Recently GN President Marcia Cooper was interviewed for an article in the Boston Globe, “Fighting Global Warming, One Town at a Time” by John Hilliard. Below is an excerpt of the article that appeared in the Boston Globe’s West section on April 23, 2017. The full version can be viewed HERE.
So advocates are pushing back — not just limiting their appeals to the environment, but how climate change can affect jobs, the economy, and our lives, said Marcia Cooper, president of Green Newton.
“It impacts out health. It impacts the safety of our water, our air. What could be more important than that?” said Cooper of climate change.
That means calling for a transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, no new gas pipelines, and going “full blast” on development of solar and wind power, she said.
On April 24, Green Newton will host a session with Ann Berwick, the chairwoman of the state Department of Public Utilities under former governor Deval Patrick, at the Newton Free Library. Berwick’s topic: taking action while Trump administration policies “seem to be reversing” progress in climate regulation.
The nearly 30-year-old group has about 1,500 subscribers on its e-mail list, and Cooper said that since Trump took office, those e-mails have increasingly moved from calendar items to encouraging members to contact state lawmakers and the governor’s office in support of ending the state’s reliance on fossil fuels.
Cooper said Governor Charlie Baker’s executive order last year to reduce the state’s contribution to global warming was a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done.
“Climate change is urgent, and it shouldn’t be one or two bills passed every year,” said Cooper. “We need to get moving on this.”
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