or ideas, please send a note to energy@cambridgesomervilleforchange.com.

Energy and Climate Issues in Cambridge and in the Senate Race

As the Senate continues its tug of war over health care, the world prepares for the next United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen. With this in mind, the City of Cambridge, led by Mayor Denise Simmons and Councilor Henrietta Davis, are putting together a Cambridge Climate Congress. The Congress, which will take place at City Hall on both December 12th and January 23rd, will seek to find a way that Cambridge can take a leadership role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and driving citizen action on climate change. We encourage you to take a look at the Congress if you are in Cambridge and seek out opportunities to get involved. Cambridge-Somerville for Change will be monitoring the event and posting more about it in the weeks ahead.

Also, the Massachusetts Democratic Senate primary is coming up on December 8th. We encourage you to read over the energy and environmental plans that Michael Capuano, Martha Coakley, Alan Khazei, and Steve Pagliuca. While the economy, health care, and Afghanistan have been at the center of the campaign, the next Senator from Massachusetts will have a unique opportunity to push legislation to reduce global warming pollution and create green jobs.

Cambridge City Council Canditates Forum on Environmental Issues: Tuesday, October 13th

Over the past few months, Cambridge-Somerville for Change has put together a team focusing solely on Energy and Climate issues. Our goals are to help push for a strong national bill to reduce global warming pollution and to engage with community efforts to reduce energy use and increase clean sources of energy, locally and globally.

As part of this effort, we are co-sponsoring a Cambridge City Council Candidates Forum on environmental and energy issues. This is the only public forum for the candidates to debate and discuss their views on environmental issues in the city and we hope that you will consider attending. It is important for city government to represent the concerns of the citizens and this forum will be a good way to find out where your city councillors stand on these issues.

The event, led by Green Decade Cambridge, will take place next Tuesday, October 13th at 6:30 at the Cambridge Citywide Senior Center (806 Massachusetts Avenue, near Central Square). There will be three separate panels, each running about 45 minutes for candidates to discuss their views. More about the event can be found here.

And even if you can't attend, please consider coming to one of our future planning meetings. We will be discussing ways to ensure Congress enacts a strong bill to curb global warming pollution and promote energy efficiency. Just send a quick note to energy@cambridgesomervilleforchange.com if you'd like to learn more.

Cambridge City Council Climate Energy Hearing Next Week

On behalf of the Energy and Climate Team, we would like to invite you to attend a Cambridge City Council hearing on the Climate Emergency next Thursday, September 24th. The hearing will take place at Cambridge City Hall (795 Massachusetts Avenue) at 5:30 pm. The city council has recognized that global warming is an emergency and this will be an opportunity to learn from leading scientists about steps the city can take to prepare for and mitigate climate change. More information can be found at http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddk6hj4t_41g3p6fjqt.

Also, please come to the Energy and Climate Team meeting this Wednesday at 7:00 pm. We'll be hearing from an aide to Senator John Kerry about upcoming national global warming legislation and planning future actions. If you would like to come, please click here for directions.

Notes from the Energy and Climate Team Kick-Off Meeting

The Energy and Climate Team held its first planning meeting on Monday, August 17th. We discussed CfSC's efforts to use its grassroots network to promote policies and campaigns that reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

We agreed on two goals for the team:

• To influence policy-makers around energy and climate change issues, both generally and on specific legislation
• To motivate and enable individuals to go beyond personal actions (for example, limiting their own carbon footprint) and act at a policy level

We brainstormed a variety of possible actions we can take, both in the short and longer term.

