4.25.21 Sermon for Earth Day Sunday.
Dick Prouty
Becoming? What are we becoming because of the effects of climate change on our planet? What can we become?
I’ve been working on climate issues locally since I retired from PA in 2015.
In 2015 we incorporated the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation (GMF), and TownGreen2025 was established as a program of GMF. In the fall of 2019, we started a series of large group meetings to grow our numbers of volunteers. This grew into the Cape Ann Climate Coalition, an informal network, working in partnership with TownGreen2025.
As Chair of the TownGreen2025 Steering Committee since then, I have been blessed to be in a position to use the skills I had developed over my time at the helm at Project Adventure. It’s been a rewarding past five years; we have had community campaigns that resulted in many hundreds of new solar installations, and hundreds of more energy efficient buildings on Cape Ann. And we had three large Sustainability Fairs attended by over 400 people each time.
And, our own Meetinghouse has reached carbon neutral status, as a result of the gift from GMF Board member, Harry Hintlian, to the church, of several hectares of reforestation offsets in Costa Rica. Sadly, Harry passed away this past December; TownGreen2025 and our friends will sorely miss his enthusiasm and his generosity for our work.
Facing any large problem honestly is always a key to finding solutions. Our planet’s climate continues to warm; we are still accelerating on an unsustainable path. CO2 was just measured by NOAA as at 420PPM, up from 350PPM. That is over a 20% rise in the last 30 years. Most experts say we only have about ten years to turn around this rise in GHGs and start drawing down them through regenerative agriculture and reforestation. Otherwise, we hit tipping points in things like melting permafrost that we will be virtually unable to reverse.
2021 feels like a big year now for both our local movement and the national and international efforts to address what most scientists agree should be called the climate crisis. Unprecedented floods devasting crops, wildfires out of control for months, an unprecedented deep freeze in Texas, and severe heat and droughts in many major cities, faster melting of artic ice than predicted: all these are now almost daily headlines in major newspapers. Facing the climate crisis regularly and in depth can be a daunting experience.
But positive momentum to face up to our challenges has been growing each year. I think this growing concern about climate played a role in the last presidential election, especially with young people who are worried about the earth they will inherit.
Joe Biden made prioritizing the climate crisis one of his top three agendas in the election. And, he is following through with making climate the umbrella for all other strategies to create jobs and face the problem with more serious climate research and mitigation and adaptation action. This is now happening in most departments at the federal level. Biden’s win was a huge win for mother earth.
And, our own state of Massachusetts just passed this spring a landmark climate bill. As I wrote to a high school senior for the Gilnetter, the Gloucester High School student newspaper:
“It means a lot for all residents of Massachusetts that Governor Baker has signed this pathbreaking bill, The Next Generation Roadmap bill, S-9. This bill has many pieces, but essentially focuses on supporting clean energy solutions like solar and wind, and making the benefits of them affordable to all populations, including our most vulnerable groups. It also puts Massachusetts back front as the leading state working on renewable energy and sustainability solutions, an important piece for making our state more competitive in the innovation race for talent worldwide.
And the plans of TownGreen2025 and the Cape Ann Climate Coalition for things like a microgrid to make back up energy available to first responders (police, fire, hospitals) are going to be much more feasible now, because of the large subsidies in this bill.”
And, locally, 2021 is also shaping up as a big year for progress on Cape Ann in facing up to our Climate Crisis. We have reached a great agreement with the Harvard Graduate School of Design to conduct a rigorous study to help Cape Ann adapt to the effects of the inevitable climate change effects coming and to lower carbon emission dramatically in the process.
Starting this summer, the Harvard Study will map out in clear and graphic ways what damage a big storm would have on Cape Ann in 2040, with storm surge being likely much larger because of sea level rise and more intense storms.
Then there will be three big recommendations for mitigating the effects of a big storm: options for managed retreat and coastal armoring; a study of how and where to increase very efficient affordable housing( (or what is called Net Zero housing); and a new innovative waste recovery system (with a proposal for a new and innovative waste treatment plant in Gloucester). Depending on funding success, we will also have a green hydrogen proposal, a plan for using solar for much of Cape Ann’s electricity needs, and regenerative landscape planning across Cape Ann.
Iam also proud to tell you that TownGreen won this year a EPA technical assistance Building Blocks award, one of only three awarded in the country in 2021. A large stakeholder team from all four communities will prioritize the opportunities in front of us, as teed up by the Harvard study and other recommendations. The EPA Building Blocks team will be convening a ‘funding table” of federal agency funders interesting on the opportunities above. The timing for this funding table in 2022 and 2023 will be helpful, as the money from federal infrastructure grants and increased federal budgets starts to flow to municipalities.
In addition to these two large initiatives of TownGreen, the CACC six different workgroups are taking on multiple different projects of interest to the members.
One that is gathering support is exploring a proposal to transition or existing diesel school buses to electric school buses. It can be done at little to no additional cost, because of large subsidies, and a commercial use of the bus batteries for electricity storage.
Another interesting proposal that the Community Building and Education workgroup of the CACC, in partnership with Maritime Gloucester, is developing is to install scale and signage to show the effects of sea rise on high tides and storm surges.
To facilitate and maintain all this forward progress, Towngreen2025 is going through a strategic planning process in this important year of inflection for climate work at all levels.
We are going to form a new independent 501C3 with a new mission and vision. The new mission of TownGreen is to act as a catalyst in assisting Cape Ann communities in becoming vibrant and inclusive models of sustainability, that are fossil fuel free and are prepared for the impacts of climate change.
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And we are outlining a vision for where we can be in 20-30 years:
VISION: With Nature as our guide, Cape Ann communities have become models of sustainability, are fossil fuel free, and are prepared for the impacts of climate change. Our communities, households and businesses are thriving as we innovate and follow ecological principles mimicking natural cycles and rhythms providing for the livelihood of all residents in a just and equitable manner.
OK, sounds great you may say, but how can I help?
On a personal level, there are many things you can do to lower your own contribution to the climate crisis: Popular ones with myself, friends and colleagues are: transition to a more plant-based diet as meat creates much more GHG pollution than does food from plants; growing more food in local gardens, either in your own yard, or a community gardens, which are expanding; buying second hand clothes and furniture; driving less and also getting an Electric Vehicle or a Hybrid, which are now competitively priced with fossil fuel vehicles; making your home more energy efficient with a free MA Save audit; going clean electric for your cooking, home heating and cooling, and hot water; and signing up for 100% clean electricity for a few dollars more a month, depending on your usage.
Taking action is a very important step, for both your own mental
and spiritual well-being and the health of the planet. Francis Moore Lappe, the author of the bestselling book in the 70’s, Diet for a Small Planet, recently wrote an OpEd last week for the Boston Globe entitled, “It’s Not Too Late to Make a Difference in the Climate Crisis” about the importance of keeping action and hope alive in the face of the slew of bad news about the climate crisis.
We are social beings, she says, and our actions and enthusiasm for a cause can translate to others if we model that through our own actions and conversations with others.
And, we will all be following our seventh UU principle, respect for the interdependent web of all existence.
I urge you all to join our movement and become ambassadors for the health of the planet. Make a plan for reducing your own carbon footprint and do something more on a regular basis. See the video on how to do this by Denny Dart on the TownGreen2025 website. The best part is that many of these actions can actually save you money! if we start addressing our own actions and communicating that to others, our collective actions will make a big difference.
And, you are all welcome to join a Cape Ann Climate Coalition workgroup. Just visit the CACC website and ask for a Connecting to the CACC interview, and you can figure out a plan for you to join the collective action.
