Energize Framingham right to push sustainability in next city charter - MetroWest Daily News
Energize Framingham right to push sustainability in next city charter
LETTER: Commitment to fighting climate change must extend beyond next city charter
To the Editor:
Energize Framingham recognizes the support the city has from the mayor, the City Council and, importantly, the sustainability coordinator. However, it also realizes and underscores that the real work in achieving a meaningful reduction in human impact on the climate lies ahead and must be achieved within the next 10 years.
To that end, it proposes several modifications and enhancements to the Framingham City Charter, including partnering with the state’s climate chief, Melissa Hoffer, to align their individual approaches and goals of a “governance function devoted to climate.”
A commitment to climate is more than just a token policy within a city charter. It's a commitment to creating jobs, to stimulating economic growth and to fostering a community that's resilient, sustainable and ready for a clean energy future.
All of our cities are lagging when it comes to solar installation at our schools, a manifestation of our collective delayed action. But we must not let our past dictate our future. In particular, we've seen the grit of Framingham and its residents in the geothermal pilot project currently under consideration. Now, it's time to utilize this same determination and drive for a broader commitment.
Climate change waits for no one, and neither should our commitment to addressing it. Let's be sure that when decisions are made for our city, they are made with sustainability in mind. The time to act is now. The federal and state funding at our disposal reinforces this call for action. Let's not fumble this opportunity. It's not just about us, it's about the generations to come.
Nicolas M. Pacella
Great Barrington
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”