• Take action in support of Markey-Waxman
• Assess local candidates around their views on energy and climate issues
• Attend the 9/24 Cambridge hearing on climate change
• Partner with local organizations involved in energy and climate change activities, perhaps around "barn-raisings”
• Engage in discussions of the issues, including things that get in the way of efforts to drive change
• Support action on Green Communities Act
• Get communities to adopt Stretch Building Code
• Find out what help our congressional delegation could use
• Host a forum, perhaps in October, around how Markey-Waxman will impact Cambridge and Somerville

In the short term, we decided to:

1. Organize people to attend 9/24 climate change forum, and then report back
2. Organize people to attend, ask questions at October Green Decade candidates forum in Cambridge, and then report back
3. Ask Senator Kerry’s office about seeing Senate bill and try to meet with a local staffer about it
4. Look into local organizations and propose how we could engage with them

We will be holding another meeting in September; additional details will be posted here soon.

Energy and Climate Team Kick-Off Meeting

We will be holding our first planning meeting next Monday, August 17th from 7-8:30 pm at Cornerstone Co-housing. We will discuss CfSC's efforts to use its grassroots network to promote policies and campaigns that reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. This will be the first follow up meeting to the Town Hall session in June and will set our agenda for the months ahead. Location details will follow shortly.

Agenda Outline
1) Review of June 22nd Meeting and Proposals

2) Discussion of CfSC ad the Nature of Its Organizing on Energy and Climate Issues (should these be reversed?)

3) Discussion of Organizing and Campaign Actions

4) Next Steps and Future Meeting Date

______________________

In addition to the planning meeting on August 17th, there are two energy-related events that you might be interested in:

1) Somerville Home Energy Efficiency Team's first public Home Weatherization Party!: Come help weatherize Tanya and Daniel's home to save them some $ this winter, decrease carbon-emissions, and learn new skills!!! Saturday, August 15th, 1:00pm to 5:00pm, 40 Trull Street, Somerville

2) Community outreach event in Cambridge, led by Cambridge Energy Alliance. Knock on doors, pass out efficient light bulbs, and promote home energy audits in the Riverside Neighborhood in Cambridge. August 16th. More details can be found here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDhCQmsyOF9GT2ZjaUhnU05CaFo0UEE6MA.

Please note that the CSfC Energy and Climate Team will not have official representation at these events, but they are in line with our shared principles.

Report from the Energy Breakout Session

First off, thanks to all who participated in the energy breakout session at the first CSfC community meeting on June 22. The discussion was respectful, informative, and thought-provoking.

It quickly became clear that smart energy policy is important to members for many reasons. In fact, one of the first topics was a proposed name change for the team from "Energy" to "Energy and Climate". Another focus of the discussion was how developing sustainable energy practices can and must lead to the creation of local jobs. Two members also explained how working to improve energy efficiency at a local level can strengthen bonds within neighborhoods and radically change the dynamics of all social movements.

Many ideas were brainstormed, with participants building on each others' suggestions. There were occasionally some points of disagreement, especially with respect to priorities, but the discussion remained courteous and was an excellent example of how we can come together for great effect even though we no longer have the single unifying goal most of us shared during the presidential campaign.

After the brainstorming, we voted on which issues to tackle. The top initiatives, in order of preference were:

1. Organize neighborhood conservation/efficiency
2. Raise awareness of how energy policy can benefit small business
3. Advocate for the Stretch Energy Code, which mandates efficiency standards for new buildings
4. Tie federal stimulus money to green jobs
   

In order to carry out these initiatives, we agreed on some action items:

1. Connect the team via a Google Group and Google Docs, including a doc for the Stretch Energy Code
2. Meet again
3. Create a plan and presentation on the ideas above
4. Hear suggestions on how we can organize
5. Set up a meeting just to talk about neighborhoods as a base for organizing/advocacy
6. Figure out how to reach decision makers - city council, mayor, governor, etc.
7. Supply manpower and support to other groups that are experts on a particular issue

The CSfC Steering Committee is responsible for tracking these action items, but all members of the team will need to be involved in their completion. Everyone who attended the community meeting filled out a volunteer form so those who are interested will soon be invited to the CSFC Energy and Climate Google Group. Anyone who was not able to attend the meeting can join by filling out the Volunteer Sign Up form on the right side of the www.cambridgesomervilleforchange.com main page.

The breakout session was a great start. Now let's really kick it into high gear and drive the change we all want to see!