On January 11 at 7PM, the Climate Crisis subcommittee of the Newton Democratic City Committee will present Housing and Climate Change, a public online forum on how increasing interest in decarbonizing housing is occurring against a backdrop of preexisting challenges to equitable and affordable housing. Register here. Joe Curtatone, former mayor of…
Posts published in “Environment”
On December 22, Dr. Nathan Phillips, a Newton resident and climate activist, confronted the damage being done by the Merrimack Station coal-fired energy plant in Bow, New Hampshire, by chaining himself, along with another activist, to a train track, delaying the arrival of about 100 cars filled with coal to…
City of Newton Energy Coach, Liora Silkes, appeared before the Newton Citizens Commission on Energy last week and presented a summary of this year’s accomplishments with Newton’s 4OurFuture campaign. The 4OurFuture campaign is a City initiative designed to encourage Newton residents to take 4 energy actions — Weatherize, Heat and…
GreenNewton’s tip of the week — Get a Home Energy Assessment and Insulation to Help Lower Heating Costs — is very timely, as the weather turns cold and energy costs rise. It walks you through the process and provides links to free help from the City of Newton’s energy coaches…
A group of climate action advocates in Newton, led by Mothers Out Front/Newton, is asking the City Council’s Public Facilities Committee for more transparency about National Grid’s gas-pipeline-replacement projects and for gas-leak repairs that are less disruptive, trenchless, lower-cost, yet as-safe. The group is concerned that Committee has been permitting…
Mothers Out Front/Newton will meet online on Tuesday, December 6, 7:30PM-9PM to discuss climate vulnerability in Newton with Emily Norton, City Councilor and Executive Director of the Charles River Watershed Association. RSVP here. Climate change action involves both mitigation (prevention by reducing and eventually eliminating the burning of fossil fuels) and adaptation…
In October, the Newton Cemetery & Arboretum (NC&A) sent a letter to the City Council’s Programs & Services Committee requesting exemption from Newton’s Tree Preservation Ordinance (TPO) – both in the current form of the ordinance and under either of two proposed revisions to it (one by the City Council…
Last week, Fig City News reported that State Representative Ruth Balser’s nearly quarter-of-a-century effort to protect public lands came to fruition when the Legislature voted in favor of her Public Lands Preservation Act. Governor Charlie Baker has signed the bill and made it the law of the Commonwealth. Under the…
Just after the 2022 midterm elections, Congressman Jake Auchincloss (D, MA-CD4) hosted a climate summit at Needham’s Olin College of Engineering with experts in climate and energy. (See video.) Opening the summit, Olin College President Gilda Barabino highlighted the current climate emergency and noted that Olin students are taught to…
On November 10th, the Massachusetts Legislature voted to pass the Public Lands Preservation Act (PLPA, H.5381), designed to preserve open space in the Commonwealth. For Rep. Ruth Balser (D, Newton) it was the successful culmination of a twenty-four-year legislative journey, with roots in her service on the Newton Board of…